Collum gaffe ‘embarrassing’, says Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD labelled referee Willie Collum’s decision to send off Rangers goal hero Daniel Candeias ‘embarrassing’.

The Portuguese winger, booked for celebrating his 80th-minute strike, was stunned to be shown a second yellow card in the wake of Alfredo Morelos netting a second for the visitors in the 2-0 success over St Mirren.

Rangers manager Gerrard was already convinced there were no grounds for Candeias to be expelled in injury time when he began his post-match media briefing.

Then he viewed the footage from BT Sport’s analysis of the incident and vented his dismay at Collum’s call, which will result in a suspension for the winger.

First Craig Samson then, more aggressively, Anton Ferdinand put their arms around the shoulders of Candeias after he had blown kisses to the crowd.

Candeias did not react when on the receiving end of a jab from Ferdinand, who also saw yellow for his part.

Gerrard said: ‘Daniel deserved his first yellow card. He was emotional and got carried away after scoring, which I understand.

‘There was a coming together with Anton and he doesn’t do anything wrong other than trying to get the man off. It’s not a yellow card, not in my book.’

Gerrard then watched the incident again and continued: ‘So, Daniel gets a yellow card for that? Be serious. What does he get a yellow card for?

‘The second yellow card is embarrassing. There is your evidence, that’s what you’re dealing with.’

Gerrard was far more impressed by his team’s grit in engineering a victory after two draws and a Betfred Cup semi-final elimination in their last three fixtures.

‘We know these teams will hang in, they’ve got a lot to play for and are going to fight and be difficult to break down,’ said Gerrard. ‘So, for us, it was about patience. The pleasing thing for me is we didn’t get frustrated with the break not coming, especially in the first 60-odd minutes.

‘The first half was tough. I said to my staff that if we were level at half-time, we’d win. The most important thing is we didn’t concede.

‘I was pleased at 0-0 because I knew we would create in the second half. The lads kept plugging away, kept creating chances and ironically it came with a little bit of luck — but I believe you make your own luck in this game.

‘According to Daniel, he meant it. I’ve been in the game a long time and haven’t seen anyone score one of those, not on purpose anyway.’

St Mirren manager Oran Kearney can only dream of such fortune as his club’s dismal run since an openingday win over Dundee stands at one point from 33.

‘We had a few good chances, especially in the first half, and Allan McGregor has pulled off a couple of good saves,’ said Kearney. ‘The first goal was always going to be huge and if one had gone in for us — it could have been a huge catalyst.

‘We’re in a scrap and it was important, more for the fans, that we saw a bit of passion and saw that it meant something to people.’