Keith Hackett reacts to Emmanuel Fernandez incident in Rangers draw vs Dundee United as footage emerges
Emmanuel Fernandez was relieved to get away with a controversial moment in Rangers’ draw with Dundee United on Wednesday.
Rangers drew 2-2 with Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership, with Danny Rohl‘s team now having drawn three consecutive games across all competitions.
The home side went ahead twice through Zachary Sapsford and Amar Fatah, but were denied the three points when Nedim Bajrami converted a 98th minute penalty.
Rangers hired Rohl in October, with the German tasked with turning around what had been a dismal start to the season under Russell Martin.
Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart left Rangers last week, with both men having been key in the appointment of Rohl.
Keith Hackett praises David Dickinson after penalty incident
Refereeing has, again, been a hot topic of conversation in Scotland this season.
Rangers were outraged by several decisions in their Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic, with the club making an official complaint to the Scottish Football Association.
But the Gers have been on the other side, too, with Livingston boss David Martindale left raging when Fernandez appeared to block a shot with his arm at Ibrox.
| Dundee United | Match stats | Rangers |
| 33% | Possession | 67% |
| 13 | Shots | 32 |
| 6 | Shots on target | 10 |
| 2 | Big chances | 7 |
| 1.24 | Expected goals (xG) | 4.27 |
| 8 | Corners | 9 |
And it was the defender involved in another controversial moment against Dundee United on Wednesday. With the home side in the ascendancy, the 24-year-old looked to misjudge the flight of the ball, with it striking his arm as it came down.
Referee David Dickinson waved away protests, with video assistant referee Don Robertson swiftly checking and confirming the on-field decision.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett was happy to back the officials’ decision.
“The Referee and VAR made good judgement on this alleged handball incident,” Hackett explained.
“The hand arm starting point is in a natural position. As the ball moves close to his body the player is withdrawing his arm away from the ball in an attempt to it striking.
“His hand did come into contact with the ball at the point at which the player is moving it away from the ball. There is no movement of hand to ball. Correct decision by the match officials.”
Jim Goodwin offers surprising reaction to Rangers controversy
In the immediate aftermath of the handball incident on Wednesday, much of the protests came from the fans, rather than the Dundee United players.
Speaking after the game, manager Jim Goodwin surprisingly backed the decision, despite the incident having likely cost his team two points.
“I’ve watched it back and the ball definitely does hit the defender’s arm in the box,” he said. “In the early part of the season, that might have been given.
“I think the threshold has been raised and all of us managers are quite happy with that. It would have been nice to have been given it but I’d be disappointed if my defender was punished in that situation. I’ve got no blame to the officials tonight.”