Like Hearts, Michael Stewart chastised Aberdeen for “bigly” falling into Rangers’ trap and conceding a late penalty through “lazy” defending.
Connor Goldson’s shirt was pulled to give the Light Blues a stoppage-time penalty in the 1-1 draw at Pittodrie on November 26. The BBC pundit responded live on Sportscene, but he criticized the defender’s “theatrical” fall after Stefan Gartenmann had let go.
Sam Lammers’ block of the Dons player during the incident infuriated Barry Robson. Although Kenny Miller and Stewart concurred that Lammers had blocked Robson, with the former speculating that it was a purposeful “ploy” by the Light Blues, they held the defender accountable for the first infraction.
“Players nowadays just have to realize you cannot pull another player’s shirt like that,” Miller stated at 7:33 p.m. It will simply be pulled up.
“I understand what Barry is saying about Lammers; he’s just moving to get in Gartenmann’s way here. Although he isn’t very aggressive, the pulling has already begun, and guess what? It’s simple: you can’t get away with it these days. It’s a penalty.
Stewart added: “They’re obviously looking at the fact that Lammers has stepped across to block him, but fortunately for Rangers the pull happens just before the step and the block occurs.
“The pull doesn’t send Connor Goldson down, that’s theatrical, that has to be said… It’s borderline for me but I think your frustration has to be with the defending because if Goldson runs away and gets a free header you know that VAR’s going to be looking at it… you’ll get the free kick for that.
When the jersey detaches from the body in such a way, there’s a significant chance of conceding a penalty kick. That is similar to what occurred at Ibrox involving Hearts, so it’s obvious that Rangers are using that as a ruse.
“On two occasions, Hearts and Aberdeen have fallen heavily into that trap, and on both occasions, it’s just lazy defending.”
