RANGERS have reacted angrily to the Scottish Football Association's decision to ban Sone Aluko for two matches for diving to win a penalty in last weekend's match against Dunfermline.

That punishment was meted out yesterday by the governing body's judicial panel after Rangers had rejected the offer of a two-match suspension from Vincent Lunny, the SFA's compliance officer, earlier in the week, believing they could prove Aluko's innocence.

The player and manager Ally McCoist attended the Hampden hearing at which the three-man panel agreed with Lunny's assessment that there had been simulation, meaning Aluko will now miss Rangers' next two matches against Hibernian on Saturday and Inverness Caledonian Thistle the following weekend.

McCoist admitted he was both "angry" and "staggered" by the decision to punish his player, comments that could lead to the Rangers manager making an appearance in front of a disciplinary hearing himself in the not-too-distant future. "I have to say that I am absolutely shocked and extremely angry at the fact this committee has upheld the decision to give Sone a two game ban," said McCoist.

"The meeting was chaired by a former referee [thought to be Jim McCluskey] and I have to say his decision making hasn't improved any since he stopped refereeing. The three gentlemen on the panel have effectively called my player a cheat and a liar, neither of which he is. What they've effectively done is they have said the player has cheated to get the penalty. It's an absolutely incredible decision given that the referee is literally five yards from the incident. He has a better view than anybody in the stadium and they have gone not only against the referee, but the player as well.

"The thing that stuns me is that the panel agreed there was contact, so for them to uphold the decision and go against their own referee, who had a particularly good game, is ridiculous."

Stewart Regan, the SFA's chief executive, defended the procedure. "There will always be those who do not like the outcome," he said via Twitter. "But the new process is there to deal swiftly with those who have offended."

The decision to punish Aluko follows a similar incident involving Hibernian's Garry O'Connor who successfully argued against a potential two-game ban for simulation, despite Billy Brown, the Hibs assistant manager, admitting on television that the player had dived.

"It seems to me that there are rules for some and rules for others," added McCoist. "There is a complete lack of continuity and consistency. You have to look at the previous incident regarding Garry O'Connor, and we do not even know if it was the same individuals on the panel.

"We took it on the chin with Steven Naismith at Dunfermline [when the Rangers forward was given a two-game ban for an incident missed by the referee] but I can also remember off the top of my head someone having a fly kick at our goalkeeper last season.

"I can also remember a goalkeeper having a go at Kyle Lafferty this season and a Motherwell player getting elbowed this season.Nothing has been done about any of them and O'Connor has obviously been found not guilty."

Regan argued, however, that there was little value in making comparisons. "Separate panels sit for every case and consider the evidence. You cannot compare one case against another."

McCoist also questioned Lunny's suitability to do his job given his background. "The other thing I would like to point out is the compliance officer is a thoroughly nice man but he is a lawyer, he comes from a legal background not a football one.

"So effectively we've got someone who hasn't played professional football telling me my player is a cheat. It's staggering, absolutely staggering and to say I'm angry would be a massive understatement."

Regan launched a staunch defence of Lunny. "[It is] important to stress our compliance officer simply presents the case to a panel. The panel then consider the evidence and decide if a sanction is warranted. In the case heard today the verdict was simulation."

Meanwhile, Jim McIntyre is to contest the SFA's decision to hand him a two-match touchline ban and will hope yesterday's guilty verdict for Aluko helps strengthen his case. McIntyre had been angered by the decision of referee Steve Conroy to award Rangers the spot kick describing it as "never a penalty in a month of Sundays" and accusing Aluko of "a dive".

He went on to brand the award "a disgrace of a decision", adding, "the bottom line is, the referee's there to spot these things and he's got to do his job, and he didn't do it."