Rangers aggrieved by ‘soft’ Hibs penalty decision at Ibrox as Derek McInnes makes ‘better team’ admission
Rangers have been left disappointed after Hibs got the better of them on Sunday.
Derek McInnes reckon Rangers had a ‘harsh’ penalty given against them vs Hibs and believes they were the better team despite defeat.
David Gray’s side secured a priceless 2-1 Premiership away win in Govan to build momentum ahead of their pivotal Conference League third round qualifier second leg versus Shkendija in North Macedonia, where they lead by that scoreline. Josh Campbell converted a first half penalty after VAR deemed Rangers star Vanja Dragojevic to have fouled Hibs’ Jason Kerr and a home team bombardment ensued.
Miguel Chaiwa’s own goal restored parity before a second half stoppage time winner from Callum Wright sparked wild away end scenes. McInnes doesn’t feel the penalty was the right call and that Rangers were the better team overall. He said: “Disappointing result. We thought we were deserving of better. I didn’t think we were brilliant, but I do think a lot of things transpired against us.
Rangers verdict on penalty against them vs Hibs
“I know people will say it’s a lot worse than what it was, but the outcome isn’t great and we get that, we accept that. But, in the cold light of day, if you analyse the game, we were the better team. I thought the decision to give a penalty kick was wrong. Having seen it back again, I think it’s so soft, so harsh on us. I think we’ve got to come then from behind, but luckily we’ve still got plenty of the game to do that.
“And I thought we huffed and puffed first half, I thought the penalty rocked us back, set us back. I think Youssef Chermiti coming off wasn’t ideal, we’ll probably come on to that one. I think you’ve got to compliment Hibs in the sense that they came and they sat off us to that shape. And I just thought we were a wee bit pedestrian, a wee bit reluctant to try and break lines a bit quicker and try and be a wee bit more positive.
“And we played a bit safer than I would have hoped in the first half. The spare area, the spare man in the pitch a lot of times was Vanja and obviously he’d been booked. And we tried Findlay Curtis on that side, just to double up with Daisuke Yokota on that right-handed side. You have to say it didn’t work totally. And then Findlay had a stomach bug and has to come off. He was feeling that, he was saying he felt sick. But trying Findlay there, we were trying to be positive with that change, but you have to say it didn’t quite work.
Derek McInnes on Rangers 1-2 Hibs
“And I thought the last 25 minutes of the game, half hour of the game, it was far more how I wanted Rangers to play in terms of we engaged more strikers quicker, we had more balls in the box, we looked as if the equaliser was coming. It took a bit longer than I would have hoped because we passed up chance after chance. But we started to, I mean 76% possession, we started to actually utilise that possession and we were a wee bit more of a threat.
“We had plenty of box action. The only stat that really matters, as you know, is the scoreline. I actually thought the intent of the team was good. I’ve got to praise the players for their efforts to keep going. I thought the subs all played their part, particularly Gass, Thelo and Dio. I thought they all had an impact on the game positively. And sitting here, bemoaning the fact that we’ve dropped a couple of points, losing the goal, even the nature of the goal that came off the studs and trickled by at Ivor, it’s a blow for us.”
