Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday believes Ryan Porteous was a lucky boy to escape a red card during yesterday's fiery encounter at Easter Road.

The Hibs defender clashed with Alfredo Morelos in an off the ball incident which was deemed to be nothing between the pair by referee Don Robertson. Porteous was booked for his part in the tangle, but Halliday believes on another day he could have been ordered off. "I think he is extremely lucky that is not a red card," Halliday said on BBC Sportscene.

"For me, it is an off the ball incident, it is 60-yards away from the play and he has made deliberate contact with Alfredo [Morelos]. I don’t think the [Paul] Hanlon one is a red card – he has just done his best to get between Alfredo, [Ianis Hagi] and the ball. I don’t think that contact is deliberate.

"But for me, I think that if the referee’s seen the Ryan Porteous one I think he’s very lucky."

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard had a pop at Porteous in his post-match comments following the 2-2 draw after the centre-half apparently called James Tavernier a 'bad loser' at full-time. And the Ibrox manager said: "I think he was saying that Tav’s a bad loser which I think is a bit cheap coming from him.

“He got sent off for a really bad tackle when he was losing 3-0 against us here last season. I don’t agree with that or the argument."

Porteous brushed the incident off as nothing more than a coming together.