Aberdeen savage Rangers in astonishing official match report as referee, VAR and Todd Cantwell filleted

A blow by blow account from Aberdeen couldn’t hide the rage over key decisions in their Viaplay Cup final defeat to Rangers as they lambasted major calls in the match report from Hampden on the club’s official website.

The Reds were aggrieved at the performance of referee Don Robertson and VAR Andrew Dallas as James Tavernier’s goal settled the showpiece. They took aim at some key calls and a brutal jibe at Light Blues star Todd Cantwell over his HEADBAND.

Cantwell was at the centre of one of the most controversial decisions of the day after the former Norwich City man appeared to pull Stefan Gartenmann’s shirt inside the box. But no spot kick was awarded and the Dons report pointed to the Dane being penalised for a shirt pull on Connor Goldson when the sides met in the Scottish Premiership at Pittodrie last month. They wrote- under the byline 'afc media team': “(Ester) Sokler penalised despite Cantwell dragging the shirt pretty much off Gartenmann’s back, well before Sokler’s foul. It was every bit as bad as the shirt-pulling penalty that Gartenmann conceded to Rangers at Pittodrie a few weeks back.”

They started by saying: "In the third minute, (John) Lundstram should have been in the book for a wild lunge on (Jamie) McGrath that went nowhere near the ball...moments later, (Abdallah) Sima won a free-kick with a theatrical fall out on their left."

But Cantwell seemed to be the target of much of Aberdeen’s anger as they added: "Cantwell needed treatment on 31 after he and Shinnie challenged for the ball on halfway but he was ok to continue after running repairs to his headband,” and later said: “A high boot from Cantwell cleaned Clarkson out on halfway after 51 minutes, but there was no action from the referee.”

But