Rangers roll on as Falkirk cry foul after key calls

Dean Shiels, centre, is mobbed by his teammates after opening the scoring for Rangers. Picture: SNS

Bairns boss Peter Houston revealed after the Ladbrokes Championship encounter that he is to be reported to the Scottish FA for using foul language towards referee John McKendrick.

Houston expressed his anger at the official for awarding a foul against Tom Taiwo for a challenge on Nicky Law outside the box with ten minutes remaining which allowed right-back James Tavernier to give Rangers a 2-1 lead from the free-kick.

He was also fuming about the first-minute tackle on Craig Sibbald by Rangers defender Danny Wilson which did not bring a card.

Wallace added a third in stoppage time to clinch Rangers’ ninth successive league victory. Will Vaulks’ wonder-strike had cancelled out Dean Shiels’ opener in the first-half but the Ibrox player was happy with the way the Govan side kept at it until the end.

He said: “We have to realise that not every game will be fives and sixes with performances we deem to be ten out of ten.

“There are going to be games when we come up against awkward game plans and we are guarded against that, ready for it.

“Falkirk came and tried to set their traps. They tried to slow the game down, but we have to realise we can’t deviate from the way we play, no matter how long it takes us to get the victory.

“We will never change the way we will play and, perhaps at times, we should have shown more levels of patience when we had the ball.

“But we are delighted to complete the first part of the season with a 100 per cent record.”

Houston will almost certainly find himself in trouble for his outburst but he was adamant he was correct in his analysis.

He said: “I don’t care what anybody says, we’ll watch it all day long and put it in front of a panel of Fifa referees, and I’ll bet you every one of them says, whether it’s the first minute or the last minute, there isn’t any first tackle any more, that’s a yellow card. At least. And that [Taiwo] tackle, I would love to put it in front of a panel of referees as well.

“They would say, foul Falkirk player, for the Falkirk team, not for the Rangers team. Then, after that, we lose a third goal through it. But we wouldn’t have lost a third goal, we wouldn’t have lost a second goal I don’t think, because I think we were seeing out the game quite comfortably. I don’t think Danny Rogers had an awful lot to do with regards to shot- stopping. It was one of those days when you feel totally let down by the officials.”