Stephen Kingsley Rangers Q&A: VAR intervention and missed opportunity

A James Tavernier penalty gave Rangers the lead early in the second half before a Scott Wrigh breakaway left Hearts with a mountain to climb. Another goal from Tavernier made it 3-0 before Lawrence Shankland reduced the arrears with a penalty with 10 minutes to go.

Stephen Kingsley spoke to the media after the loss at the national stadium where he discussed the missed opportunity, his second yellow card that was overturned and playing on the right of the back three.

Here's everything the defender had to say:

What are your thoughts?

We’re gutted. We were really excited about the occasion, the opportunity we had. We defended well in the first half without really taking it to Rangers in possession, but out of possession, we were pretty solid. But in the second half we lose an early goal, the penalty kills us a little bit. We’re playing catch up - you can't give a team like that the lead in such a big occasion. It's devastating.

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Is losing goals in quick succession the most disappointing thing?

The penalty is a penalty and the free-kick is great from Tavernier. We’re disappointed with our part, especially with the second goal. We’re disappointed with the manner we lost them. We have to pick ourselves up now, we’ve got a massive game next week. We’ll take it on the chin and learn from it.

Do you feel it was a missed opportunity?

Yeah. We felt really positive coming into the game. We did really well out of possession last week so we felt we could come here and try and ruffle them a little bit and try and keep it tight. We did it in the first half, we said going into the second half that we’d need to continue that and try and put our own spin on the game as well, try and control the game a wee bit more, create some chances of our own. But obviously the penalty changes everything. When you concede the second and third it’s bitterly disappointing.

Were you convinced you had won a penalty?

The ball has come in from the right, I’ve checked my run in front of Lundstram and Davies, got a touch and was away to shoot but I've come off his [Davies’] blindside so he's contacted me on the left ankle. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind it was a penalty, I was going to get a shot away. Nick Walsh has decided to give the second yellow but I was adamant that it was going to be overturned, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere because it was a certainty. It didn’t really change much.

Were you confident your dismissal would be overturned?

I knew myself, let’s just put it that way. I knew there was contact on me, I’ve got the mark to show it.

Did the referee apologise?

There was no need to apologise. He overturned it. That's what VAR is there for and at the end of the game, when I spoke to him, he said ‘I’m glad that the right decision came out’. That’s what it is there for. But in the end there’s just bitter disappointment.

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How have you found playing on right of back three? It’s unusual to see a left-footed player playing there.

When you’ve got possession, especially from my point of view, I enjoy that left of a back three because I can get to go forward, it’s an attacking position for me. I can get into good areas. On the right, we played that against Livingston I had an enjoyable night, got forward and had a few shots, got some crosses in, so it was good it was to have that before today. In this match we wanted to keep more possession and control more of the game but it didn’t turn out like that. When you are defending on the side that you are not as comfortable on then it is challenging. I wanted to do it for the team and try to give it as best we could. I would have liked us to control the game more so that I could get into better areas. I think there was once when I cut inside and had a shot. That’s where I want to be on the right, coming inside and having that option to shoot or put balls into the box. I didn’t do that enough unfortunately as we didn’t have a foothold in the game.

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