Dougie Imrie has his say on Rangers-Morton penalty incidents - 'nine times out of ten it's given'

Proud Morton manager Dougie Imrie believes both penalties awarded in his team’s 2-1 Viaplay Cup defeat by Rangers at Ibrox were soft.

Dougie Imrie was proud of his Morton players' performance at Ibrox.

The Greenock visitors were given a spot-kick on 53 minutes after Cyriel Dessers fouled Kirk Broadfoot, before Rangers got one of their own seven minutes later when Broadfoot tugged Leon Balogun’s shirt in the box. Referee David Dickinson was advised on both occasions by VAR Gavin Duncan to consult the pitch-side monitor and subsequently pointed to the spot.

"I can’t say aye or no,” Imrie said. I’ve not seen it. I’m not saying they are or or but from my view both were soft. I’d need to see them again though. With VAR you don’t know what’s going on then it stops and the screen goes up for a penalty check. But as soon as the referee comes over, it’s a penalty. I can only remember one in the play-off final that was overturned by Nick Walsh. Nine times out of ten it’s a pen. VAR is new to us. We had it in January at Celtic Park when it went against us.”

Morton were in the match from start to finish against their higher-ranked opponents and Imrie was full of praise for his players. “I can take a lot of positives,” he said. “My team were terrific and I’m really proud of them. A VAR decision and mistake cost us but better teams will come here and get battered. So for the 90 minutes we were brilliant.”