Hibs’ Scottish Cup journey came to an abrupt halt for another year on Sunday night, when the team went down 2-0 to Rangers at Easter Road. Hibs ended the match with nine men after red cards were shown to Jordan Obita and Nathan Moriah-Welsh in a controversial three-minute spell in the second half.

Obita had a night to forget. He’s been excellent this season and is surely in contention for the club’s Player of the Year award when the time comes but on Sunday he conceded a contentious penalty before picking up two bookings for the first sending-off of the evening.

He was followed by Moriah-Welsh moments later. The young midfielder was having an excellent game but the enthusiasm with which he leapt into a challenge on Rangers’ John Lundstram was too much for referee Steven McLean, who showed comparable enthusiasm with the haste to issue the red card.

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I thought Moriah-Welsh was unlucky to get a red for the challenge; we’ve seen a similar challenge – ironically by Lundstram at Ibrox against Hibs – go without so much of a foul being awarded, so again I’m left asking where the consistency is with these things. Moriah-Welsh did have both feet off the ground initially but by the time Lundstram reached him, he’d won the ball and it was his back that Lundstram caught (surprisingly painfully, by the look of his reaction). VAR did, of course, check the incident and decided that there was no clear and obvious error from the referee.

I tend to agree with that assessment. I don’t agree with the decision the referee arrived at, but I can understand it - as I could with the penalty that Rangers were awarded in the first half. Dujon Sterling got in front of Obita and went down, with the referee quickly pointing to the spot. There was contact, and although VAR reviewed the collision again, the decision was that no clear and obvious error had been made.

This was in stark contrast to Martin Boyle’s booking for diving against Celtic. These incidents, while not identical, were similar enough to draw comparisons and it’s the wildly different outcomes that leave me irate. VAR reviewed Boyle’s booking and concluded there was no clear and obvious error. Had the referee awarded the penalty in that incident, I think VAR would also have seen enough contact in the incident to say no clear and obvious error was made, and the penalty would have stood.

The referee’s first instinct in both the Moriah-Welsh sending-off and the penalty awarded to Rangers was to give the decision in Rangers’ favour. You could reasonably justify booking Sterling for going down too easily as Boyle was viewed to have done against Celtic and you could reasonably justify a yellow card for Moriah-Welsh’s tackle – I don’t think VAR would have been moved to correct the referee on either incident if his instinct had been to give Hibs, rather than Rangers, the benefit of the doubt.

It was this approach throughout the game – a later penalty appeal from Hibs after Goldson tugged Emiliano Marcondes (think the penalty Colak was awarded for Rangers in a fixture last season for a touch from Rocky Bushiri, but with more contact). In this case, the referee didn’t point to the spot and let VAR check it, he played on. A penalty award would have been justified, but it wasn’t a clear and obvious error.

Three major decisions in the game, none of which could be highlighted as horrendously wrong by the referee, and all of which you could make a case for being the right decision, but they all landed in favour of Rangers.

Obita’s second yellow was contentious as well. McLean seemed to miss the incident altogether and with the Rangers player grounded, it was up to Connor Goldson to draw the referee’s attention to it and protest for a second yellow card, which was duly delivered.

I’m conscious that this can very quickly get into tin-foil hat, howling-at-the-moon-type levels of paranoia, but how different could the game have been had the referee given Hibs the benefit of the doubt in those incidents?

No benefit of the doubt for Boyle

Getting the benefit of the doubt should also extend to Martin Boyle, who was booked for diving against Celtic recently, and became the subject of a media narrative that he’s a diver, despite that booking coming on the back of clear and demonstrable contact. The referee ignored a few fouls on Boyle (one immediately before the award of Rangers’ penalty, which at the time felt very similar to the foul that led to the penalty award), before - again - letting late contact go unpunished as Rangers’ John Souttar challenged Boyle for a header he was never going to win.

Boyle landed heavily and was knocked unconscious. 'Play on' was the referee’s decision, and despite Boyle being mere yards away from him, it took the intervention of Rangers goalkeeper, Jack Butland to draw attention to the severity of the injury. 

People will point to Boyle’s perceived tendency to go down as justification for McLean's apparent lack of concern, but it’s not a reputation that is entirely deserved. It’s not so much that Boyle has cried wolf too many times, it’s that others will tell you he’s cried wolf whether he has or hasn’t.

I’ve rarely left a game so convinced that Hibs weren’t ‘supposed’ to win it, but I did on Sunday. Hibs had eight fouls and received four yellow cards and a straight red; Rangers had eleven fouls, and their only booking came as the game neared seventy minutes. It certainly didn’t feel like a fair fight, that’s for sure.

Supporter behaviour statement gets thumbs-up

Finally, I commend Hibs for speaking out about supporter behaviour in the wake of yet more sectarian singing from the Rangers support, most notably as Martin Boyle lay prone whilst receiving treatment from paramedics. This follows incidents from our own support, including in Wednesday's game in Dingwall, and I appreciate the way that Hibs’ statement was worded, which wasn’t to point the finger at others whilst ignoring our own shortcomings. Hibs have a track record of dealing with poor behaviour when they can, with a lifetime ban handed out just last week to a supporter found with pyro trying to enter Tynecastle Park for the derby.

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Hibs will cut allocations for some away supporters, of which one will surely be Rangers. It has been a long time coming – Hibs can’t stand behind initiatives such as Show Racism the Red Card whilst turning a blind eye to the bile from Rangers fans, and now they have stood up and taken action it should be applauded.

I hope that the fans rally around the club off the back of it. This should be a watershed moment for the sections of our own support who feel compelled to act like idiots with the throwing of objects and other misdemeanours which have put the club in a bad light recently. It’s time to grow up and set an example. As Hibs said, enough is enough.