FOR many Rangers fans, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime when it comes to Kyle Lafferty’s withdrawal from the Northern Ireland squad last week.

But Steven Gerrard reckons the sanction handed down will hurt the striker as he gets set to spend his Sunday in the stand rather than on the park.

Boss Gerrard will be without Lafferty’s services when his side face Hamilton Accies tomorrow after the IFA invoked a FIFA clause that effectively bans him from playing in the Premiership clash.

Windsor Park chiefs and Michael O’Neill were left angry with Lafferty following his decision to pull out of the squad for the matches with Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina with a late night call to his manager.

Rangers have accepted the course of action that the IFA have taken and Gerrard hopes there will be a mutually beneficial and agreeable conclusion to the row sooner rather than later.

“We received a letter with the rules on a few days ago and as a club we respect that and honour that,” he said. “It means Kyle won’t be available at the weekend which is a shame.

“As a manager you want your best players available and Kyle would have been involved against Hamilton.

“He’s come and spoke to me and he’s apologised. He’s in dialogue with Michael O’Neill about his international football but he’s made it clear he wants to carry on. He loves playing for Northern Ireland.

“Hopefully once the weekend is done that matter will be closed.

“We want all our players to do as well as they can for their respective countries.

“It always used to really excite me to go away with England. I enjoyed it.

“We feel proud here when the players get international recognition. It’s good for the club. We support all our international players.

“Kyle has got this one wrong and the best punishment for any player is to take football away from them.

“He’s regretting it now because he’s not available for Sunday. In terms of the actual detail as to what happened, I don’t know.

“He and Michael are in conversation and I know Gary McAllister spoke with Michael too.

“As far as we’re concerned it’s done. The punishment is there, he won’t play on Sunday but we move on.”

Lafferty will have to watch on at the Hope Stadium as Rangers look to pick up where they left off before the international break and add another three points to their Premiership tally.

The Light Blues crashed to a 1-0 defeat on the plastic pitch at Livingston last month before recording impressive wins against Rapid Vienna and Hearts.

It is those performances that Gerrard wants his side to replicate as the Gers look to finally win away from home on league duty this term.

“It is a very similar challenge to Livingston and what we spoke about a few weeks ago,” he said. “It is not the ideal surface that we all like in terms of it being artificial but it is what it is.

“It is another challenge. They are on the back of a heavy defeat and my experience in football is that players self-reflect and they want to give that little bit more, than extra 10 or 20 per cent, and bounce back and play for pride.

“We are expecting a reaction from Hamilton and we know it will be a challenge and a test. For us, we see it as a great opportunity to prove to people that we can win away from home in the league.

“We have done it in Europe, we have done it in the cup. So, for me, there is no excuse why we can’t go and do it on Sunday.

“We have to go and play well and try and take the last few performances into Sunday. If we get anywhere close to that, I am sure we will be fine.”

Victory over Hearts before the international break took Rangers onto 14 points from their first eight Premiership fixtures but leaves them sixth in the standings going into the next crucial run of games.

Elsewhere this weekend, Aberdeen make the trip to Tynecastle this afternoon, while Old Firm rivals Celtic host second-placed Hibernian in an enticing, exciting round of top flight fixtures.

Gerrard will, of course, be interested in the outcomes but they will matter little if his side don’t take care of business against Accies.

He said: "I don’t think it is anything we can really focus on in terms of other challenges and competing. It is October and we have to worry about ourselves.

"It is a big three points and our focus is all on Hamilton and not really what happens anywhere else.

"Of course we will look in on Saturday and see how those games go and we will see where we lie in the league when kick off comes. But it wont change our plan or the way we are going about things.

"Before those games are played we are going there for three points and that doesn’t change."

Rangers have returned to action refreshed and ready this week after a much-needed break from action as international matters dominated the agenda during the Premiership hiatus.

The schedule between now and the turn of the year is hectic for the Light Blues, however. In particular, a run of ten games in 30 days between the end of November and the Old Firm showdown at Ibrox could shape Rangers’ ambitions this term.

Gerrard said: “We’ve definitely looked at the fixtures and the outlay all the way to Christmas.

“We have two options - get all worried, stressed and concerned about it or we look and think how well we’ve done and it’s a reward for our progress in Europe and the League Cup.

“The players have earned the right to play in these big matches. They should be excited and looking forward to them.

“The squad is big enough to cope and we’ll tailor the training and schedule and time off around the games to ensure the players are fresh physically and mentally but there is nothing to concern ourselves with except Sunday.

“If you think about any other game except Hamilton Accies your focus will come off it.

“Behind the scenes we’re well aware of the schedule, but Hamilton is the only thing being spoken about around here.”