WHEN you talk about consistency from referees in terms of their decision making, you can’t not look at the challenge that Stevie May put in on Ryan Jack.

Ryan ended up having to be taken off on a stretcher and he left Pittodrie in an ambulance.

That is never nice to see and I hope that he is OK and doesn’t miss too many matches.

Ryan got a lot of praise from the manager for his performance against Osijek last Thursday night at Ibrox.

And it was a shame that he had to go off early on Sunday because he was very, very good in the middle of the park once again.

Only Stevie will know if there was any malice or intent there. I don’t know if there is any bad blood between them after Ryan’s tackle on him, which he got sent off for, last season.

Whether that is the case or not, the referee has to take it on the basis of what happened there and then. He saw the incident and gave Rangers a free-kick but somehow decided not to take any action against Stevie.

It is a contact sport and you will always have players coming together and that will happen from time to time.

But the referee has to protect the players and punish players when challenges are put in that cross the line and leave people injured.