Tony Docherty blasted VAR after the awarding of a penalty kick to Rangers in Dundee’s 3-1 defeat at Ibrox.
The Dark Blues had taken a surprise lead after five minutes thanks to Amadou Bakayoko’s close-range strike before Cyriel Dessers equalised on 20 minutes.
Then came the moment that infuriated the Dens Park boss after referee Kevin Clancy was called to the monitor by the video assistant, Steven Kirkland.
After playing on in open play, the referral saw the referee change his decision and James Tavernier converted to make it 2-1.
“I’m hugely disappointed with the decision to give the penalty kick and VAR’s involvement in it,” the Dundee boss fumed.
“The image presented to Kevin Clancy favours the penalty being given but the reality is there is bustling in the box, Sima has hold of Aaron Donnelly’s shirt and Kevin Clancy deemed that to be OK.
“He then gets shown an image in a real pivotal moment of the game at 1-1.
“You need things to go for you and that one went against us.”
He added: “I had a conversation with Kevin Clancy and I thought he had a really good game.
“It’s difficult because we are re-refereeing games.
“Kevin Clancy’s positioning is good and it’s not a clear and obvious error.
“My problem with it is the image he gets shown.
“If I see that image I’d give a penalty kick but you need to take it into context.”
‘Should do more’
Sima would then add a third after 34 minutes before the game took another turn courtesy of VAR.
A Jose Cifuentes tackle on Amadou Bakayoko initially drew a yellow card from Clancy.
However, a second trip to the monitor saw that upgraded to a red.
Docherty, though, felt his side missed a chance against the 10 men to come back in the second period.
“We should do more in the second half,” the Dundee boss said.
“We put on wide players in Charlie Reilly and Scott Tiffoney and we needed to feed them more.
“We’ll take ownership of that and make sure we get better at that.
“Again I can’t be hard on the boys because they’ve been fantastic for me but it does feel a bit like a missed opportunity.”
Beck and Portales
Meanwhile, a tough result brought more frustration with two key injury worries for the Dark Blues.
Loan star Owen Beck missed the Premiership clash thanks to a groin complaint.
And after just 26 minutes Dundee lost another key defender in Mexican Antonio Portales when he pulled up with a hamstring injury.
“That was disappointing because Antonio is so important to me and has been fantastic,” Docherty said.
“He’s been a real positive this season.
“So that’s a real disappointment and we’ll assess it to see how he is.”
On Beck, Docherty added: “Beck was a big blow before the game.
“Unfortunately he picked up a wee groin strain during the week. We got it scanned and we hoped he’d be fit for this one but not to be.
“We’ll be pushing for him to be back next week.”
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