» ANALYSIS

IT'S time for Rangers to stop whining and keep winning.

- BY SCOTT MCDERMOTT

That should be the simple mantra for everyone at Ibrox as they gear up for a critical period of the season.

Quite rightly, the club vented their anger over what happened at Hampden against Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semifinal. Incompetent officiating and wrong calls went against them, there's no doubt about that. And with an incident as key as Auston Trusty's kick at Jack Butland's head, they are within their rights to call it out.

Whatever refs’ chief Willie Collum says, it was a joke of a decision not to give the American a red card. And as Butland said himself in the aftermath, a dangerous precedent has been set.

But the bottom line for Rangers is it's gone. The game was 16 days ago now.

And no matter how much moaning they do about standards and consistency, the situation is unlikely to change.

The level of refereeing in Scotland is average, at best. But with the same guys doing it every week - on the pitch and in the VAR hub - and so few talented younger ones coming through the system, it's unlikely to get better any time soon.

So they have to suck it up. Any suggestions of conspiracy theories, or that certain refs have it in for them, are ludicrous.