St Johnstone defender Steven Anderson has accused Rangers’ Rob Kiernan of deliberately punching him during the 1-1 draw at McDiarmid Park.
Anderson appeared to be struck on the body by Kiernan during the game but the incident was missed by referee Crawford Allan.
The veteran Saints man was in no doubt, though.
Anderson said: “It was a corner and he caught me in the ribs.
“Brian Easton (his teammate) saw it as well. It was a clear punch on me.
“If that’s the way he (Kiernan) wants to play then it’s up to him but he is going to get done for it.
“You can’t do that in football games.
“I’m not bothered but if it gets highlighted then he deserves it.
“There was nothing that happened before it.
“I was marking him at a corner and there was a bit of argy-bargy then he punched me.
“The referee said he did not see it and you can understand it because there was a lot going on in the box. The linesman has probably not seen it either.
“I didn’t shake hands with Kiernan after the game but only because I was too busy shaking other people’s hands and clapping the crowd.”
Commenting on the alleged punch, Anderson’s manager Tommy Wright added: “I didn’t see it but if Ando says he was punched then I believe him.
“Also, Joe Shaughnessy thought he should have had a penalty with Kiernan as well.
“The referee has a tough job to do.”
Meanwhile, Wright argued that Saints helped create their goal by putting pressure on their opponents.
Striker Steven MacLean capitalised on a blundered passback from Kiernan just five minutes after the Ibrox men had opened the scoring through Barrie McKay.
It was an opportunistic goal from an alert poacher but Wright argued that it wasn’t a lucky strike.
Wright said: “It was a massive point in the game when we got the goal back.
“Some people might look at it and think it was lucky but I don’t because we wanted to try to press Rangers in the right areas and force those mistakes.
“In a way we created the goal by putting pressure on the Rangers player and Macca stuck it away.”
