Alan Rough described Nathan Moriah-Welsh’s lunge on John Lundstram during the Rangers cup match at Easter Road as “shocking.”
A day after Steven McLean gave the Hibs player a straight red card for leaving his feet in a flying challenge on the Gers midfielder, the former Scotland goalie responded on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on March 11 by implying it was a Bruce Lee-style martial arts technique.
After the game, Nick Montgomery became unhappy with Lundstram, claiming he hadn’t been captured. However, Philippe Clement stated that such “reckless” challenges had to be prohibited in order to protect the players.
Tam McManus stated that Hibs’ “ill-discipline” at the time was the reason behind Hibs’ three game-changing moments, which included Jordan Obita’s penalty concession and sending off. Stuart Kettlewell, the manager of Motherwell, countered that Hibs had made “50-50 decisions” that his team was on the “wrong side of.”
He referred to Moriah-Welsh’s position off the ground and made a comparison to his own, Dan Casey’s contentious challenge on Ross McCausland one week prior, in which the defender, remaining planted and inflicting damage on the winger, escaped punishment.
Rough, though, was unambiguous (33 minutes, 35 seconds): “I think the sending off was a horrible one.” Before entering the game, I believe the boy had seen a Bruce Lee movie. It was startling.
The Welshman’s challenge to John Lundstram, made by Nathan Moriah, was decisive in the Rangers victory.
While it’s true that the Hibs player was out of control and didn’t do much harm to Lundstram, under the current regulations, that was always going to result in a red card.
It’s obvious that steaming in and then leaving the field is a risky move. Although he could legitimately argue that he had aimed his tackle at a point where the Gers midfielder was never in danger, it’s also true that leaving the field is dangerous because you can’t change directions when needed.
Despite Michael Stewart’s live protests, the decision appeared obvious, and McManus and Kettlewell agreed that Obita’s second yellow was not startling when taken in the context of several minor infractions.
While none of the three rulings proved to be very grave and met the requirements for censure, they are all of the kind that make sense on the surface but also give competitors enough to complain about.
Despite three player injuries and two dismissals during a furious match, Clement’s team emerged victorious and will now play the opposite side of Edinburgh in the semifinals after drawing Hearts.
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