Michael Beale warned Scottish football is selling itself short as he hit out at a shambolic weekend at Hampden.
His Rangers side booked their place in next month’s final but only after overcoming a double pitch and VAR farce. The rain-lashed playing surface failed to recover in time from the Celtic va Kilmarnock semi staged 24 hours previously and was left resembling a bog by the time Kemar Roofe ’s extra-time winner killed off Aberdeen ’s hopes.
As if that wasn’t bad enough for the game’s image, there was then the mortifying sight of VAR conking out at the start of extra-time before the connection with Clydesdale House could be reset. And Beale worries what those looking on from the outside will think after seeing the chaotic events unfold. He said: “It’s probably not the right time to talk about it now but you’ve asked the question. Listen, it’s a fantastic stadium and I love coming here.
“I thought both semi-finals were excellent, four teams who really went for it. The two underdogs if you like, really took it to the two favourites in both games.
“But the pitch is in a really bad state for what is a showpiece game that players are dreaming of. We need to have better than that. I know we can’t control the weather.
“Do we separate the two games to play one this weekend and one next weekend? That’s for other people to decide.
“But that was a difficult pitch today which could take its toll because we have a game against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night. Where will the injuries come from playing on a heavy pitch?
“We have an excellent game at the moment. We have a good product and we have to make sure we present it in the right way.”
Ryan Jack’s deflected strike sent the game to extra-time after Bojan Mivoski had opened the scoring for Jim Goodwin’s team. But there was astonishment around the national stadium as it was announced the VAR signal had gone down.
“We knew the VAR was failing and to be fair to me and Jim, we wanted to play the game without it,” Beale said. We’ve only had it a short period of time so if VAR fails they should just continue with the game.
“There were a lot of breaks in the game which didn’t help either team.”
A spokesperson for the SPFL said: “The Scottish FA have confirmed to us that a technical issue with the VAR station at Clydesdale House resulted in a five-minute period where VAR was not in operation at Hampden Park. The issue was resolved by moving to the back-up station and VAR was operational immediately thereafter.”
The game swung in Gers’ favour after referee Nick Walsh flashed red at Dons skipper Anthony Stewart for a horror lunge on Fashion Sakala. But the Ibrox boss admits he’s worried by another nervy start from his team.
“I don’t want us to be so anxious,” he said. “I don’t know where the anxiety is coming from at times.
“We’re a good football team, we win a lot of football matches. We’ve beaten a lot of good teams over the last two or three years.
“With the players in that dressing room I don’t know why this anxiety is there so we must stop that for certain because there were moments again today when we were anxious. I’m just delighted for our fans and the players that we get to come back here in the final.
“It’s a fantastic final for everybody to look forward to but that is a long way away in my schedule. My eyes are on Kilmarnock.”
Roofe was the hero as he netted his first goal in 10 months after returning from injury. But there could be fresh agony for the striker after he was again forced off with a shoulder injury.
Beale added: “Kemar can’t catch a break. He comes on and gets the winner then goes off injured.
“We’ll have an x-ray on that tomorrow but he’s not dislocated it so we’re hoping it is just a bad landing and a sore one.”
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