THE frustration was clear to see. It might be pushing it just a little to talk of smouldering fury, but this was certainly a match which brought out the spikier side of Mark Warburton.

Outwith the occasional word of chastisement over slackness within the ranks back in those heady days of resounding victories, the Rangers manager has been a paragon of restraint and good manners since moving into his new job in the summer.

Opposition sides are treated with respect, talk of record-breaking runs is played down and he has even spoken, heaven forbid, about opening up Murray Park to referees to improve communication and build relationships.

Should the Scottish Football Association take him up on that particular offer, they would be advised to put the name of Andrew Dallas a fair way down the rota.

This was not a great night for Rangers overall. They enjoyed a predictable monopoly on possession against the team stuck at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Championship and carrying a recent record of one win and one draw from 10 fixtures, but found it awkward and unpleasant in the face of their defensive and, some would say, physical approach.

Chances did not come 10-a-penny. When they did arrive, they were invariably squandered. This was all threatening to get a little bit hairy – with the visitors making ever-so-gradual progress up the field as the match went on – until substitute Nicky Clark broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining to set up a home tie against St Mirren in the semi-finals of the Petrofac Training Cup.

By then, Warburton had already blown a gasket. The catalyst was a yellow card shown to Martyn Waghorn at the end of the opening period, presumably for having a go at Ben Gordon after being held by the Livingston defender as they challenged for the ball on the halfway line.

Warburton and his assistant, David Weir, were in the ear of the fourth official, Greg Aitken, immediately. The manager continued long after Weir had returned to his seat and he made his disdain clear when Dallas blew for the interval.

Dallas would be forced to have a word with both men in the technical area midway through the second half when Aitken found himself on the end of another verbal volley following a tackle on Nicky Law which resulted in a Rangers free-kick in opposition territory.

The Waghorn booking was the straw that broke the camel’s back, mind you. It was just one odd decision too many on a night dangerously close to veering away from the script.

As Weir and Warburton took a breath after remonstrating with Aitken, Nathan Oduwa, prior to hobbling off at the interval and being replaced by Clark, took it upon himself to demand a listening ear from the officials. It does not take a genius to guess that he was asking for some kind of protection.

Declan Gallagher had been cautioned for a crude foul on him. How Kieran Gibbons escaped a red for a dreadful challenge in the first 15 seconds of the game remains a mystery.

Oduwa cut inside from the right and was weighing up his options for a pass when the Livingston midfielder lunged in with a wild challenge that never carried the slightest hope of winning possession.

Oduwa’s left ankle folded in the turf under the pressure of Gibbons’ right boot. It is quite remarkable that the England Under-20 internationalist managed to carry on at all after spending a couple of minutes in a crumpled heap on the pitch.

Oduwa does appear to have received some rather rough treatment since arriving in Scotland on a loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur, but the boy has chutzpah. He gets up and gets on with it and very nearly set Rangers up for the opening goal on the quarter-hour mark.

Waghorn played an intelligent pass wide right to put the visiting defence on the backfoot and Oduwa, in turn, slung a delightful, hanging cross into the centre of the area.

James Tavernier met the ball with a powerful header and it took the backtracking Ben Gordon to appear from nowhere and knock the ball out for a corner from underneath his own crossbar.

For all the territorial domination enjoyed by Rangers, they did lack a killer punch. You should not enjoy as much of the ball as they did in this encounter and be going in at half-time with the scoreline goalless.

Wastefulness from Andy Halliday, Waghorn and Nicky Law was to blame for that and the frustration building around a sparsely-populated Ibrox finally came to a head in first half stoppage time.

Waghorn saw an early effort saved after the break with Rob Kiernan somehow managing to propel the ball backwards after being presented with a shooting opportunity before the hour, but Clark needed no second invitation when his chance came.

Lee Wallace picked him out around 22 yards out and he rifled a low drive into the left-hand corner of goalkeeper Marc McCallum’s net. The punters didn’t miss Dallas, who booked eight players in the end, on the way off either.

Rangers (4-2-3-1): Foderingham; Tavernier, Kiernan, Ball, Wallace; Halliday, Law; Oduwa (Clark 46), Holt, McKay; Waghorn.

Booked: Waghorn (45), Halliday (70), Clark (78).

Livingston (4-5-1): McCallum; Neill, Gordon, Gallagher (Sheerin 76), Longridge; White, Millen (Georgieu 86), Gibbons, Faria, Glen (Currie 86); Buchanan.

Booked: Gallagher (28), Gordon (63), Faria (67), Gibbons (70), Glen (74).

Referee: Andrew Dallas.

Attendance: 17,386.