STEVEN GERRARD admits he may have to start hitting his Rangers players in the pocket in an attempt to solve their disciplinary problems going forward.
Keeper Allan McGregor became the latest Light Blues player to see red this term after a moment of madness late in the 1-0 victory over Hibernian on Sunday.
Rangers were on course for a comfortable win thanks to Jermain Defoe’s first half strike but had to survive a frantic finale as midfielder Ross McCrorie took over from McGregor between the sticks.
Watch: Goalkeeper Allan McGregor is sent off for a crazy kick out at Hibernian's Marc McNulty during Rangers' 1-0 victory. pic.twitter.com/CYANzfDF0P
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 6, 2019
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The 37-year-old aimed a needless kick at striker Marc McNulty and was shown a straight red card by referee Bobby Madden to add his name to the Gers list of shame this term.
McGregor will now miss the Old Firm clash with Celtic this weekend after boss Gerrard was badly let down by one of his most experienced players.
Gerrard said: "I can't defend it. It is frustrating, of course it is. It is frustrating because we miss a top class goalkeeper. I'm not sure what the suspension will be.
"He pulls off a world class save to get us three important points and then has a moment of madness when he loses control and gets sent off. It is difficult to defend and frustrating because we are going to miss our number one keeper now, which starts with a very important game next week.
"It is frustrating. We are going away thinking 'we didn't play well today, but three good points and the run goes on'. But I am going away frustrated because I am going to miss my keeper who has been magnificent for me throughout the season.
“I am open to advice, if anyone wants to give me any. I am sure the players are sick of listening to my record on discipline and talking about it.
“I think that is nine red cards over 50 games. It is crazy.
“If you look at our performance today and over the 90 minutes and again another discipline problem, it is probably the reason why we are not talking about success.
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“This game is hard enough with 11. Hibs come, they are organised, they are on a run of ten games, you have got Celtic across the park who are unbeaten from New Year.
“The job is hard enough and the games are hard enough so you need to be disciplined and you need to keep your best players on the pitch.
“They are not helping themselves, the players. But I am running out of things to do to address it.
“I don’t want to be one of these managers that takes money out of the players’ pockets. They have got families and that is not the type of man I am, but they are leaving me with no other option.”
The moment of madness from McGregor didn’t cost Rangers dear as Defoe’s eighth goal for the Light Blues proved enough to earn them a fifth successive Premiership victory.
Hibernian offered little threat for large spells but grew into the game late on as they failed to make the most of their man advantage in the closing minutes.
Florian Kamberi was denied by McGregor just seconds before he was sent off and Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom was disappointed not to secure a fourth draw of the campaign with the Light Blues.
He said: “We were really pleased first half hour. We tried to win the ball back in Rangers’ half and we did and we broke them a lot.
“It’s been story for us, even when we win games I generally keep saying we should have created more chances. It’s final pass, final bit of quality, which means we are not getting efforts on goal.
“Kept ball well for long spells and then Rangers scored when they were on top in last 15 minutes of the first half. At half time did not want to change anything, did not want to go chasing.
“We were not hurting them. We knew we had the bench to come on. We did that but when we created we did not score, that’s why we got beat.
“That (the Kamberi chance) was a big one. Thomas came on and flashed one past the post, Fraser diving header and Flo. That’s why we got beat 1-0.”
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