MIKE McCURRY today admitted he got two major decisions WRONG in Rangers' 3-1 defeat of Dundee United.
Tannadice boss Craig Levein blasted the referee at Ibrox on Saturday. He felt United should have had a penalty when Davie Weir brought down Noel Hunt. He also thought they had a perfectly good goal chalked off for offside.
TV pictures backed Levein, and today McCurry AGREED.
On the SFA Whistleblower website, McCurry confessed: "In the 55th minute of the match, Rangers were in possession and attempted to clear it from their defensive area. As is normal practice, I started to run towards the half way line, anticipating the ball being cleared.
"The clearance, however, struck Noel Hunt, who then played a very quick one-two, allowing him to chase the ball into the area closely followed by David Weir.
"Given the very quick change of the direction of play, I was caught out of position and my line of sight was partially obstructed by another player. I saw Hunt fall with Weir in close proximity behind him. As my vantage point was extremely poor it was not
possible for me to say what, or if any infringement had occurred.
"Given this significant doubt it would have been improper for me to simply conclude that an infringement had occurred on the opposite side of the field from me. I had no
option but to allow play to
continue amid the appeal for a penalty kick.
"I have now seen the
incident on TV. I believe were it not for the fact I had been caught out of
position I would have awarded United a penalty and cautioned Weir. In my opinion another defender had the possible opportunity to make a challenge."
McCurry went on: "In 71mins, Danny Swanson shot from 30-35 yards. The ball appeared to me to be deflected off a
Rangers player and
entered the goal.
"As I turned to award a goal to United, the stand side assistant (Stuart Macaulay) had his flag raised. He informed me a United player had been in an offside position and had played the ball prior to it entering the goal.
"I informed him it
appeared to me the ball was deflected off a Rangers player. The assistant told me he had not seen it touch a Rangers player, but had definitely seen it played by the United player, David Robertson.
"Given that Robertson was behind the Rangers player, I could not tell if the ball had been played by him last. Consequently, I decided to accept the advice of my assistant.
"Again, having reviewed
the incident on TV, it is clear the ball is not played by Robertson who was, however, technically in an offside position.
"I can understand the difficulty faced by my assistant referee in this incident and why, David Robertson may have been considered offside.
"With the benefit of seeing the incident on TV, I would have allowed the goal to stand."
The Rangers Supporters Trust today called for Gers fans to boycott Tannadice next season.
Swede Peter Frojdfeldt will referee the Uefa Cup Final against Zenit.
Kenny Clark is man-in-the-middle for the final SPL game against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, while Stuart Dougal will referee Dundee United v Celtic.