I THOUGHT referee Dougie McDonald had a pretty terrible game at Rugby Park on Sunday.

In fact, I would go so far as to say it was the worst performance I have seen by a man-in-the-middle in Scotland for many, many years.

But he was bad for both teams and not just Kilmarnock. To be fair to him, he has come out and admitted he made a mistake with Kris Boyd's first penalty.

However, he also chalked off a perfectly good Barry Ferguson goal for Rangers that should have stood.

In his defence, he had little help from his assistant referee with the Ferguson decision, and a few others like it in the course of the 90 minutes.

But I am glad Jim Jefferies has expanded on his comments about there being no point in Killie turning up for the CIS Cup Final because McDonald is the whistler.

I can sympathise with him to a certain extent because his side did suffer from Dougie's worst decisions.

But Jim was right to come out and back Dougie's appointment for his side's showdown with Hibs in the CIS Insurance Cup Final following his public admission he got things wrong.

Taking charge of a big match at Hampden will be a great experience for Dougie and will help him to improve as a referee in the future.

He has worked hard to get to the level he is at and the appointment will only help him get better and, ultimately, benefit Scottish football.

I have no doubt Dougie will treat Killie in exactly the same way as Hibs and hope he has a good day at the office.