Sending off Morelos should have been an easy decision, says Ross
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard insists he didn’t see it, while Hibs boss Jack Ross reckoned Alfredo Morelos should have been sent off for a stamp on Ryan Porteous before the striker scored the winner at Easter Road.
The controversial incident was the main talking point on a night when Rangers maintained their 23-point lead over Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Ross said referee Kevin Clancy told him he saw a “tangle of legs” but the Hibs boss was dignified with his reaction. “It’s a red card,” said Ross. “It’s an easy one with the benefit of seeing it again. It looks relatively straightforward. I’ll be dignified about it and keep it at that. It should have been seen by the official, but it wasn’t.
“I’m not going to chastise Kevin for it because he only gets to see it one time and in real time.
"But match officials hold themselves to high standards and they will be disappointed by it. But irrespective of who scored the goal, we should have defended it better.”
Speaking immediately after the match, Gerrard said: “I've had no time to see that.” Asked if he would review the incident if needed, Gerrard continued: "I always look at everything. There's a few incidents out there from the side that I haven't seen clearly on both sides, but I didn't want to surround the ref."
He added: “It's a really strong performance at a tough place to go. We looked after Alfredo at the weekend as we knew he had to put a right good shift in at Hibs. I thought he was really selfless in his work rate.
"Some of his hold-up play was a bit mixed at times, but just having on the pitch, he's a real threat. Again he's come up with a big goal for us.”
Celtic returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Hamilton at Parkhead. After four Scottish Premiership games without a win for the first time since 2000, Neil lennon’s men looked a bit more like their old selves against the bottom side.
Lennon said: "It was a good team performance. I'm delighted with three points and the clean sheets, but overall delighted with the team and their attitude. We created good chances, we need to be more ruthless.
"To be fair Hamilton threw bodies in the way and the goalkeeper played well."
Earlier in the day, Celtic confirmed that Jeremie Frimpong has completed his move to Bayer Leverkusen for a fee that could reportedly rise to £11.5m. Asked whether or not the money will be spent on the squad, Lennon replied: "I don't know. We've not been immune to the pandemic financially. we felt it was good business and the timing of the deal was right for the club.
"Whether we get to spend, we'll see. There may be options coming up over the next few days that we don't expect, but we are looking at one or two players to bring in."
After Livingston scored two late goals to keep up their remarkable run with a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock, manager David Martindale said: “I passed the fit and proper test this week so that was part of my pre-match speech: 'Don't let me down, don't let me down.'”
As a one-man headline-generating machine, Alfredo Morelos has few peers in Scottish football.
The Colombian striker was at his newsworthy best again at Easter Road, securing another victory for Rangers on their road to the Premiership title with a goal scored when he could consider himself fortunate to still be on the pitch.
Morelos has managed to curb many of the excesses which saw previous seasons marred by a rash of red cards.
However, he was back to sailing needlessly close to the wind with a 19th minute stamp on Hibs defender Ryan Porteous which went unpunished by referee Kevin Clancy.
Thankfully for Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, the more productive side of Morelos’ make-up came to the fore six minutes into the second half when the 24-year-old finished off a slick move for the only goal of the game as the Ibrox men maintained their 23-point lead over Celtic at the top of the table.
Rangers’ single-minded focus on the particular job in hand has been a key factor in their success so far this season and there was no diminishment of their desire for yet another three points.
As Gerrard had highlighted in the build-up to the contest, the worn and rutted playing surface was an issue but one which applied equally to both sides.
There was quickly a sense that set-pieces may offer the likeliest route for a breakthrough and Connor Goldson
might have snatched one for Rangers inside the opening two minutes when he glanced a header wide from James Tavernier’s free-kick.
Filip Helander, perhaps more of a natural defender than the pacier Leon Balogun, retained his place at the heart of Rangers’ back four alongside Goldson and the big Swede displayed those instincts to good effect when he blocked Christian Doidge in a dangerous position inside the box.
While Rangers were dominant in possession, their final pass in and around the Hibs penalty area generally lacked accuracy or incision in a scrappy first half.
Joe Aribo might have done better than shoot straight at Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano, while Morelos saw a shot blocked by Porteous, but the best chance of the opening period fell to the home side.
When Allan Mcgregor couldn’t hold a driven cross from Chris Cadden, Doidge managed to feed the loose ball into the path of Jackson Irvine who wastefully blazed over from close range.
Rangers were rewarded for a noticeable increase in tempo at the start of the second half when Morelos made the breakthrough.
Some delightful one-touch passing from Steven Davis and Aribo played the striker in and he clipped his 11th goal of the season - and fourth in his last six games - beyond Marciano.
HIBERNIAN: Marciano, P. Mcginn, Mcgregor, Porteous (Hanlon 69), Doig (Boyle 69); Gogic (Allan 79); Cadden, Irvine, Hallberg (Magennis 74); Nisbet, Doidge.
Subs not used: Macey, Stevenson, Mallan, Wright, Gullan.
RANGERS: Mcgregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Jack (Zungu 79), Davis, Kamara; Aribo (Itten 83), Morelos (Roofe 73), Kent. Subs not used: Mclaughlin, Patterson, Bassey, Balogun, Barker, Hagi.
REFEREE: Kevin Clancy