Pundit surprised by disputed Easter Road kung fu incident during Rangers vs. Hibs

Alan Rough described Nathan Moriah-Welsh’s assault on John Lundstram during the Rangers cup match at Easter Road as “shocking.”

A day after Steven McLean gave the Hibs player a straight red card for leaving his feet in a flying challenge on the Gers midfielder, the former Scotland goalie responded on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on March 11 by implying it was a Bruce Lee-style martial arts technique.

After the game, Nick Montgomery became unhappy with Lundstram, claiming he hadn’t been captured. However, Philippe Clement stated that such “reckless” challenges had to be prohibited in order to protect the players.

Tam McManus indicated that all three of the game’s flashpoints—Jordan Obita giving up a penalty and getting sent off—had been “50-50 decisions” that his previous team was on the “wrong side of,” while Stuart Kettlewell, the Motherwell manager, blamed Hibs’ “ill-discipline” at the moment.

He drew a comparison between Moriah-Welsh’s off-the-ground position and his own, contentious challenge on Ross McCausland a week prior, in which the defender stayed planted and caused injury to the winger, but was not punished.

Rough, though, was unambiguous (33 minutes, 35 seconds): “I think the sending off was a bad one.” Before entering the game, I believe the boy had seen a Bruce Lee movie. It was startling.

Rangers win despite a Nathan Moriah-Welsh challenge on John Lundstram that was blasted.

While it’s true that the Hibs player was out of control and didn’t do much harm to Lundstram, under the current regulations, that was always going to result in a red card.

It’s obvious that steaming in and then leaving the pitch is a risky move. Although he could legitimately argue that he had aimed his tackle at a point where the Gers midfielder was never in danger, it’s also true that leaving the pitch is dangerous because you can’t change directions when needed.

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Despite Michael Stewart’s live protests, the decision appeared obvious, and McManus and Kettlewell agreed that Obita’s second yellow was not startling when taken in the context of several minor infractions.

While none of the three rulings proved to be very grave and met the requirements for censure, they are all of the kind that make sense on the surface but also give competitors enough to complain about.

Despite three player injuries and two dismissals during a furious match, Clement’s team emerged victorious and will now play the opposite side of Edinburgh in the semifinals after drawing Hearts.

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