David Dickinson's smile to Rangers boss Philippe Clement explained as insider shoots down conspiracy with 'real' reason

Andy Halliday has moved to clear lingering murmurs around referee David Dickinson after fans accused him of a "smile and nod" at Rangers manager Philippe Clement.

The Belgian's new side coasted to a 3-1 win over the Jambos on Sunday in Viaplay Cup semi-final action, where Halliday was an unused Hearts substitute. But attention has been put on the fourth official in the post-match discussion after some punters went into conspiracy theory mode, alleging he looked pleased after Scott Wright doubled the Ibrox lead.

A Celtic fan called into Clyde 1's Superscoreboard to claim the moment was a "bad look" for Dickinson. But Halliday insisted it was perhaps because of the nagging from Clement throughout the first hour of Hampden proceedings. He said: "I can't actually tell you why he is smiling. But let me tell you, up until what had been the 60th minute, I'm saying for at least 35 minutes Philippe Clement was badgering the life out of the fourth official.

"Over decisions - the decisions to book Cantwell, the decision for free kicks. Let's just say the back and forth between them was ongoing and pretty frosty at the time.

"I'm not reading into it too much but was it a case of 'right, you can calm down now, you're team is 2-0 or 3-0 up?'. That is the beauty of bench cam. You can sort of analyse the full situation. He was very animated. It was certainly an ongoing theme that first half that is for sure."