Sone Aluko has denied that he deliberately dived to earn a penalty against Dunfermline Athletic at Ibrox three weeks ago and has questioned the Scottish Football Association's appointment of a compliance officer who has no direct experience of playing professional football.

The Rangers winger served a two-match suspension after Vincent Lunny judged that the incident in the game at Ibrox, when Aluko went down after a challenge by Martin Hardie, should be referred to the SFA's fast-track tribunal. Aluko was offered a two-match suspension, but chose to appeal, and the tribunal rejected his plea.

The player insists he did not cheat, though, and was merely anticipating contact from Hardie. Aluko believes players are being wrongly judged, because they do not make a conscious decision in split-second incidents, and that the compliance officer would better understand such nuances had he played at a high level, although his role is to judge incidents from a legal point of view.

"If you don't play, you won't know what has gone through [a player's] head," he said. "You get used to expecting knocks or kicks. As soon as you feel something, you think 'that's what I was waiting for'. But the compliance officer, with all due respect, hasn't played football. So, he's not going to see it that way.

"It's good that the SFA are looking into things like that but it would help if the Compliance Officer had played football. But then he would get accusations that he was a Celtic fan, a Rangers fan, or this or that. So he is always going to be criticised."

Aluko believes his style of play will lead to challenges in and around the box. He won six penalties for Aberdeen last term, but insists he had never before been accused of diving. He can't change his approach to the game, but his concern is that the judgment of referees might be swayed by a player having been branded a diver, or by the knowledge that their decisions are now under even greater scrutiny.

"The new system has put a bit of pressure on referees," Aluko added. "The referee's decision has always been final, but that's not the case any more. It could change their minds a little bit. I hope they stay strong and make the decisions they feel are right. Of course, I disagree with being labelled a diver.

"It's like whether it is a deliberate handball or not. it might just be a natural reaction. You've not thought, 'I'm going to cheat'."