“It makes it an uphill battle. I think you see a young 19-year-old lad up against a very, very experienced player and I think that’s the way it happened.

“Obviously Steve Cook and Malik came together, he (Yalcouye) has been enticed and he (Cook) went down like he got hit by an absolute truck.”

Yalcouye’s dismissal was a heavy blow to a Swansea side who were already trailing to Rumarn Burrell’s early goal.

Sheehan’s team stayed in the contest, thanks in part to some wayward Rangers finishing as well as some fine goalkeeping from Lawrence Vigouroux, and threatened to salvage a point when Zan Vipotnik went close late on.

Sheehan suggested Yalcouye and Cook had “stuck their heads together” in the red card incident, while Hoops boss Julien Stephan said he had not seen what happened.