Philippe Clement bemoans penalty award in Rangers’ win against Hibernian

Rangers boss Philippe Clement questioned penalty criteria after Hibernian missed from the spot in their 1-0 Premiership defeat at Ibrox.

Tom Lawrence put Rangers in front with a wonderful curling finish in the 34th minute, but just before the break – after taking a look at his pitchside monitor – referee Nick Walsh awarded a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Light Blues defender John Souttar inside the box.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland saved Mykola Kukharevych’s spot-kick but Rangers manager Clement stood up in his post-match media conference to demonstrate why Souttar could not naturally lift his leg to block without initially lifting his arms, which left him puzzled as to why a penalty was given.

He said: “No, I totally don’t agree about the penalty decision.

“We had these discussions with the referee department before the season and it was really constructive, with almost all the managers there.

“And you’ve seen a clear change in the first week of the season.

“There were several moments that there were no penalties given in situations where last year there was a penalty. This one is for me in that line.

“The ball comes and John wants to block the ball so he puts his leg up.

“Maybe I better stand up. Maybe I’m not as mobile as him, but he puts his leg up.

“You cannot put your leg up with your arms like that (behind the back), that’s impossible. So he puts his leg up so he needs to find balance.

“So his arms are like that (out) when he puts his leg up. And then he sees the arm is going to get contact and it’s too late.

“And his natural reflex is to make himself smaller, to put his arm in front of him. And from one metre, the ball hits him and his arm goes up like that.

“I want to ask them what a player can do different in that situation? It’s impossible. It’s biology, it’s bio-dynamics.

“I’ve seen good decisions in the last couple of weeks where the player’s arm was away from their body and it was not a penalty and it was also correct for me.

“It’s important that everybody understands and is aligned and that we can make the right decisions for the future.”

Clement believes a lacklustre performance could be blamed on the noon kick-off for television, with the squad arriving home late on Thursday night following their 2-0 Europa League win against Malmo in Sweden.

He said: “You play today at 12pm after a European trip where you come home around 2am at the training ground, then you need to drive back home so players sleep, if they are lucky, around 4am.

“You have lost one night of sleep, you have one night of sleep and this one is also a short one because you need to wake up really early to be ready for the game.

“So almost everybody who played on Thursday and even the guys who didn’t play, they were less fresh than in the last couple of weeks.”

Hibernian manager David Gray believed the penalty decision was correct “because of where it is on the pitch and where the ball’s going” but acknowledged that was only one of several missed opportunities.

He said: “It’s mixed emotions for me, really. Quite frustrated. You never accept losing games, ever, but I can’t fault the players’ effort.

“But there are big moments in big games. And you know you get the opportunity with a penalty.

“But even missing the penalty, I thought we reacted really well with that as well. It’s almost like Rangers getting a goal when their goalkeeper makes the save – so the reaction from the players was excellent.

“I thought if we had got one goal, we could have gone on and won the game.

“I felt that we created loads of chances, 18 shots, something like that.

“But we also need to make sure that we try and take one of the chances – because you don’t often get as many as that when you come here.”