Neil Critchley questions Rangers stoppage time as Hearts boss insists it should've been longer

Neil Critchley has questioned why there was only three minutes of stoppage time in yesterday's defeat at Ibrox.

Rangers laboured to a 1-0 win over Hearts on Sunday as Cyriel Dessers netted his 10th of the campaign with an early first-half strike. But the Jambos were unlucky not to have snatched at least a point, with Kenneth Vargas rattling the post and passing up a couple of golden opportunities.

As the Tynecastle side pushed for a dramatic late equaliser, referee Matthew MacDermid concluded the game in bizarre circumstances after Blair Spittal's shot struck Kieran Dowell on the edge of the box. Craig Gordon and Lawrence Shankland were among the Hearts players who appealed for a penalty, but TV replays showed that the incident was outside of the box.

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Following a lengthy stoppage in play, MacDermid eventually signalled for full-time before the free-kick could have been taken. And boss Critchley felt there should have been more additional minutes added on at the end.

He said: "There was a possible handball. I've not seen it back. I don't know if it was inside or outside the box. I thought there should have been longer than three minutes. We had seven last week and I don't remember the physios coming on.

"Sometimes you need a bit of luck and we haven't had that in the last couple of games as well. I've told the players in many ways I was proud of how we played and took the game to Rangers. We didn't sit back and sit on the ropes for 12 rounds."