Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst has shrugged off the claim that Livingston boss David Martindale was told to sub off Phillip Cancar for a foul on Scott Wright.
The Lions gaffer moved swiftly to substitute the Australian defender in the first half of the Premiership opener as the visiting players and fans protested he should already have been shown a second yellow card by whistler Don Robertson. The heavy challenge on Wright went unpunished at the Tony Macaroni Arena before Cristian Montano hastily replaced his teammate.
The Ibrox boss reckons Livingston got away with one during their 2-1 victory in West Lothian, but conceded it was a clever move from rival boss Martindale to make the quick switch following the lunge on the Rangers winger. Cancar's substitution came with his side protecting a 1-0 lead after man-of-the match Joel Nouble's lob early on, before Scott Arfield and James Tavernier turned the game around.
However, ahead of the Champions League clash with Union Saint Gilloise the gaffer was put on the spot about the call during his pre-match press conference. One interviewer claimed Robertson had advised the Lions bench to replace the full-back, stating: "I wanted to ask you something about Saturday, if that's ok. We saw a situation where Livingston possibly a clear second yellow card for their full-back Cancar.
"Instead of that happening the official called over the captain, which more or less told the bench to make an immediate substitution, which they did. Obviously the Rangers bench wasn't happy about that. I wondered if you had asked for an explanation, or if the club had, in terms of you obviously might see that in a friendly game, but for the first competitive game I wondered if you had any thoughts on what happened?"
Van Bronckhorst appeared slightly confused by the question, while admitting he felt it warranted a red card. He responded: "Obviously, I saw the challenge on Scott. I thought it was a clear foul and a clear yellow card because you know, Scotty had a good move and was past him then the player just tacked him and prevented him from going on.
"I think it was a yellow card and that is why I asked the assistant referee why it wasn't a yellow card. He said, well, they found it was not a yellow card but I don't know because you see after a couple of minutes he gets substituted by the bench, by the coach, which is very smart because he knew as well it was a second yellow and a red card.
"That's the only reason you take a player off, when you know his next foul is a red card. That's all I know from the game. I don't know, you said the ref said he had to be substituted? I don't..."
The question continued: "It seemed to me like he had spoken to the captain. That seems like a clear message to me, being an official myself, you are saying to the player next foul you are off, which tells the bench you should be subbing him off.
"Which I think in a professional game, in a friendly maybe, I just wondered if Rangers would have asked why that would have been allowed to happen in a competitive game like Saturday."
Van Bronckhorst responded: "I don't know about that situation. I haven't seen it in the game. As for a yellow card and a sending off, that's all I know from that situation. Everything after that we didn't concentrate on because we had to overcome the 1-0. All our concentration and energy was to win the game."
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