Scott Allan baffled by John Souttar moment in Rangers draw vs Livingston, it ended up costing his team
Scott Allan has taken aim at John Souttar for the role that he played for Rangers in their 2-2 draw with Livingston on Sunday afternoon.
The Gers are now four points behind Hearts in the race for the Scottish Premiership title, as they were left to rue missed opportunities after failing to find a way past the division’s bottom club.
Danny Rohl’s side found themselves up against a two-goal deficit shortly after half-time, before Cristian Montano’s red card on the hour mark changed the complexion of the game.
Emmanuel Fernandez and Mikey Moore both scored inside the final 10 minutes to rescue a point for the Glasgow giants, but it could easily have been all three were it not for a blunder from Souttar.
Scott Allan confused by John Souttar: ‘I don’t know why…’
Souttar penned a new contract at Rangers in the days leading up to the trip to take on Livingston, but he has quickly found himself back in the firing line once again after a disappointing result.
The centre-back conceded a free-kick on the left wing midway through the Gers half, which eventually resulted in Lewis Smith lashing home the second goal for the hosts in the 56th minute.
Souttar was marshalling Macaulay Tait down the touchline as he carried the ball out of the midfield, only to then make a challenge from an awkward angle and concede a free-kick, despite his opponent seemingly having no support.
It was a moment that Allan was keen to pick up on during his analysis of the game on Sportscene on Sunday night, and he was left baffled by the Scotland international’s decision to try and win the ball.
“Going to a three at the back allowed Livingston to drop into a five when they didn’t have possession,” the former Celtic midfielder said.
“It’s Tait in this instance travelling with the ball. I don’t know why Souttar thinks he has to win the ball there, he just has to stay alongside Tait. He’s got nowhere to go and he tries to nick the ball.
“You’ve got to be 100 per cent certain you can win the ball there, and he doesn’t.”
Souttar’s error has effectively cost Rangers the game
Rohl would have been frustrated with his team’s inability to make their dominance count, given that they fired 31 shots at Livingston’s goal across the 90 minutes, but the reality is that their issues came at the other end of the pitch.
They were completely dominant against their struggling hosts, who had just five efforts on goal throughout the afternoon.
The fact that Rangers managed to concede twice from such little threat should be a major concern to Rohl, and with that in mind, Souttar’s error has effectively cost his team the three points.
It was hard to see where a second goal would have come from for Livingston during the final half an hour, but they had an ideal opportunity to swing the ball into the Rangers box handed to them on a plate.
Struggling teams can easily become a threat once they are handed a leg up into a game, and that is actually what Souttar’s poor decision-making did on this occasion.