Rangers assistant Gary McAllister said Alfredo Morelos' reputation influenced referee Bobby Madden's decision to send the striker off against Aberdeen.

Morelos was dismissed alongside Dons defender Scott McKenna after the pair were involved in a tangle during the Light Blues' 4-2 Pittodrie win.

Rangers have since appealed the Colombian striker's red card, with a fast-track hearing set for 6pm on Friday.

Morelos, the Premiership's top goalscorer, has now been sent off four times this season and McAllister believes his previous misdemeanours played their part in his latest red.

He said: "I thought Alfredo's reputation went ahead of him on this one. I think he was trying to get out of the way."

McAllister added: "He's a player that does attract this sort of thing, he's very competitive.

"He's a handful to play against, he was excellent on the night, apart from being shown the red card."

Asked if he felt other players wouldn't have been sent off, the Rangers assistant said: "Not at all, I don't think that.

"Alfredo has had moments prior to coming here, he is a very competitive player, he gets involved in lots of skirmishes, that's the nature and style of his game.

"You can't take away that tenacity, it's a big part of his game. He's scoring goals but from a discipline point of view he has to improve.

"We're trying to help him but what I'm saying is that on this instance, Alfredo has previous and I think that possibly went against him.

"His legs are up but they have to come down somewhere."

The Scottish FA's compliance officer is reviewing a challenge by Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor on Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson from the fiery contest.

McAllister felt his goalkeeper was just looking to protect himself as he surged out of his goal.

Asked whether McGregor should be cited, he said: "Not for me, I've seen it back.

"I just see Allan McGregor getting into a position to make the save and then he tucks himself up into a ball to prevent himself from being hurt."

Rangers defender Connor Goldson said the Light Blues took to the field at Pittodrie with added motivation after the Dons put up pictures of their Hampden success in the stadium's corridors.

Aberdeen defeated the Ibrox side in the League Cup semi-final to book a final berth and continue their early season run of positive results against their rivals.

Goldson said: "They celebrated massively when they got a point against us earlier in the season.

"Walking into the stadium the other day, they had put up pictures on the wall from the semi-final.

"So why can't we celebrate when we win a game of football? We're obviously going to.

"It's just what happens.

"It's obviously motivating, I don't know what effect they thought it would have, whether they thought we'd think about the past and be down.

"But we all seen them walking in and had a point to prove.

"We knew we had to put a big performance in and I think we did that.

"It was said (before the match), we all noticed it walking in, we couldn't not notice it.

"They put them up in about 20 picture frames down the corridors so it was spoken about and gave us more motivation going into the game."