Referee accused of ‘coaching’ Rangers star Tom Lawrence as he shouts ‘don’t tackle’ in released audio

Referee Ross Hardie told Tom Lawrence 'not to tackle' a Ross County player during Rangers' 6-0 win at Hampden, a new audio clip from the game has revealed.

Philippe Clement's team ran riot at their temporary home in the end with Cyriel Dessers getting the rout started on 18 minutes, although County players felt his opening goal should have been ruled out. It was a rampant win in the end, but the game was still on a knife-edge at 1-0 when winger Aidan Denholm broke forward and tried to relieve the pressure.

In one of the moments highlighted on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard as part of Willie Collum's VAR review, Denholm is pursued by Rangers midfielder Lawrence with ref Hardie heard over his mic shouting 'don't tackle there Tom!' repeatedly. After Lawrence does put a foot in, Hardie tells appealing County players he has 'played the ball’.

Critical fans on social media though are wondering why he was 'coaching' the player, rather than staying out of it until a foul had been committed. Other supporters have praised the man in the middle, insisting it happens at all levels of the game. And speaking on the show, Collum was quick to shoot down the usual conspiracy theories that emerge from punters on both sides of Glasgow after these types of incident.

He said: "First of all, referees need to declare an interest. We had a top assistant a couple of years ago and his son was playing for a senior club, even though he was playing for an under-19 club he declared that as an interest. Also, if somebody is working for a company that sponsors a particular club, these are the things we would expect the referee to declare an interest in.

"In terms of a team that somebody might support or a connection with a family member, where do we draw the