Jermain Defoe was accused of diving as Rangers beat St Mirren 4-0 with the help of four penalties in the Scottish Premiership.
Paul McGinn has joined St Mirren manager Oran Kearney in questioning referee Andy Dallas in the aftermath of the Buddies’ controversial 4-0 thrashing at Rangers at the weekend.
Rangers were awarded four penalties in a bizarre encounter at Ibrox with Dallas’s officiating the centre of a passionate debate after the game.
Speaking to St Mirren’s official website, Kearney claimed that only one of the four spot kicks were correctly awarded while Gers striker Jermain Defoe has been the subject of plenty of criticism over the last 48 hours or so for a perceived dive which apparently deceived the referee in the first half.
And, to make the situation even more intriguing, St Mirren defender McGinn, who was adjudged to have tripped Defoe, has admitted that the Bournemouth loanee had not even asked for a spot-kick.
“I was bemused by the decision. I spoke to Defoe and he said he wasn’t even asking for it. I then spoke to the ref who asked Defoe if he’d dived,” McGinn told the Scottish Sun.
“There was no contact from me, but I don’t think he did dive. He expected I was going to foul him, so when the touch didn’t come he tried to get straight back up.
“I wasn’t looking for him to get booked, I just wanted the ref to make the right call. I told him Defoe wasn’t looking for a penalty but he still pointed to the spot.”
Defoe scored one spot kick with captain James Tavernier converting two others. The right-back failed to make it a hat-trick of spot-kicks, however, as he struck the post in the first-half from 12 yards.
Ryan Kent did add one from open play in the last ten minutes as Rangers stayed within three points of leaders Celtic.
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