Celtic had marched their way into the next round of the Scottish Cup with a 5-1 win over St Mirren. It turned out to be a bit more difficult for the Rangers though, as Michael Beale’s side got themselves a narrow 3-2 win vs Partick Thistle, with a 86th minute strike from James Sands proving to be the difference between the two sides.
There was controversy during the game though. Malik Tillman scored a goal to send the Rangers 2-1 up in the 71th minute of the game.
He had done so by taking the ball off of a Partick Thistle player, when he was looking to return possession to the Rangers following a break in play due to treatment being required. Unsurprisingly, the players of the Championship side did not take the incident well and ultimately, Beale’s side allowed them to score an equaliser.
After the match, Chris Sutton did not seem too impressed with Tillman’s actions. As reported by Football Scotland, the former Celtic star told BBC’s 606:
"“Yeah, there was a big, big controversial incident up there, wasn’t there?“Tillman scoring a goal which he shouldn’t have done.“He shouldn’t have scored because I think he was injured and went back on.“The Partick Thistle players were outraged. Really poor from Tillman.”"
Celtic hero slams Rangers player for his goal vs Partick Thistle
There could have been a lot more controversy around the incident if it ended up having a major impact on the result of the game, whichever side it went to. But ultimately, the Rangers managed to find a winner.
It is safe to say that it was not the right thing to do on the part of Tillman to even consider scoring that goal. And the criticism from Sutton is definitely valid.
The fact of the matter is that the Rangers are in the next round of the Scottish Cup, following their win over Partick Thistle. Of course, Celtic made it as well and have been drawn against Hearts for the quarter-finals, which could prove to be a tight game for the Hoops.