By Frank McAvennie

1st Oct, 2023 | 8:00am

Pundit drops 'lucky' Rangers claim as controversy analysed

Rangers got “lucky” against Livingston but will find it incredibly difficult to win the League Cup.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie claimed the Gers will “need a bit of luck” if they are to be in with a chance of winning the Viaplay Cup.

Michael Beale’s side were 4-0 winners over Livi on Wednesday (27 September) despite controversy surrounding Abdallah Sima’s opening goal.

As shown on Viaplay Sports (27 September), Sima made it 1-0 at Ibrox with a right-footed strike but appeared to push Livi’s Jamie Brandon to the ground in the lead up to the goal.

Referee Willie Collum allowed the goal to stand and Nick Walsh in the VAR room did not instruct the onfield official to rewatch the incident.

The Gers will take on Hearts at Hampden later on this year as Beale hunts his first piece of silverware as Rangers manager.

But McAvennie insisted winning the whole tournament won’t be as easy as the Light Blues may be expecting.

“It is going to be hard,” he told Football Insider.

“To win anything is hard, you need a bit of luck and they got a bit of luck against Livingston with that shove.

“Typical [James] Tavernier. He has been a great player, is a living legend for the club but not the best defender in the world, you can get in behind him, you can get across him and that is what happened.”

In other news, Kieran Maguire drops ‘incredible’ Rangers claim after source’s ‘£31m’ reveal.