Rangers: Jimmy Nicholl hits out at Aberdeen penalty call

The official handed Aberdeen a 14th-minute spot-kick after Kenny McLean hit the deck under pressure from Alfredo Morelos.

But television replays appeared to showed the Colombian frontman got a touch to the ball.

The Dons midfielder tucked home his penalty but Ross McCrorie rescued a vital point for the Ibrox team to send the three-team battle for the runners-up slot to the final day of the season.

Northern Ireland-born Nicholl - who admitted his side’s first-half display went off the rails after the penalty award - said: “We can’t afford (the referee’s decision). If it hadn’t happened we would’ve continued doing what we had been doing during the first 15 minutes you would like to think.

“Whatever threat they had we were dealing with as best we could.

“It wasn’t a penalty and it’s disappointing the referee gave it, especially if there’s a doubt. If there’s no doubt I’d be standing there saying: ‘What are you doing Alfredo? For goodness sake! You’ve cost us the game! I’d understand if it was a blatant, stupid thing to do in the box.

“But it wasn’t obvious. It isn’t August with three games gone. It is the end of the season with two games to go and those were three points I thought we deserved and never got.”

Gers remain a point behind Derek McInnes’ men but Hibernian can draw level with the Light Blues tonight if they beat Hearts.

Nicholl was also frustrated his men allowed themselves to be affected by the referee’s call.

“They had to get on with it, but they didn’t,” he said. “They got frustrated with the decision and lost their way, we had to get them in at half-time and get the football head back on again.

“If you get frustrated with refereeing decisions, you lose concentration and you don’t do your jobs properly.”

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