CONNOR GOLDSON has called for stronger action from referees against ‘ridiculous challenges’ in order to help Scottish football improve.

The defender was involved in a handful of incidents during Rangers’ Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts on Sunday.

Steven MacLean was booked for an elbow on Goldson in the first half, but Steven Naismith escaped punishment for a similar incident later in the 3-0 Light Blues victory.

Goldson is no stranger to a physical approach from teams but believes officials must do more to protect players.

He said: “Scottish football in general is quite physical and it takes the foreign boys a little bit of time to adjust to it but the referees have to try and make sure people aren’t getting hurt. And for Scottish football to improve the referees have to take action against the ridiculous challenges.

“It’s fine being physical - we’re all physical players and physical teams - but they can’t get away with yellow cards for elbows and nasty tackles where they want to leave a mark just to show they’re the ones who are being aggressive and they’re up for it.

“That’s not really football but we deal with it and keep playing and if teams want to do it then we keep accepting it and it’s out responsibility to get past that and play our own game. Personally, having played in England, I feel it’s only in Scotland you get away with some of the stuff you do up here.

“You can make six or seven fouls in Scotland and not get a yellow card but those little fouls disrupt the whole rhythm of the game. And that’s all they want to do but in England or Europe if you make one or two of those fouls then you get a yellow card and can’t do it for the rest of the game. I played in the lower leagues in England and it was similar - League Two in England is the same.

“So I was quite used to it having moved up the leagues and I learned as a young boy I had to be physical and get used to it.”