Michael Stewart has given a brutal assessment of the referee’s decision to send off Mohamed Diomande in Rangers' 3-1 win over Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday – branding the incident ‘embarrassing’.
The midfielder was shown a red card in stoppage time following an altercation with Kevin Holt, which started with the United defender pushing Diomande twice before the Ivorian retaliated by raising his hand in the direction of Holt’s face.
Referee Nick Walsh immediately ordered the 23-year-old off, and after being asked to review the decision on the pitchside VAR monitor, he stuck with his original decision.
Speaking on Premier Sport’s Scottish Football Social Club podcast, Stewart said: “It's actually embarrassing. I don't think you can even, like, 100% say that Diomande actually touches Kevin Holt. I'm not even sure if he touches him.”
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“I'm not even sure that he is swinging at him either,” he added. “It's the fact that he gets pushed, I think is what moves his arm. I mean, all in all, it's just, it's so ludicrous.
“And, you know, what makes it worse is that Nick Walsh has gone over to look at that and stuck with the decision. And you're just like, oh my God, like, please just come out of there.
"It'll be appealed, it'll be rescinded, and Nick Walsh should be embarrassed. Simple as that.”
Philippe Clement branded the call 'incredible' in his post-match media duties and confirmed the club would appeal the decision.
The case of 'wrongful dismissal' will be heard by the Scottish FA's fast-track disciplinary panel.
Rangers will learn the outcome of their appeal on Tuesday.
It is believed Walsh sent Diomande off for violent conduct, as he deemed there was negligible force in Diomande's action under Law 12 of IFAB's rules.
Clement said: “I totally don't understand the red card. I think the VAR also didn't understand the red card, otherwise they don't ask the referee to come to watch the screen.
“So Dio gets pushed, pushed away, so there's violent contact towards him in the push, and he falls back, and he has a small reaction with his hands, not touching anybody. So if you see that back, I think it's clear the maximum is for the two players, the yellow card. I see so many things happening it Scottish football every week.
“If this is a red card, then every game there should be three, four red cards. So the only thing we can do now is to appeal this, because I don't understand that you can go to the screen and then stick to your opinion of the red card, but it happened.”
