Craig Thomson sends off the Rangers midfielder at Tynecastle

Referee Craig Thomson was wrong to send off his namesake Kevin, according to Rangers manager Walter Smith.

The Ibrox midfielder caught Hearts' Ian Black with a late lunging tackle and was sent off after 13 minutes of the Light Blues' 2-1 win at Tynecastle.

Asked if he thought Thomson's challenge merited a red card, Smith said: "I don't think so, no. But it was an opportunity to send him off.

"I thought it looked far worse than it actually was."

Smith continued: "I don't think there was any great contact made and obviously if there had been, the player would never have been able to continue in the manner he did do for the rest of the game."

The Rangers management team had deliberated over starting with Thomson as the former Hibernian midfielder continues his comeback from cruciate ligament injury.

Hearts took the lead through David Witteveen on the half-hour mark, the ball squirming through Allan McGregor's hands.

But in the second period it was Rangers who were the more impressive, despite Hearts' numerical advantage, levelling through Lee McCulloch and winning the game with a last-minute Kris Boyd penalty.

"In the second half we played better, we imposed ourselves on the game", said the Rangers manager.

It's always a tough place to come, Tynecastle Rangers manager Walter Smith

"Sometimes when you've got 10 men you can play between the opposition a bit better, strangely enough. But at the time we took the lead I felt we deserved it for what we had put in to the game in the second half.

"It's always a tough place to come, Tynecastle, for us, and we have had to battle for 80-odd minutes with 10 men, and we did so after a first half where we didn't start well."

Smith praised his veteran centre-back David Weir, who withstood the intermittent Hearts pressure on the Rangers rearguard.

"It was a terrific performance by him," said the Ibrox boss.

"Everybody's always looking at him because of his age but he has shown everyone that he can do well and he did so today."

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