It was a thriller at Pittodrie – and referee John Beaton certainly had a busy evening in the Granite City.
Aberdeen continued their unbeaten run as Jimmy Thelin’s flying start to life as Dons boss saw off Rangers to keep pace with Celtic at the top of the table as Nedim Bajrami’s second half equaliser cancelled out Nicky Devlin’s opener But the Swede introduced Shayden Morris off the bench to net the winner and pile the pressure on the man in the opposition dugout with the visiting support erupting at Philippe Clement after the full-time whistle.
Amid the cauldron whistler Beaton and Don Robertson in the VAR room had plenty to deal with eight yellow cards, a penalty and a goal chalked off to deal with during a stormy clash between the rivals. But what are the big talking points coming out of the game? Record Sport takes a look.
Ester Solker ‘penalty’
The Aberdeen striker was closing in on goal before Leon Balgoun flew in with a last-ditch tackle to deny Solker a clean run through at Jack Butland’s goal. The raging forward saw his claims waved away and was booked for his angry reaction towards ref Beaton – but VAR would back up the man in the middle.
On BBC Sportsound, Billy Dodds felt that Beaton wasn’t sure about the call: “I tell you just by his body language, John Beaton wasn’t sure. He had a look and thought ‘oh no I don’t want to call this.” James McFadden felt that the match officials got the call right: “He does get a little nick on the ball. He takes Sokler out and it’s one you have to be absolutely sure you’re going to get the ball.”
John Souttar handball
Jack McKenzie would drive the ball towards goal from a Dons corner, and it would strike Rangers defender on the hand. Initially John Beaton would wave away the claim before the team in Clydesdale House sent the ref to the pitch side monitor and a penalty was awarded.
Kris Boyd conceded on Sky Sports: “It’s a penalty for me. When it’s travelling so far; I know Souttar has gone to head it but it has hit his hand. Whether it goes in it’s a different matter but it has hit his hand so a penalty needs to be give.”
And Bobby Madden has weighed in. “As much as UEFA/FIFA have made progress in recent times to tidy up handball interpretation, the debate continues. Every country has their own take, The English Premier league stated in their pre season guidance that “a deflection is taken into account if the ball comes off the same player or their teammate just prior to the ball striking the arm.” In such situations the rules regarding a “justifiable” position of the arm are greatly relaxed. So you need to ask in the first instance: does the defender make themselves unnaturally bigger?
“Then, is the defender’s arm position a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation? Finally, the ball strikes the first defender on the arm, which wasn’t punishable as it’s in a natural position. So, if we are aligned with England, does the deflection cause the ball to strike the next defender’s arm? Good luck trying to work that out.”
Ross McCausland ‘goal’
The winger had the ball in the back of the net just before half-time half-time, but it was quickly chalked off by the linesman. Leon Balogun’s long-ball forward was latched onto by Cyriel Dessers before the striker cut the ball back to Nedim Bajrami. The Albanian flashed the ball across the six-yard box for McCausland to tap-in.
At the full-time whistle Clement pointed to the decision claiming it was a “toenail” offside. Looking at the image of Dessers being flagged offside, McFadden told Sky Sports: “It’s pretty clear that one. I think McCausland may have been offside also.”