The controversial call sparked anger from Stuart Kettlewell in the 3-0 defeat at Rugby Park
Former SFA referee Bobby Madden has explained why he thinks Rangers star Mohamed Diomande’s pull on David Watson did not win a Kilmarnock penalty.
The incident on the edge box was waved away by referee Kevin Clancy. Killie fumed in the wake of a 3-0 defeat at Rugby Park as the penalty call was sent to the stands. Stuart Kettlewell was sent to the stands for venting his anger over the call while No. 2 Stevie Frail blasted the decision to not awarding a penalty for David Watson after he was held by Diomande on the edge of the box.
Gavin Duncan and the VAR team would take a look at the incident, but man in the middle Clancy was not advised to point to the spot or review the incident at the pitchside monitor. And Madden reckons that the officials did not believe the pull had an “impact on the game.”
The ball was being crossed in from the right flank when the incident occurred, rather than when Watson was close to make contact with the ball. Posting a clip of the incident to his Instagram page, Madden said: “Interesting. My understating is I’m going against the expert pundits here, but bear with me and remember it’s only my opinion.
“Officials will believe this holding offence has no impact on the game as the attacker has no opportunity to play the ball. The danger in my opinion is that by allowing this you allow similar holding, tripping, pushing offences off the ball and surely you create a bigger problem.
“The defender has switched off, the attacker is going beyond him with the defender knowing he can’t match the run. He isn’t aware of where the ball is going, his only intention is to stop the attacker. That’s a foul.
“There is no way of knowing where the ball is going, then you can discuss second phase etc. We don’t know how play will develop.
“What we can be sure of is that the action of the defender impacted the attacker. Interesting situation and certain to provoke healthy debate.”
Pundit and former Ibrox assistant Neil McCann stated on Sky that the call could have been awarded: “[Mohamed] Diomande is lazy, he grabs him, I think this might be given.”
Richard Foster felt the VAR angles didn’t help the officials: “We don’t really have a good view of it, in terms of how conclusive it is. That for me is the only reason it’s not a penalty. Whether the ball is crossed yet or not, that is irrelevant on the foul.”
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