GORDON DURIE, the assistant manager of Rangers, has insisted that players being suspended by the authorities for gambling cannot be permitted to happen again at Ibrox.

Steve Simonsen was yesterday given a two-game ban by the Scottish Football Association after being found guilty by an independent panel of betting of 55 fixtures over the past two seasons.

The punishment, which has one of those matches suspended, comes 17 months after his team-mate Ian Black was given a 10-game ban, seven of those suspended, for wagering on football matches including three involving his own team.

Rangers face serious defensive problems ahead of tonight's SPFL Championship visit of Hibernian with their captain, Lee McCulloch, having also been banned for two games by the SFA after being found guilty of stamping on Dale Carrick during his side's 2-1 William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Raith Rovers on Sunday.

Richard Foster is also doubtful with a suspected hernia. Simonsen will be replaced by Lee Robinson and Durie sincerely hopes his rule-breaking will leave an impression on the rest of the squad.

"I spoke to him and I think he knows himself that he has done wrong," said Durie.

"He's admitted it and will take his punishment.

"I just hope it is a lesson to everyone else that you can't do it.

"The Professional Footballers' Association come in and speak to the boys at the start of the season.

"This is a wee warning again that they are watching what the boys are doing, so I hope it won't happen again."

Asked whether an automatic one-game ban with one game suspended could easily be regarded as somewhat lenient, Durie replied: "I wasn't on the committee, so I don't know what happened there, but Steve will take his punishment and move on."

Durie, speaking before the SFA verdict on his skipper had been handed down, also defended McCulloch in the wake of Scottish football's Compliance Officer, Tony McGlennan, serving him with a Notice of Complaint over the incident with Carrick.

"It is unfair," said Durie, when confronted with the suggestion that McCulloch is overly aggressive.

"He is an aggressive player, but that is part of his game and we wouldn't want to take that away from him."

McCulloch's team-mate Kyle Hutton also insists that it is wrong to brand the 36-year-old central defender, who will miss the Ibrox side's next Scottish Cup match in addition to tonight's encounter, a dirty player.

"Overly aggressive?," said Hutton. "No, he's just aggressive. That is the type of player he is. Aggressive and fair."

Rangers enter tonight's game in the knowledge that defeat would see Hibernian, who have played three games more, leapfrog them into second place in the table. Richard Gough, Durie's former captain at Ibrox, has branded the current side the worst in Ibrox history.

"I don't want to go into that," said Durie. "Everyone has got their own opinions."