Breaking News:Cyriel Dessers reveals what he told ref before VAR U turn as Rangers star couldn’t believe
Crestfallen Craig Levein may have had no idea ‘what the f**k happened’ with Rangers’ Hampden opener but Cyriel Dessers insists there’s no need for debate.
The Nigerian fired the goal that got the holders off and running against Levein’s St Johnstone side in Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup clash at the national stadium. But it was allowed to stand only after yet another shambolic VAR hold up. Initially ruled out by ref Matthew MacDermid for a foul on Perth defender Jack Sanders, it was then allowed to stand after the whistler was sent to the screen to review the incident at the monitor.
The actual coming together between Dessers and his Saints opponent was relatively easy to tidy up given there was clearly no foul by the Rangers striker. What proved harder to untangle was claims MacDermid had blown his whistle before the Gers frontman had fired his shot into Josh Rae’s net.
The official was certainly signalling with his arms for a foul but while the SFA have released a statement insisting there was no whistle, Levein says his St Johnstone players are adamant they heard a peep and that’s why they stopped in their tracks before Dessers let fly. It was a mess alright but for Dessers, there’s a perfectly straight forward explanation for the whole episode.
Talking through his version of events, the 29-year-old said: “I saw a through ball from Rabbi. I saw it in my pathway so I bent my run and while I was running, I felt a big foot on my ankle. But instead of going down and maybe appealing for a penalty or a free-kick, I went through, I passed the other defender and could get a finish.
“As I was celebrating, I saw that everybody had stopped. So I looked around and saw that the referee had whistled for I don’t know what. I was a little bit surprised as for me there wasn’t a lot going on in this phase.
I think he cleared the goal so my feeling was right. For me, there was absolutely no foul because I didn’t try to trip him or whatever. My foot was on the ground and his foot was on top of mine, so I think it was earlier on the ball and in the pathway of the ball.
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