Weir absolves Hutton

David Weir has assured Alan Hutton that nobody in the Ibrox dressing room is blaming him for the red card which could have jeopardised Rangers' Champions League qualification hopes in Tuesday night's second round qualifier against FK Zeta.

Rangers scraped a 2-0 win ahead of next week's second leg in Montenegro and Hutton immediately apologised to his team-mates after the match. But Weir disagreed with what he believed was a hard-line approach from Greek referee Georgios Kasnaferis.

"To be fair to him, he did apologise," said Weir. "But he doesn't need to apologise, I don't think it's necessary. Alan has had the right intentions. There was no malice or nastiness and I think it was very harsh on him."

Hutton was sent packing after picking up two cautions within 60 seconds after he followed up his first caution with another for encroachment at a free-kick.

Weir added: "I thought he was a bit unlucky. To get two yellow cards as quick as that for next to nothing on both occasions was unlucky.

"The referee makes his decisions based on what he sees but, if I was Alan, I would feel very unlucky.

"It was tough for us to play a good half-hour with 10 men, which you have to put into the equation."

Zeta - competing in the Champions League for the first time in the club's history - overcame favourites FBK Kaunas in the last round but were rank outsiders to defeat Rangers.

However, the Ibrox side made hard work of their victory and Weir admits the tie is far from over ahead of next week's trip to Montenegro.

He said: "We are not comfortable by any manner of means. There is still a lot of work to be done. There is still a lot left in the tie and they will think they have a chance."