Michael Beale praised VAR for on a manic night for the technology at Tynecastle as he insists it would be wrong to label Ryan Kent a diver after he was booked for simulation when a penalty award was overturned.
Rangers had THREE goals disallowed - two from Fashion Sakala and one from Alfredo Morelos - by VAR for offside while another was awarded thanks to Kevin Clancy in the control room while John Beaton performed a U-turn on his spot kick award when Kent went down in the box with the replay showing there was no contact. Connor Goldson also survived a late penalty appeal against him for an alleged handball after a check.
The Light Blues won 3-0 thanks to a Morelos double either side of a Malik Tillman strike and Beale said: “I thought all of VAR was fair. There was one with Fashion Sakala where we had an angle on the touchline where it looked like he might have just been on. But it wasn’t. They’re getting a better view than me so I’ll praise them on getting decisions right.
“And if Ryan’s taken a tumble or expecting contact that hasn’t come then it’s right it’s a yellow card. But it’s not something in four years of being at Rangers that you could target at him so let’s not go over the top about it. He went into the box and felt there was contact but they’ve deemed it not to be so no dramas.”
Beale admitted he hopes to keep Bayern Munich loan man Tillman permanently and said: “We can make Malik a permanent deal. There’s a fee agreed. Everything is in place. You get the season out the way and sit down and talk to everyone. If it was my decision and Rangers’ then we would have Malik here for the long term. He’s a player we like and has settled in really well to our club. At 20-years-old he has a really exciting future. It’s up to the two clubs.”
It was the best Gers display under Beale and he admitted: “It was a really strong performance, particularly the first half. In the first 15 minutes of the first half we had chances to go and score more. Zander Clark made some big saves. Overall I’m delighted. They’re riding high here, in really good form, and we spoke before the game about how we had to be at our best.
“I thought the amount of regains we had from our pressing around the pitch was great. Everyone talks about possession, but I look at that desire when we don’t have the ball to go and counter press, steal the ball and break from there. I thought we were fantastic. It started with the forwards and the rest of the team backed them up and it was nice to see Alfredo score a couple more goals.
“Hearts were very aggressive in terms of the personnel they put out. It made for a good game and maybe the team that scored first would get real confidence and we started the game ever so well and they had to chop and change a few things. I thought tactically we were good in the game and wouldn’t take anything away from Hearts. We were good but still nowhere near where I want us to be ultimately but it was a step in the right direction.”
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