Spot-kick was VAR from fair
Tony Docherty slammed the VAR decision to hand Rangers a penalty – and insists the image presented to ref Kevin Clancy was not a true reflection of the incident.
Aaron Donnelly was penalised for a tug on Abdallah Sima’s jersey after ref Kevin Clancy had been sent to the monitor by VAR Steven Kirkland.
Clancy had originally waved play on.
James Tavernier fired home the spot-kick to edge Rangers 2-1 in front after Amadou Bakayoko had struck early for Dee.
Docherty said: “I’m hugely disappointed with the decision and VAR’s involvement in it.
“The image presented to Clancy favours the penalty but the reality is there is bustling in the box.
“Sima has a hold of Donnelly’s shirt and the ref deemed that to be OK.
“He then gets shown
an image in a real pivotal moment of the game. You need things to go for you and that went against us.
“I’m disappointed because we started well.
“Rangers get back into it t with an unforced error by us then such a big decision goes against us.
“I had a conversation with Kevin and thought he had a really good game.
“It’s difficult because we e are re-refereeing games.
“My problem with it is the image he gets shown. If I see that image I’d give a penalty but you need to take it into context.”
Docherty – who hopes to have Owen Beck back for next week’s trip to face Ross County – admits his side should have caused 10-man Rangers more problems.
He said: “I did think it was a sending off. We’ve done it well previously, stretching the game.
“We put on wide men in Charlie Reilly and Scott Tiffoney but needed to feed them more. I can’t be hard on the boys – they’ve been fantastic – but it does feel a bit like a missed opportunity.”