Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield was shown a straight red card for clattering into Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal in their 2-1 Scottish Premiership win
Rangers’ impressive 2-1 win away at a free-falling Hearts on Sunday means the Glasgow giants are top of the Scottish Premiership table for the first time in seven years.
But a brilliant victory was still rather overshadowed by an unsightly incident involving Gers midfielder Scott Arfield.
The former Burnley midfielder slid in recklessly and clattered into Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal with around 20 minutes remaining at Tynecastle and, after being surrounded by a number of clearly incensed home players, Arfield was shown a straight red card.
Fortunately, Zlamal was able to avoid serious injury. And, speaking to the Edinburgh News, the shot-stopper has admitted that the incident could have gone a lot worse.
“I think it was a red card because sometimes the goalkeeper has to be protected, especially when we have the ball,” said the 33-year-old Zlamal, who has one cap for the Czech Republic.
“I saw him coming but I couldn’t bring the ball in to my body because, if I do that, it’s a goal. My body was behind the line so I just kept the ball in front of me and I prayed. I was lucky that nothing happened to me.
“Sometimes this happens in football but the player has to be given a red card. The referee made a good decision and after that Rangers had to play with 10 players. I believed we would win at that point, or we would score to get a draw.”
Arfield is hardly the type of player to intentionally cause harm to opposition players so maybe this incident can be written off as a rush of blood from a player who saw an opportunity to score a goal.
And, speaking to Rangers’ official website, manager Steven Gerrard admitted that he had no complains when Arfield was sent for an early bath.
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