Rangers: Dermot Gallagher issues verdict on John Lundstram’s red card decision

Rangers star John Lundstram should feel incredibly hard done by on the weekend to see a straight red card for his tactical foul at Easter Road.  

This has been suggested by former top-flight referee Dermot Gallagher, who was providing his analysis on Sky Sports News’ Ref Watch.

It was a difficult afternoon in the capital for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men, who ended the game with nine men and conceded a last-gasp equaliser to see Hibernian snatch a late point.

Alfredo Morelos was the second Gers player to be shown a straight red card, with Lundstram sent for an early bath after a cynical foul on Martin Boyle as he looked to launch a counter-attack.

However, Gallagher has jumped to the Englishman’s defence in feeling referee Willie Collum may have got this one wrong – with the outcome potentially being different had VAR technology been in play.

He said: “I understand why he’s given a red card on the day. I think if he looks back at that he will think the same as Jarred [Gillett] did with Kieran Trippier that it wasn’t the tackle he thought.

“I can understand why he did it, but it’s not the tackle he thought. I think Lundstram’s very, very unlucky and a yellow card would have been enough because I think it’s cynical; it’s not dangerous and it’s not serious foul play.”

TIF Thoughts on Gallagher’s comments…

We have to agree with Gallagher. This was definitely a yellow-card offence, with Lundstram taking Boyle down in a cynical fashion to prevent Hibernian from catching out the visitors on the break.

However, there did not seem to be any malice in Lundstram’s challenge with nothing more to it than to stop Boyle from launching a serious attack on Van Bronckhorst’s side.

And this is similar to the incident in the Premier League on Sunday with Kieran Trippier which was overruled by VAR, so it will be interesting to see whether Rangers’ appeal of the red will be approved in the coming days.