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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Fraser Wilson

Graham Alexander tells Rangers Gio van Bronckhorst is wrong as he insists VAR claims would have delivered two Motherwell wins

Graham Alexander has rubbished Gio Van Bronckhorst’s claims Rangers would have beaten Motherwell with VAR.

And the Motherwell boss insists video assistants would actually have seen his own side beat Gers TWICE in the last year instead of having to settle for draws.

Van Bronckhorst was furious after the Steelmen dented the Ibrox title defence by fighting back from 2-0 down to draw in Govan on Sunday.

The Dutchman was incensed over the equaliser - claiming Liam Shaw was offside in the build-up after Alfredo Morelos had seen two goals chalked off by Don Robertson for offside earlier in the game.

He slammed: “Again it is the refs that decide it. I think with the build up to the second goal, the player (Shaw) was offside and we scored two goals which were even closer with Morelos. With VAR, we would have won this game.”

But asked if van Bronckhorst’s comments were fair Alexander hit back: “No. I thought the decisions I saw on TV were right.

“Liam was offside about 35 seconds before we actually scored the equaliser.

“They had possession of the ball three times before that. It went out of the box, back in and it was the third phase after that we scored.

“Liam looked offside from the pass but 35 seconds before the goal I don’t think we are getting into that territory - VAR is about the immediate lead up to goals.

“Liam being offside didn’t have any significant part to play in the goal.

“If we had VAR in the last year we’d already have beaten them twice. That’s the reality.”

Alexander was referring to a 1-1 draw at Fir Park last season - his second game in charge - where Cedric Itten rescued a point for Rangers from what looked an offside position.

Again earlier this season the sides drew 1-1 at Ibrox but TV replays showed Fashion Sakala was offside when he bundled home Rangers’ opener.

The Well boss added: “If we are talking over the last 12 months then I’d not have minded VAR as well because the decision would have been proven right on Sunday and we’d have had two wins.”

And Alexander had words of praise for Robertson and his officials. He added: “It takes a strong personality to ref what they see and I thought he did that.

“We all need that because the officials are under intense pressure in these places.”

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