Keith Hackett flags refereeing error in Rangers win vs St Mirren after reviewing footage

Keith Hackett believes Jacob Devaney was fortunate to escape any action for his first-half challenge on Youssef Chermiti in Rangers‘ win at St Mirren.

Rangers came away from Paisley with a rather underwhelming 1-0 victory that keeps them in the Scottish Premiership title picture.

The first half saw a number of tasty challenges, one of which – Devaney on Chermiti – went unpunished by referee Steven McLean.

Danny Rohl will just be happy to have claimed a win at St Mirren, but it was far from a vintage Rangers performance.

Jacob Devaney challenge goes unpunished by Steven McLean

Devaney, as can be seen in the clip below, went in hard on Chermiti and got nothing of the ball.

Chermiti went down in pain, yet McLean did not feel the need to reach into his pocket and caution the St Mirren man.

Reacting to the footage, former PGMOL chief Hackett exclusively told Ibrox News: “This was a reckless challenge and should have resulted in a yellow card.

“The referee clearly did not have a good viewing angle.”

Some Rangers fans may feel it was worthy of even more, but a yellow card would have been the right outcome on this occasion.

Rangers almost badly let down in one area

All that mattered was that Rangers came away from Paisley with all three points, of course, but this was not a great performance.

The Bears had numerous chances to kill off the contest after Tuur Rommens’ opener a little over half an hour in, but they simply could not find the cutting edge.

With just one goal in it, Rangers were always left open to a sucker-punch from St Mirren, although that did not arrive.

Rohl’s men are now within three points of leaders Hearts on a weekend that saw the title race spark right back into life thanks to the leaders’ loss at Kilmarnock on Saturday.

More performances like this in the final third and Rangers can kiss goodbye to those title hopes, with Chermiti in particular having to step up.

For now, Rohl’s side can rest up ready for next Saturday’s clash with Aberdeen at Ibrox.

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