RANGERS striker Cyriel Dessers tonight admitted he was stunned when Servette were awarded a penalty in the Champions League third qualifying round match at Ibrox.
Dessers put Michael Beale’s team 2-0 ahead in the first-half of the encounter with the Swiss club in to open his account for the Glasgow club.
However, Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas ruled that the forward had handled the ball inside his own area and awarded the visitors a spot kick which Chris Bedia converted.
The first leg encounter finished 2-1 at the end of the 90 minutes – meaning Rangers have a lot of work to do in Geneva next Tuesday night to secure a play-off spot.
But Dessers felt the match official was wrong to give the penalty as the ball had struck the head of Rangers left back Borna Barisic before it hit his arm.
“The handball is really unlucky,” he said. “That was confusing for me. Last week, we had a meeting with the referees and they said if it is deflected off a team mate and it touches your arm, then it is never a penalty.
“It deflects like one metre in front of me from Borna Barisic’s head and then it hits my arm. So I was 100 per cent convinced that it won’t be a penalty.
“But, okay, he gave it. You have to turn a switch and get back going. It is unlucky and unfortunate for the team as well because we had big momentum at that moment, but that’s football.”
Dessers, a £4.5m signing from Italian club Cremonese this summer, confessed that he had enjoyed scoring in front of the Ibrox support.
He is certain that his side can get the result they need in Geneva next week and progress to a play-off against either PSV Eindhoven or Sturm Graz.
"It's an amazing feeling to score your first goal for Rangers in this shirt in this stadium, an amazing feeling,” he said.
"I was happy to get the win. It wasn't easy, we maybe complicated it for ourselves after the red card (Servette were reduced to 10 men in the second-half) though.
"It's only our second official game, but we’ll grow from here and I am confident. We had a lot of control and we were dominating but maybe not enough big chances."
Rangers captain James Tavernier, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Todd Cantwell had been brought down, confessed he was frustrated at the final scoreline.
"Obviously we're a bit disappointed [to not get a third goal],” he said. “They go down to 10 men, but whenever that happens they go into a block and I thought maybe we could have been more patient.
"We go there 1-0 up, but we’ll treat it as going in 0-0. It's a good start, a better performance than the weekend and we’ll go from there. We’ve just got to keep working hard and keep pushing and the results will come.
"There were more deliveries from myself and Borna and through the team and we're delighted to see Cyriel score. I’m sure more boys will add to their tally soon now too."
