Stephen Robinson in frank Rangers red card reaction as St Mirren boss can't point finger at Nick Walsh

Gutted gaffer Stephen Robinson admits he can’t point the finger at Nick Walsh after confessing the referee got it spot on with his VAR penalty award.

But the St Mirren boss reckons he’ll have to take the blame after watching his gung-ho triple substitution backfire on the Buddies. The unbeaten Paisley outfit were hoping to continue their stunning start to the season with a victory that would moved them six points clear of Rangers.

But it’s the Ibrox side now up to second on goal difference after Ryan Strain’s goal-line handball gave Rangers a penalty and a man advantage as the Australian was sent off following a VAR check. Robinson was hoping to inspire a fightback as he threw on attackers Michael Mandron, Alex Greive and Caolan Boyd-Munce with 25 minutes left.

But all that did was open up the space for Rangers to seal victory with two late strikes. “I thought we were excellent to start with,” said Robbo. I thought we were the better side and passed it really well. The red card changes the whole game. It’s 100 percent the right decision.

“People have to make decisions in the game. It’s just a reaction from Ryan. It’s a poor decision – we know that – and the referee gets it 100 percent correct.

“I was miles away and thought at first it had hit a Rangers hand but obviously it didn’t. But it’s definitely a sending off. If you go 1-0 down with 11 men we’re still right in the game. We’re playing really well. But the red card changes it completely.

“We try to stay in the game for 65 minutes. That was our plan. We came out and made three forward changes to try to give us some momentum. But it didn’t do that as right away we lost a goal. That comes from our decision-making. So ultimately today we’ve been punished for our