Derek Ferguson has told on-loan Rangers star Fabio Silva to stop diving after being left outraged at the strikers behaviour. 

Silva played 70 minutes of the latest 3-3 Old Firm thriller with Celtic last weekend. And displayed at times why his parent club, Wolves, paid £35million for his services almost four years ago. 

Celtic held a comfortable lead at half-time, but a determined Rangers squad rallied twice to level the score, denying Brendan Rodgers' team an opportunity to widen their lead at the summit of the Scottish Premiership.

Referee John Beaton awarded two penalties during the match at Ibrox, the first was in Celtic's favour after Connor Goldson was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box. But the second, which involved Portuguese striker, Silva, certainly proved the most controversial. 

The 21-year-old was initially penalised for simulation following a collision with Alistair Johnston, but upon a VAR review by Nick Walsh, the decision was reversed and Rangers were handed a spot-kick.

It wasn't the first time in the game that Silva went down easily. Prior to the penalty being awarded, he had embellished the severity of a couple of challenges, portraying them as more serious than they actually were.

That has irked Ferguson, who openly confessed his disdain for unnecessary theatrics, regardless of which team is involved.

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Speaking on the latest Open Goal Podcast, the former Rangers midfielder said: “I’d have loved to have got him at half-time and slapped him about by the way.

“As a player, I hate that. That just does my nut in that. But right, if you take that incident in isolation, because I think a few of us said, ‘has he dived?’

“But when you see it (the Johnston tackle), for once VAR has come in and gave the right decision. But take it in isolation, it was a penalty.”

Scotland hero James McFadden was in agreement with his fellow pundit and chimed in: “See when you’ve got a guy who wins fouls or penalties then you see them diving, it goes against them. That’s why John Beaton’s went in straight away (to book Silva for diving)."

Ferguson wasn't done there though, as he urged the Rangers squad to eradicate any unnecessary play acting during games - claiming someone in the dressing room needs to tell Silva to stay on his feet. 

He stated: "That’s the danger. And I’m hearing now that the manager has went and had a word with him, he’s addressed the situation.

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“The type of player that Clement was, he’ll not be happy with that. He’ll not want his players to be doing that sort of thing or reacting to a challenge.

“It was just far too often and I hate it personally. And I hope it’s not just left to the manager, I hope that some of the players go and get a grip of him.”