Hiwula can’t understand why Sands didn’t see red
ROSS COUNTY attacker Jordy Hiwula admits he was left baffled by referee Don Robertson’s failure to show Rangers defender James Sands a red card. The Staggies forward was set to burst through on goal at Ibrox with the score 0-0 on Saturday when Sands hauled him down. The USA international had already been cautioned for a previous foul on Hiwula and the County attacker was expecting a second yellow — or even a straight red — given there was no covering defender around. With a full complement of players, Rangers eventually ran out 4-0 winners but County boss Malky Mackay branded Robertson’s decision not to show a red card ‘inexplicable’, insisting the call had denied the Dingwall side the platform to claim a result at Ibrox. Hiwula agreed and he believes the sooner VAR comes into Scottish football to rid it of these situations the better. He said: ‘The defender wrapped his arms around me and I thought he would have been sent off, but it wasn’t to be. ‘I would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper. ‘The referee and the linesmen had a decision to make and they didn’t make the decision. ‘It could have been a lot different for us if Rangers had gone down to ten men. ‘I think VAR would have been a big help for the referees. But it’s not in yet, so you’ve just got to play to the whistle. ‘But I thought the second foul was worse than the first one. ‘For the first one, if I had got past there was another defender for me to try and get past. For the second one, I was clean through on goal. He should have been off. ‘I think the Rangers bench thought the next foul he (Sands) committed he would probably have been sent off. ‘That’s probably why they took him off at half-time.’ Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst conceded that his team had been fortunate not to be reduced to ten men. He told BBC Scotland: ‘You have to attack well and in the first half we did. But we gave a lot of space away at the back. ‘That’s why we had James Sands quickly on a booking. In the second we changed a bit and controlled a bit better. ‘We already had James on a booking and it was a close call that went our way. Sometimes the call from the ref is against you and sometimes it’s to your advantage. ‘It’s the decision of the ref at the moment, but for us it was a positive one because James didn’t get a second yellow.’ After the decision not to show Sands a red, Rangers raced to a 4-0 win with goals from John Lundstram and substitute Steven Davis either side of an Antonio Colak double. But Hiwula wants his side to bounce back when they host Celtic in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup on Wednesday. The summer signing from Doncaster Rovers said: ‘Coming to Ibrox, especially after the result Rangers got in midweek against PSV Eindhoven, it was always going to be tough. ‘We saw with the team they put out as well, it was really strong. ‘They made it really difficult. They moved the ball well, they got into dangerous areas and they took their chances. After they got their first goal it was hard to try and get back into the match. The better team won. ‘But there’s now another tough game on Wednesday against the champions and hopefully we can win against them.’