Rangers manager Walter Smith admits he was in the wrong for the incident which saw him sent to the stand during their goalless draw against Kilmarnock in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Smith was sent packing by referee Steve Conroy for reacting furiously to Killie players who he mistakenly thought were trying to encourage the match official to show Pedro Mendes a second yellow card, after he had been harshly booked earlier in the match for another foul on Craig Bryson.

Conor Sammon, in particular, was a target for Smith's vitriol and the Rangers boss admitted: "At the time, I felt the Kilmarnock players were surrounding the referee to get Mendes sent off but Jim (Jefferies) assures me that's not the case. Jim says the boys just wanted the game to be played on. In this instance, I'm in the wrong with my reaction to that situation."

Both Smith and opposite number Jefferies were in agreement that Conroy was wrong to dismiss both Mendes and Kilmarnock's Manuel Pascali as both teams ended up with 10 men.

Jefferies added: "The confusion on the touchline was because Walter thought Conor's reaction was to get Mendes sent off but it wasn't, he wanted the referee to play advantage and then deal with it.

"I think Walter got a bit annoyed with him but I think it livened up the half-time team talk for both camps."

Smith then appeared to exchange words with a fan when sent to the directors box but said: "The boy was just congratulating me for getting sent off."

Mendes became the third Rangers player to see red this season, following the dismissals of Kevin Thomson and Madjid Bougherra.

"It's frustrating," said Smith. "If it's going to be like that, every time someone gets a yellow card, we are going to have to take them off otherwise we will have a situation where we will have them sent off."

Pascali was then dismissed late on, a decision Smith also felt was harsh on the Kilmarnock player, saying: "The referee was giving yellow cards for innocuous midfield challenges. Was there anything malicious in that game? I didn't think there was."