Jim Goodwin blames referee John Beaton for Aberdeen's failure to take a point against Rangers at Ibrox

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin believes referee John Beaton cost his team what he claims would have been a merited point against Rangers at Ibrox.

Aberdeen Manager Jim Goodwin with referee John Beaton at full-time. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Goodwin was unhappy with Beaton’s failure to award a free-kick against Rangers defender Calvin Bassey in the passage of play leading up to Kemar Roofe scoring the only goal of the game nine minutes from time.

“I cannot let the goal go without talking about the foul on Calvin Ramsay in the build-up,” said Goodwin.

“The first cross that comes into the box from James Tavernier, I think it was, Ramsay is at the back post about to head the ball and Bassey pushes him off the pitch.

Aberdeen Manager Jim Goodwin. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

“I thought that was a simple decision for the referee. From the next passage of play, the ball ends up in the back of our net.

“I think we deserved a 0-0. Rangers won’t have enjoyed that 90 minutes as we didn’t make life easy for them.

“I am extremely disappointed to take nothing from the game. I thought the overall performance merited a point. I am not going to say we should have won the game as we didn’t carry enough attacking threat in the final third, but I thought, with the shape and structure defensively, the team were brilliant.

“Joe Lewis only had a couple of shots on target to deal with over 90 minutes, which is great credit to the boys.

“I am extremely disappointed with the goal we conceded - particularly as we defended pretty much every cross that came into the box really well.

"We came here to try and have a go and I don’t think anyone can say we parked the bus. We tried to be aggressive with the way we pressed them and forced numerous turnovers in the first half.

“It wasn’t like we sat deep for 90 minutes. There was a real bit of fatigue setting in in the last 15 or 20 minutes and that is why we ended up sitting as deep as we did.

"That performance, in terms of commitment and effort and organisation, was similar to the game against Dundee United at Pittodrie, which we should have won. That hard work and effort has to be a minimum requirement consistently week after week.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.