Brendan Rodgers has told referee Don Robertson that he needs to bring his 'A' game to Hampden for Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final if he wants to preserve a top flight career.

The whistler will take his place behind the goal for the game despite being caught in the eye of a storm this week when he was conned into giving Ross County a last minute penalty in Dingwall after a blatant act of simulation from Alex Schalk.

Rodgers has insisted that he has no issue with Robertson taking his place as part of a six-man of officiating team at Hampden, however he has voiced his own belief that the whistler cannot afford to put a foot wrong.

I don't want to throw the kid to the garbage when he is trying to learn his profession but if he makes too many of them he is not going to be a top class referee, it is as simple as that,” said the Celtic manager.

“Is he on the side? He is behind the goal? Well he had better not do what the Ross County guy did and miss that one.

“That would be two in a week and he is really struggling to be a top class ref.

“But get him out there. Get on the field. Get his composure, clear your mind and be the best that you can be. And we have to help him. We have to help raise the standard.”

Rodgers took an apologetic call from John Fleming, the head of refereeing at the SFA, who appreciated the magnitude of the wrong call last weekend, a call that the Celtic manager was happy to accept.

However, the Hoops boss believes that the main recipient of the apology ought to be Erik Sviatchenko who was the player penalised for a perceived challenge that didn’t actually take place.

“I took a call from John Fleming,” said Rodgers. “The first call he has ever made to a manager, apologising on Don's behalf and his behalf. It was a very respectful and courteous thing to do. I told him he didn't need to do it. But I respect that he did do it.

I don't need Don to ring me, I just need him to apologise to Erik. We make mistakes, but our job is to try to help the standard of refereeing.”

Rodgers was able to cite poor decisions that affected significant games during his tenure as Liverpool boss, however he did offer the view that the standard among the full-time English officials is of a far higher standard than in Scotland.

However, he has warned that if referees want to hold the respect of players and managers then they have to call the big decisions correctly most of the time.

“With all due respect up here you don't have the budget, the referees aren't full-time, and you don't have the resources that some of these other countries where I have come from have,” he said. “You have a small pool of referees that you are trying to promote and you have to help them. I am all for that.

“But like I say, if you make too many [mistakes], you will suffer in your career. And the biggest thing, the thing you crave as a referee is respect. You lose the respect of players. If you make a decision like that which you have to see, then players lose trust in your decision making in the game and that is not what you want to do.”