KEVIN CLANCY was "poor" and "inconsistent" during Tuesday night's Aberdeen vs Rangers showdown, according to former referee Charlie Richmond.

The whistler has come under fire after sending off Ibrox winger Ryan Kent and also for a penalty incident where Aberdeen felt they should have had a spot-kick after Allan McGregor challenged Ryan Hedges.

On the red card, Richmond told Football Scotland: “[Scott] Brown has played for it and Kevin has bought it.

“Overall, I thought he tried to referee the occasion rather than the actual game.

“Aberdeen vs Rangers is very volatile but when you look at the individual incidents, there’s a lot of things that he could have man managed.

“I thought he was a little inconsistent and had a poor game.”

Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass was baffled as to why his side were not awarded a penalty seconds before Rangers scored in the eventful 1-1 draw at Pittodrie.

Goalkeeper McGregor caught Hedges after the Dons forward got to a long ball first, but Clancy waved play on and Rangers went straight up the park to score through Ianis Hagi in the 20th minute.

The Dons eventually got a spot-kick through a clear handball from Alfredo Morelos and Lewis Ferguson levelled in the 73rd minute but they could not find a winner after Kent’s red card.

On the first-half incident, Glass told Sky Sports: “It’s a penalty kick. I think anybody with a pair of eyes can see it’s a penalty kick.

“It might be difficult for the ref with the distance he’s from but I don’t know how the linesman doesn’t see it.

“But you can’t complain about it or you end up in the stand.”