Andy Halliday admits his thoughts were with James Tavernier's family after the Rangers captain was confronted by a fan on the touchline at Easter Road.
Tavernier clashed with the pitch invader towards the end of the first half of the Ibrox side's 1-1 draw with Hibs on Friday night in the latest sickening event to blight the Scottish game.
The fan was able to leap out of the same home supporters' section from which a bottle was thrown at Celtic's Scott Sinclair last Saturday evening.
Rangers defender James Tavernier was involved in an altercation with a fan on the touchline
An exasperated and embarrassed Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster immediately offered a personal apology to Tavernier and vowed to ban the moron from Easter Road for life.
Halliday missed his team-mate being confronted and shoved because he had begun to walk to the tunnel for the break.
However, he swiftly turned back to help usher his skipper off and was ultimately grateful that no serious harm was done to Tavernier.
And he couldn't help but wonder how the defender's family - wife Melissa and two young children - felt watching the terrifying scene unfold during the live televised match.
'People can forget in this that Tav's got kids,' said Halliday. 'And those kids are watching the game sitting at home.
'They are only young - and they are probably fearing about what has happened to their dad when watching what happened on TV.
The pair were involved in a scuffle on the touchline after the fan had leapt the hoardings
'I was going off the park, heard the crowd get up on their feet. I heard a ruckus, turned around. I actually thought something had happened between Tav and a ball boy, some kind of altercation.
'I didn't know what to make of it. At that point, I just wanted to make sure I got my captain off the field, which is why I went over.' The escalating anti-social crisis, which has Scottish football in its grasp, led to PFA Scotland demanding urgent action to curb the rush of incidents this season and protect the game's performers.
Players, managers and referees have all been targeted by acts of violence and missile throwing at stadiums this season.
'There is no place for that in football,' declared Halliday. 'On the night, it is one idiot out of 20,000 and I don't know what was going through that idiot's mind. Someone would have to ask him.
'Maybe he's had a couple of drinks and made his way out on to the pitch. It's very disappointing and put a poor gloss on a good game.
'I don't know why this has been happening so often but I'm sure action will be taken.' Dempster's apology and brisk action to front up and discuss the issue was accepted in full by Tavernier and Rangers.
The supporter kicked the ball away before clashing with the defender in the shocking scenes
