Penrice caught Afeez Aremu on the hip with his studs but was only shown a yellow card

Pundits and former refs united to slam the decision not to send off James Penrice against Aberdeen – while handball claims in both boxes at Hampden have gone under the microscope.

It was out of the frying pan and into the fire for ref ref Ryan Lee at the national stadium. A relatively inexperienced whistler, this was Lee's first national semi-final.

But if he thought he was getting a chance to ease himself into it, then he was sorely mistaken.

There was a flashpoint with just 16 minutes on the clock when huge shouts for handball went up in the Rangers end after Ayoub Mouloua appeared to handle the ball after an Emmanuel Fernandez knockdown in the area.

The ref gave nothing and he was backed by John Beaton in the VAR room.

But Michael Stewart wasn't having it on Premier Sports commentary as he said: "That's a penalty kick for me. They talk about the T-shirt line, which is a complete fallacy anyway, but that's well down his arm. There's no consistency in the ones they give and don't give. I thought initially his arm had come out due to the Rangers player, but for me it's a penalty kick."

Then there was James Penrice's alleged high boot on Afeez Aremu. The left-back, moved into central midfield by Derek McInnes for this one, caught Aremu in the hip with his studs.

But ref Lee saw a booking as sufficient and there were no calls from the VAR team for a review, with Penrice later going on to play a decisive role in Ryan Naderi's winning goal.

Stewart was unhappy with that one too and this time he was backed by the Ref's View podcast, run by former Grade One officials Des Roache and Steve Conroy, who said: "A red card would be absolutely warranted. Poor first half from Ryan Lee and John Beaton."

And then there was a second handball incident. This time it was in the Rangers box, appearing to strike Dujon Sterling on the forearm and leading to huge shouts from the Aberdeen support for a spot-kick.

An increasingly enraged Stewart said: "It hits his forearm! He misses the ball and it hits his arm. I've seen a million incidents like that that have been given. He doesn't get his head anywhere near it!"

Speaking after the game, former Dons defender Andy Considine said: "It's very similar (to Mouloua). It's harsh. You need your arms to jump, but I've seen them given."