Hibs feeling robbed of point after whistler fails to award 'stonewall' penalty at Ibrox

HIBS left Ibrox with a raging sense of injustice once again, convinced referee Mike McCurry had robbed them of a point as he waved aside claims for a penalty.

There was little doubt that John O’Neil’s cross had hit the hand of Bert Konterman - which was far above his head - as the Dutchman tangled with Mixu Paatelainen.

Konterman’s touch took the ball off the veteran striker’s head, McCurry agreeing the Rangers substitute had made contact with the ball as he awarded Bobby Williamson’s side a corner, the official apparently telling the Hibs players his action had been "unintentional".

Whether or not that was the case, and every player who has ever conceded a spot-kick will insist it was nothing more than an accident, Konterman denied Paatelainen a clear goal-scoring opportunity and with it the chance of hauling Hibs level.

McCurry’s decision, alas, did no more than again add weight to the firm belief of fans of clubs other than the Old Firm that Rangers and Celtic always get the benefit when it comes to the big decisions.

Before this match Williamson had called for McCurry to be strong. However, just as Dougie McDonald had buckled in failing to award Dunfermline a penalty against Rangers in last Thursday’s CIS Cup tie, McCurry, too, bottled it.

But it was not only that decision which left Williamson in a rage afterwards, the Hibs boss was convinced his declaration before the action got underway that Old Firm players are dealt with differently - a word of caution often replacing a yellow card - was fully vindicated by McCurry’s performance.

In all, five Hibs players were booked and 35 fouls awarded against the Easter Road side as McCurry often appeared to let the 48,000 or so Rangers fans within the stadium influence his decisions.

Asked if he was disappointed to have lost given a stirring second-half performance from Hibs which turned the home crowd into a bunch of gibbering wrecks as his side threatened to hit back from the loss of two goals to snatch a point, Williamson replied: "I thought we’d at least take a penalty. It was a stonewall penalty, it hit his hand.

"Why has the referee not given it? He gave us a corner, but the ball hit his hand which was above his head, not down by his side as it was when he gave a free-kick against Tam McManus when the ball hit his hand.

"He told our players it was unintentional - how can that be when his hand is above his head. All we are asking for is parity, but every time we play them we are getting players booked."

It may sound a case of sour grapes from Williamson but a couple of statistics are worth considering; in the past five years Rangers have only had three spot-kicks awarded against them in a league match at Ibrox and so far this season seven Premierleague teams - including Hibs - have yet to gain a penalty while the Govan outfit have had five.

That, of course, may be down to the fact that they are camped in and around the opposition’s penalty area for much of each domestic game they play - but that doesn’t excuse referees turning a blind eye to blatant offences within their own box. And McManus, who latched onto a Paatelainen flick to loft the ball over Stefan Klos after Michael Mols and Shota Arveladze had put Rangers ahead in a spell during which they threatened to totally overrun Hibs, echoed his manager’s words.

He said: "It was a stonewall penalty in my opinion and the other players. Mixu got in behind Konterman, the ball was right on his head and I am sure he would have got a header on target until Konterman volley-balled the ball away.

"But you don’t get them in these places. We also picked up a lot of bookings for nothing. In my case I made one tackle in the whole game, it was a bad one but I don’t think I deserved a booking.

"However, if you commit a foul here the fans are all screaming and perhaps the referee was swayed a bit."

The row over McCurry’s performance, though, shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow what was a superb battling performance from Hibs after the interval, a 45 minutes in which they virtually silenced the home crowd as they threatened to take a point which looked highly unlikely after only a few minutes.

Mols, Lorenzo Amoruso and Arveladze had all passed up reasonable chances before Mols got on the end of Fernando Ricksen’s low cross to rattle the ball home off the underside of the bar - all this with only ten minutes on the clock.

In the face of such an onslaught, one which wasn’t totally unexpected, Hibs had to make the most of their rare chances and Garry O’Connor might have done better than toe-poke a Paatelainen knock-down straight at Klos, but it came as no surprise when Arveladze cheekily back-heeled the ball home after Colgan couldn’t hold Ricksen’s close-range shot.

But McManus’ strike on the stroke of half-time gave Hibs hope and after the interval it was they, and not a decidedly nervous looking Rangers side, who held sway with Klos having to produce his best to touch an O’Connor strike over.

Then came that controversial moment with just 15 minutes remaining, an incident which left Hibs wondering just what might have been in the search for a first win at Ibrox in seven years.

Williamson said: "We could have been dead and buried in the first 45 minutes, we did not defend well and changed things but even then we defended badly.

"But in the second half we had Rangers under pressure. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get that goal back."

HIBS under-18s went down 3-1 to Rangers at Murray Park on Saturday although Kevin Thompson, following his winners against Hearts and East Fife, scored for the third game in succession. The youngsters now face Aberdeen at Fauldhouse on Wednesday (kick-off 1pm) in a re-arranged fixture.

The facts

GOALS

Rangers: Mols (10), Arveladze (34)

Hibs: McManus (45)

SHOTS ON TARGET: Rangers 4, Hibs 3

SHOTS OFF TARGET: Rangers 5, Hibs 2

CORNERS: Rangers 5, Hibs 5

OFFSIDES: Rangers 9, Hibs 3

FOULS AGAINST: Rangers 7, Hibs 35

BOOKINGS: Rangers: None. Hibs: James, McManus, Paatelainen, Luna, Zambernardi

ATTENDANCE: 48,798

NEXT MATCH: v Dundee (h), Saturday, Premieleague

Ref watch

MIKE McCURRY’S failure to award Hibs a penalty summed up what most Easter Road fans’ belief that he favoured the home side on virtually every occasion.

Top shot

GARRY O’CONNOR brought out the best in Stefan Klos with a first-time shot which the Rangers goalkeeper did well to push over his bar.

Top save

IT counted for little at the end of the day, but NICK COLGAN showed he still had his wits about him as he somehow managed to claw away Barry Ferguson’s free-kick deep into injury time.

Team line-ups

Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso (Konterman 52), Numan, Ferguson, Caniggia (Latapy 66), Mols, Malcolm, Ross, Arteta (Hughes 57), Arveladze. Subs not used: McGregor, Dodds.

Hibs: Colgan, Fenwick, Smith, Zambernardi, McManus, Orman (O’Neil 66), Brebner, Wiss, James, O’Connor (Luna 62), Paatelainen. Subs not used: Caig, Jack, Doumbe.

Star man

HIBS’ big veteran striker MIXU PAATELAINEN was a thorn in Rangers’ flesh throughout the match at Ibrox with his strength and aerial power, those assets leading to Tam McManus’ goal which gave Hibs fresh hope.

The supporters' view

Alex Glendining, Liberton: "Another good performance from Hibs and it was just bad luck that we didn’t get anything from this game."

Scott Harris, Liberton: "Robbed again by a referee in Glasgow. The Hibs players seemed sure it was a penalty but we get nothing from Rangers, they got all the decisions."

Peter Gray, Boswell: "I thought we were up against it at the start but we finished by far the better team, Brebner was the best player on the park by a mile and it’s great to see John O’Neil back."

Alan Fairfield, Gilmerton: "We totally dominated the second half but we just couldn’t get the second goal we deserved, and again the referee is on their side, I hope he is ashamed of himself for not giving us a penalty."

Dennis Tait, Gilmerton: "We played really well in the second half and should have had at least a draw. Brebner and Wiss ran the midfield and Paatalainen again was outstanding up front."

James Ross, Niddrie: "I thought that Rangers had the first half but we had the second, it was just bad finishing and a poor referee that we didn’t get at least a draw."

James Fallon, Leith: "Robbed again in Glasgow, how can the referees get away with their total bias towards the Old Firm? We should have had a stonewall penalty."

Bob Harper, Easter Road: "We should have had at least a draw as we played well enough; I thought we look more solid with a back four and the midfield also played well, great to see John O’Neil back."