Philippe Clement and Nick Montgomery disagree over 'reckless' red card challenge as Rangers win Scottish Cup tie

Rangers manager Philippe Clement and Hibs head coach Nick Montgomery disagreed over key decisions after the visitors won a fiery Scottish Cup 2-0 at Easter Road.

Rangers took the lead midway through the first half when John Lundstram pounce to knock in the rebound after David Marshall had save James Tavernier’s penalty.

Fabio Silva added Rangers’ second seven minutes from time but only after Hibernian had been reduced to nine men.

Jordan Obita was dismissed first, picking up a second yellow card for using an arm to stop Rabbi Matondo from getting away from him.

Nathan Moriah-Welsh was then shown a straight red for a lunging challenge on Lundstram.

Rangers boss Clement has said that he was not surprised by either and said he felt it was important that officials acted on reckless challenges that had the potential to hurt an opponent.

“I didn’t see them back,” the Belgian said. “But if you put your hand or an arm in a face you can get the yellow.

“That everybody knows. And the (Moriah-Welsh) tackle was a few yards away from me.

“It’s a reckless tackle with your studs in front. And it doesn’t matter. Then if you break a leg or not. It’s just reckless. So I think it’s important to get that kind of tackles out of the game because we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks sometimes where we didn’t get this red card. I was not happy about that.

“Also that moment, I think it’s not good for Scottish football, English football, Belgian football, German football, tackles like that. Players need to know that if you tackle like that, that’s you get a red card. It’s for nobody good. Because it’s a danger to injure somebody if you’re going like that.”

Hibernian head coach Nick Montgomery disagreed with his counterpart, saying that Lundstram’s reaction had played a part in the decision and that there was no intent to hurt the player from Moriah-Welsh.

He said: “I haven’t seen Jordan’s incident to be honest. I know he was on a yellow. He tried to hold Matondo off but apparently he’s caught him on the back of the head with his arm.

“Jordan is an experienced player so, if he has done something that is deemed a yellow card, you don’t want that.

“Nathan is just 21 years old, he’s new to first-team football. And, to be honest, it was right in front of me.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for John Lundstram. He’s a top, top player. But I thought the way he went down, Nathan didn’t catch him.

“I’ve seen that one back and he’s gone across him to try to block him playing a ball down the line, probably knock it out for a throw-in. But John has gone down.

“And the referee was very quick to give the card. To be honest, I was really surprised he didn’t go to the VAR monitor to have a look, considering it was three metres from where the incident happened.”

Hibernian also issued an update on Martin Boyle’s condition after the player was taken off following a collision that Montgomery said left him with a slight concussion and some neck pain.

A Hibs statement read: “Hibernian FC can confirm that Martin Boyle is now in a stable condition in hospital.

“The winger went straight to hospital after the first half collision against Rangers and is receiving the best possible care.

“The club would like to thank the speed of both clubs’ medical departments in attending to Martin on the pitch.

“Everyone at Hibernian FC wishes Martin a speedy recovery.”

Hibernian FC can confirm that Martin Boyle is now in a stable condition in hospital.

Everyone at Hibs wishes Martin a speedy recovery 💚
— Hibernian Football Club (@HibernianFC) March 10, 2024