Rangers boss Mark Warburton hopes lessons are learned from Andy Halliday red card controversy

The midfielder picked up a second booking from referee Barry Cook after celebrating Rangers’ second goal in the 2-0 win at Cappielow.

The decision infuriated boss Warburton and means he will be without one of his key men for the visit of Falkirk on Championship duty tomorrow afternoon.

A host of Scotland’s top officials were unable to take charge of the game due to their participation on a training course.

Warburton said: “The positive from the negative is hopefully we get clarity.

“At least the officials will know they have a rule book that has clearly someone has misinterpreted and if that’s the case then clarity is required. 99.9 per cent of the football world have made their thoughts very clear - I saw the comments from the likes of Jeff Winter and the Sky commentators too.

“It’s a dangerous one because if you start giving cautions for that they’ll be handing cautions out every weekend.

“I’m all for giving young players the chance but you mention the term ‘rookie ref’ which suggests he’s an inferior quality and my immediate response would be that’s too important a game for us.

“It’s on television and you’ve asked questions in the past about the quality of Scottish football and the product. Therefore, here’s a game that’s on television and you need a good product.

“‘Rookie ref’ would suggest - and I’m not saying he is - an inferior quality. You’ve got to provide the best officials you can for every game.

“If he is such a young referee, why was he doing a game with the team at the top of the table, on television? Was that the best decision? I’m not sure.

“Everyone’s got to train, everyone’s got to learn but no specific club should be the victim of that.

“I’m saying that as we’ve lost a player who has played almost every minute of every game for us and that’s not right there’s no appeals process, nothing we can do.

“We’ve got to wait for clarity. It’s not appropriate, that decision.”