Hutton points to John Lundstram as Rangers v Celtic controversy analysed
Alan Hutton has claimed referee Nick Walsh was right not to send off Connor Goldson when Rangers took on Celtic on Saturday (3 September).
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Gers right-back said Goldson will have felt he was doing the right thing by making the tackle on Daizen Maeda.
As shown on Sportscene (3 September), the 29-year-old clattered into Maeda in the second half of the Old Firm clash.
The defender lunged at the Celtic forward who was running into the Gers’ final third.
Referee Nick Walsh showed Goldson a yellow card following the incident.
The centre-back also had a coming together with Jota in the first half where he appeared to elbow the Hoops winger in the face but the referee took no action.
The Light Blues went on to lose the game 4-0 and are now five points behind their Glasgow rivals in the Scottish Premiership table.
Hutton likened the challenge to John Lundstram’s red card against Hibernian that was ultimately downgraded to a booking.
“We all knew what he was doing,” Hutton told Football Insider.
“Maeda has got the pace, he was running into the open park so he felt he had to bring him down. I think it is a yellow.
“We’ve seen it before with Lundstram getting sent off for the same type of thing, I thought the Lundstram one was worse even though he was sent off and it got downgraded to a yellow, I think overall a yellow was the right call.
“It’s a cynical foul, nobody wants to see it but in professional football, when you’re in that moment, you feel that it’s the right decision to make and that’s what he did.“
In other news, Alan Hutton has claimed Jon McLaughlin to be axed from Rangers XI after ‘huge’ development.