Keith Hackett agrees as Michael Stewart slams 'embarrassing' ref decision in Rangers win

Rangers‘ 4-1 win over Aberdeen featured an incident involving Thelo Aasgaard, which both Keith Hackett and Michael Stewart have slammed.

In the 57th minute of the contest, the Dons were given a free kick when referee Matthew MacDermid deemed that Emmanuel Gyamfi was fouled outside of the area, before he tried to win a penalty with a blatant dive.

Aasgaard was judged to have fouled the Pittodrie man with the Gers narrowly leading at 2-1 early in the second-half.

The free-kick went nowhere and Rangers went on to secure a comfortable victory, but the decision still riled up Stewart and Hackett.

What did Michael Stewart say on Thelo Aasgaard incident in Rangers win?

Rangers moved to within three points of Hearts, second in the Scottish Premiership, but it may have been a different story had Stephen Robinson’s side made more of the free-kick.

Stewart was astounded by MacDermid’s call, he could not believe that it was given as a foul, as there was minimal contact, if any.

Speaking on Premier Sports on 21 March, he said: “That’s not a free kick, the second one is embarrassing, but that’s not a free kick.”

He later added: “I find it incredible.”

What did Keith Hackett say about the controversy?

Hackett was in full agreement with Stewart, and believes that the referee was not focused enough, that is why he made the mistake.

Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, he said: “I agree with the commentator here and suggest that a lack of concentration by the referee led to this error.

“Certainly not an offence and therefore not a free kick.”

Rangers’ referee complants will surely only increase

Rangers have proposed a meeting with the other Scottish Premiership clubs over the standards of refereeing in the division.

Ibrox officials are proactively trying to improve the quality of the officiating crews so that mistakes do not happen as often as they currently do.

They are understood to have held discussions with the Scottish FA’s head of refereeing, Willie Collum, and the issue has also been raised at board level.

This incident will surely only help their case, and they will use it as evidence to support their claims that the standards are not good enough.

Something has to change, the title race is so close and decisions that referees make could decide the destination of the championship, so it is imperative that they are the right ones.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.