Connor Goldson 'dived' to win Rangers penalty as Celtic hero slams 'stupid' Aberdeen defending

Rangers defender Connor Goldson goes down in the Aberdeen box after having his shirt pulled before he is awarded a penalty following a VAR check. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The Dons were within touching distance of securing three points through Bojan Miovski's first-half opener when Stefen Gartenmann was penalised for pulling the shirt of the Rangers centre-back at a corner-kick.

The incident was missed by referee Nick Walsh in real-time but was awarded after VAR operater Andrew Dallas called the match official to the pitchside monitor to conduct a review, with Gartenmann booked for the misdemeanour.

James Tavernier scored his spot-kick to maintain Philippe Clement's unbeaten record as Gers boss and while former Celtic striker Sutton, when pushed, accepted the decision was the correct one, the Sky Sports pundit questioned the antics of Goldson in securing the award.

"He doesn't half make a meal of it does he? He dives," he said. "[The referee] is standing there watching the incident. He doesn't give it. Is that a clear and obvious error?

"He does dive but Barry Robson should be angry with Garterman for actually being stupid enough to pull his shirt. He does pull his shirt but is it enough for him to throw himself to the floor like that? I don’t think so.

"Penalty awarded for stupid shirt-pulling but Connor Goldson has dived."

Fellow pundit Kris Boyd, the former Rangers striker, was in no doubt about the penalty decision and felt Goldson was entitled to go down.

"It is a penalty kick," he stressed. "We can debate it all day long. In this day and age you can't get involved. You run the risk as soon as you start pulling shirts. It's the exact same as the [Rangers] one against Hearts. I know they were aggrieved about it as well and Barry Robson will be the exact same, but it's just lazy defending. If somebody is pulling your shirt then fall down and the referee has got a decision to make."

Former Aberdeen captain Joe Lewis was also on pundit duties for Sky Sports and he disagreed with the decision to award a penalty kick.

"I think it's very harsh," he said. "As soon as you see a still imagine of him holding his shirt then it's hard to argue. But he goes down after he's let go. The defender has got to be cleverer than that. In the 94th minute you can't be grabbing people's shirts in the box.

“If he's had to look at it that many times, over and over again, is it a clear and obvious error? When Goldson falls over no-one is touching his shirt."