Connor Goldson was again at the centre of a handball debate after Rangers defeated Dundee United at Tannadice.

The centre-back was under the spotlight in the 2-0 win after the ball struck his arm in the penalty box from a corner kick.

Goldson, who was marking Glenn Middleton, had the ball bounce off his arm after coming through a number of bodies ahead of him.

John Lundstram, Borna Barisic, Ian Harkes, Steven Fletcher and Antonio Colak had all attempted to head the ball before it connected with Goldson's right arm.

There were muted claims for a handball after the incident but Dundee United players did not seem to make any major appeal.

Goldson was certainly unaware that the ball was going to strike his arm and was not punished over the incident with VAR not involved after Steven McLean allowed play to conitnue.

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IFAB defines a handball offence as: "For the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit. Not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence."

With this in mind, should Goldson have been penalised and a spot-kick given to Dundee United? 

Well, in the rules, it is clearly set out what constitutes a handball offence. 

Firstly,  "It is an offence if a player: "deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball". For this section of the rule it'd be harsh to award a penalty with Goldson completely unaware of handling the ball.

Another handball offence consideration reads: (it is an offence when a player) "touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger.

"A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation.

"By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised".

With regards to this rule there will always be individual views on the context of the scenario - however, Goldson's arm was in a reasonable position considering he was jostling with Middleton in a congested box.

That's not to say that penalties haven't been given for similar incidents previously this season.

There is a possible argument that Goldson's arm position made his body "unnaturally bigger" but it's unlikely the defender would have been judged to have had his arm in a position "unjustifiable by his movement for that specific situation".

The incident was given short shrift by pundits after the match with Michael Stewart and Kris Boyd certain the decision not to award a penalty was the correct one.

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Stewart was adamant it was not a spot-kick, on Sportscene he stated: "It's not a penalty kick. I mean, we've got to the stage where I feel that we're looking to punish players for doing nothing wrong.

"Look at the amount of bodies that are in front of Connor Goldson there. He has got no way of knowing that that ball is going to come anywhere near him.

"His arm is in a completely normal position playing football when he's defending.

"If you give a penalty kick for that, I just think it's incredibly harsh.

"Here's another thing. That's coming from the corner, right. He's got probably ten bodies in front of him. He's got a millisecond to react if you're saying that he needs to get his arm out of the way.

"He doesn't put his arm in the way, his arm's already there.

"In tennis, right. When they serve, it goes so fast, your eye cannot track the ball as your brain's predicting where it's going to go.

"You've got a ball that's probably a couple of feet when it goes past a player. There's no way that Connor Goldson can be able to react to get his arm out of the way.

"It's impossible. You can't punish him for when his arm's already in position. It's an impossibility for him to get his arm out of the way."

Kris Boyd - speaking on Sky Sports - added: "A few people are probably surprised, but I don't think it's a penalty.

"It's come in from a corner kick - where can you put your hand?

"It's not a deliberate movement towards the ball.

"I think where the confusion is, is that before the World Cup, every single thing that touched the hand it was given as a penalty kick.

"Now the referees have seen some sense and seen that not every handball is a penalty kick.

"I don't know what Connor Goldson is meant to do there, but you go back a few weeks and it probably would have been a penalty.

"But I think VAR, the referees have seen some sense.

"Not every handball is a penalty kick."

Sean Dillon commented: "If that was (given against) me, I'd be raging.

"I don't know what to say anymore, there doesn't seem to be any consistency across the board. Who knows."