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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

James Tavernier Rangers vs Motherwell let off highlighted

Rangers captain James Tavernier got away with one against Motherwell yesterday.

That's according to punditry duo Michael Stewart and Lee McCulloch.

The Gers defender appeared to be on the fortunate side of a controversial refereeing call made by Alan Muir at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Beale's side won 1-0 thanks to a strike by Cyriel Dessers. 

However, there were audible boos heard by the home faithful, as they made their feelings clear at the poor performance on show from their team.

However, matters could have been much worse for Rangers if one wrong decision, in the eyes of the pundits, had gone differently.

As Steelmen striker Brodie Spencer tried to get in behind Rangers' defence, Muir awarded a foul to Rangers after he had adjudged the attacker to have impeded Tavernier just outside of the box.

Of course, this halted Spencer in his tracks as he went in on goal after he had managed to break away from the attentions of the Rangers skipper.

However, both Stewart and McCulloch were in disagreement with the call, insisting that play should have continued, thus providing Motherwell with a serious goalscoring opportunity.

Speaking on BBC's Sportscene, Stewart said: "This one is very controversial for me.

"That is not a free-kick. It is good play and the ball is worked into a great area. He gets in behind Tavernier here, and he gets outmuscled. He is very fortunate to get away with it."

Former Rangers player McCulloch agreed. He added: "It is soft. The referee does the pulling gesture and he has not pulled him at all."

Meanwhile, Beale has admitted the injury to Rabbi Matondo could be a "bad one".

The Rangers winger was forced off in the first half of the 1-0 win over Motherwell after taking a knock to the outside of his knee.

In his post-match press conference - citing the knock - Beale explained: "It doesn’t look like a good one".

He added: "Rabbi today we think that might be a bad one. He’s taken a blow on the outside of his knee. That’s the information I was given."

It's a blow for Rangers with Tom Lawrence ruled out before kick-off due to a calf issue picked up against Real Betis.

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