Having watched the somewhat abbreviated highlights of the match on Scotsport, I must, for a change, pay some respects to referee Ian Brines.

It seemed to me that Rangers had two legitimate shouts for penalties and whereas either would have fallen into the very soft catagory I've little doubt that manyi n theScottish refereeing fraternity would have awarded one or even both of them especially in the circumstance of Rangers being one down at Ibrox with time running out.

It's clear that many referees do favour the old firm especially at home whether deliberately or not. So, great credit for Mr. Brines for being fair and impartial on this occasion.

Have to agree with you there, mate. As soon as I heard the name of Novo coming on as sub, I thought yep, dive/late equaliser, just as he used to do at Raith, but got a very pleasant surprise when the ref ignored the DCHB. The panel on the radio seemed to think he was worth it though, so there you go. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. Strangely appropriate, that.

Yeah I agree too.... There was the usual vociferous howls from the Rangers' support at these two incidents and not every ref would have ignored that...

Well done Ian Brines....

Having watched the somewhat abbreviated highlights of the match on Scotsport, I must, for a change, pay some respects to referee Ian Brines.

It seemed to me that Rangers had two legitimate shouts for penalties and whereas either would have fallen into the very soft catagory I've little doubt that manyi n theScottish refereeing fraternity would have awarded one or even both of them especially in the circumstance of Rangers being one down at Ibrox with time running out.

It's clear that many referees do favour the old firm especially at home whether deliberately or not. So, great credit for Mr. Brines for being fair and impartial on this occasion.

So are you saying that Mr. Brines was being fair in turning down two legitimate shouts for penalties for Rangers? While I find it utterly hilarious that they were never given you can hardly praise his fairness if he did indeed fail to award to spot kicks if they were merited.

So are you saying that Mr. Brines was being fair in turning down two legitimate shouts for penalties for Rangers? While I find it utterly hilarious that they were never given you can hardly praise his fairness if he did indeed fail to award to spot kicks if they were merited.

Thats not what he said ...  :016:

Rangers had two legitimate shouts for penalties and whereas either would have fallen into the very soft catagory I've little doubt that many in the Scottish refereeing fraternity would have awarded one or even both of them

legitimate shouts for a penalty ... soft ...  in otherwords, soft claims that could have gone either way but many refs would have been pressured into awarding them instead of making their own minds up

Surely if it is a legitimate shout for a penalty then it can be argued as a penalty regardless of its apparent softness?

I did say in my post 'if they were merited'. I could have seen for myself of course last night but I'd rather have ironed my own eyeballs than watched Scotgash.

However, I cannot emphasise enough how much better that makes the result on Saturday if Rangers were denied a penalty just to further get it right up them.

As Scotty has said, what I said was that they were reasonable claims for penalties of the sort that are sometimes awarded and sometimes not.

Just because there is  reasonable claim doesn't necessarily mean that the penalty itself is legtimate.

What is clear is that a number of Scottish referees would award penalties to the Old Fir in these circumstances particularly at home while they would be much less likely to award a penaty to the opposition unless it was an absolute stonewaller.

So I reiterate, credit to Mr Brines for having the courage to ignore his surroundings and making a fair balanced judgement.