Kris Boyd was baffled by Rangers striker Jermain Defoe after he caught Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis in the face with his hand on Sunday.
After Connor Goldson attempted a long-range pass to Defoe, the striker was beaten to the ball by Lewis but he then raised his arm and there was definitely some contact made with the Aberdeen shot-stopper.
Ex-Rangers striker Boyd thought it was an odd movement by the on-loan Bournemouth player, but did not think that there should have been any punishment dished out.
“It was a bit strange from Jermain Defoe, to be fair,” said Boyd at half-time on Sky Sports Football on Sunday [03:55pm].
“It’s a good run and a good ball. I’m not quite sure… In the next angle he does try to get out of the road. You can see he takes a step to the left and I think his hand comes up.
“He does catch Joe Lewis but it’s nothing for me.”
OPINION
Defoe wasn’t booked for that, but he was rightly booked not long after for a handball inside the Aberdeen penalty area. Should that have been his second booking? Because there might not have been many complaints if the referee booked him for that coming together with Lewis in the first-half. Defoe was trying to move out of the way of Lewis and did raise his arm and made contact with the goalkeeper’s face. It was not done maliciously or on purpose, but we see referees hand out cautions for things like that all the time. Andy Walker, who was commentating on the game on Sky Sports, wanted Defoe to be sent off for the incident, which is completely over the top. It could have been a yellow, but definitely not a red card. At the end of the day there can’t be too much of an outrage over that one incident because if he was booked for it, Defoe wouldn’t have purposely handled the ball and get booked again.