Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday has admitted that referee Bobby Madden apologising for incorrectly sending him off in the 4-2 win over Hibernian on December 28th made him feel a lot better.
Halliday was sent off in the 70th minute of the top of the table clash for an alleged headbutt on Hibernian’s Fraser Fyvie, but after reviewing the incident a panel of experts reduced the red card to a yellow card and Fyvie was handed a retrospective two-game ban for simulation.
Halliday was again sent off in the 2-0 away win over Morton on 25th January in controversial circumstances, as he was shown a second yellow card for celebrating Barrie McKay’s goal in the 72nd minute.
Madden was in charge of the Gers’ Scottish Cup fifth round clash against Kilmarnock on Saturday, which ended in a 0-0, and the referee took the time to go and apologise to Halliday at full-time.
The 24-year-old has credited Madden for accepting his mistake and for apologising to him after the game.
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Speaking in an interview with Rangers TV, Halliday said: “Bobby Madden was the referee at the weekend and he was the first one to come up to me after the game to apologise for sending me off against Hibs, which I thought was a great credit to him.
“Sometimes you don’t see that, and even a thing as simple as saying ‘sorry’ made me feel a lot better, and it just shows you that referees can make mistakes as well.
“That’s the case with the sending off against Morton too which I thought was ridiculous, although obviously I can’t go too much into that.”
Mark Warburton’s side travel to Recreation Park Alloa to take on bottom placed Alloa Athletic on Saturday.
