A REPORT from referee supervisor Kenny Hope will decide the fate of
Hearts' forward Alan Lawrence after he clashed in an off-the-ball
incident with Rangers' defender Craig Moore, leaving the young
Australian lying on the ground clutching his face.
Referee Mike Pocock from Aberdeen waved on the Ibrox physio when play
had ended following Oleg Salenko's fourth goal but he refused to consult
his linesman as Rangers' players protested furiously. Keeper Andy Goram,
who raced from goal to make his feelings known, was yellow carded for
his trouble.
The Hearts' player, however, escaped although the clear indications
were that he had elbowed Moore in the face as the pair went for a
through ball.
Television cameras missed the incident, too, but it would be
surprising if the experienced supervisor also failed to see what
happened.
This clash occurred in the general area of the Ibrox pitch where the
now-infamous Duncan Ferguson head butt took place. That was spotted by
the supervisor who, on that day, would have had the same vantage point
as Mr Hope.
It may seem wrong to Hearts that, while the referee took no action,
their player -- banned from discussing the clash -- may find himself in
trouble.
But with the Ferguson affair, the Scottish Football Association
released the genies from the bottle by over-ruling the match official
that day. Now they are left to contemplate a future where the referee's
decision is never again going to be final despite what the Laws of the
Game may tell us.
It will be interesting to see the outcome once Hope's report reaches
Park Gardens.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article