McPake sees red over McLaughlin but Gerrard hails his ‘powerhouse’ keeper

DUNDEE boss James McPake claimed Jon McLaughlin should have been sent off in his side’s defeat against Rangers.

Trailing to Joe Aribo’s first-half goal, the hosts were awarded a penalty midway through the second half when Paul McMullan was fouled by the Ibrox goalkeeper.

Referee Bobby Madden showed only a yellow to McLaughlin, leaving Dundee furious.

Substitute Jason Cummings saw his spot-kick saved to compound the hosts’ misery.

McPake’s anger continued at full-time when he was shown a red card by the official and claimed afterwards that Madden was ‘unapproachable’.

Dundee have now gone five games without scoring and have yet to win in the Premiership, but the manager was angry Rangers were not reduced to 10 men.

Asked if McLaughlin was right to stay on the pitch, McPake said: ‘No. I know the rule is if you make a genuine attempt and people will disagree and say it’s a genuine attempt.

‘Paul is by him and the leg comes out. If it’s (Dundee keeper) Adam Legzdins, would my answer be different? Probably not.’

However, Rangers boss Steven Gerrard offered nothing but praise for ‘powerhouse’ McLaughlin.

‘He was the best player on the pitch by a mile,’ said Gerrard. ‘I’ve almost been smiling in disbelief at some of the reaction on the outside. I keep an eye on everything inside and outside.

‘Jon is a fantastic player. He has showed his quality in the last three games.

‘It does take time to get up to speed with how people play, but he was a powerhouse today. He was man of the match by a mile.’

Reflecting on his red card, McPake continued: ‘I got an explanation out of Bobby. I have a fantastic relationship with Bobby.

‘In the end, he became unapproachable and said: “I am not speaking to you about it, I can’t talk about an incident” and then you get the “you missed the penalty anyway” shout. We know that, I watched it.’

Cummings came on for Leigh Griffiths, who hobbled off near the end of the first half and was this week charged with ‘culpable and reckless’ conduct for appearing to kick a flare into the stand in the midweek Premier Sport Cup loss to St Johnstone.

‘Jason was excellent when he came on,’ added McPake. ‘I was worried about putting him on early because he’s had Covid twice and he wasn’t well during the week.

‘Leigh’s ankle is something that will have a chance to clear up over the next week.’