‘Baffling’ officials leave MacKenzie seething at Livvy
ST MIRREN defender Gary MacKenzie is adamant Livingston’s decisive goal on Saturday should have been disallowed as he lambasted the ‘baffling’ performance of the officials at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Despite trailing 1-0 to an Alan Lithgow header following a dreadful first-half showing, the Buddies emerged with renewed vigour after the break and were in the ascendancy.
However, it was Livvy that struck next, with Lyndon Dykes turning in a Chris Erskine delivery to double their lead — much to the chagrin of the seething MacKenzie.
He was convinced Erskine was offside when he received the ball and, to compound matters, then handled the ball. MacKenzie reviewed footage prior to addressing the waiting press and it did little to ease his ire.
Kyle Magennis did half arrears with a wonderful dipping, curling drive from the edge of the box — but St Mirren could not find a way to restore parity, ensuring Dykes’ contentious effort proved to be the winner.
‘Having seen it again, Erskine is offside because he’s behind Paul McGinn. Even if he isn’t offside, then it’s a blatant handball,’ said MacKenzie.
‘I don’t know which game the linesman (David McGeachie) was at but he wasn’t at ours.
‘Decisions didn’t go our way, including penalty appeals. From open play there were some baffling decisions too — even their players were asking what was happening. It was really bemusing.
‘I was booked for complaining. Sometimes you feel that enough is enough and you just have to vent your frustration.
‘Their second goal was a sucker blow. We had the wind behind us and they were camped in.’
Asked whether he took up his grievances with referee Colin Steven or the assistant referee in question McGeachie, MacKenzie continued: ‘He didn’t give me an explanation when I asked how he couldn’t see the ball hitting the back of their player’s hand.
‘The decisions that lead directly to goals hurt, especially when it’s that clear a handball.’
However, MacKenzie did not shy away from St Mirren’s own failings, most notably the woeful concession of the opening goal.
Lithgow was given the freedom of the Buddies’ penalty area to head home a fine Aymen Souda corner kick. Given Livvy’s proficiency from set-pieces is hardly a secret, the lapse was unforgivable.
‘We knew exactly what their threats are,’ added MacKenzie. ‘What you can’t do is give them free headers in the box. It was such a cheap goal.’
Dykes’ hotly-debated effort appeared to have put the game to bed, only for Magennis to unleash a majestic right-footed drive beyond Ross Stewart. The 20-year-old may struggle to better his maiden goal of the campaign.
However, Jim Goodwin’s men could not find their way past Livvy’s massed ranks, with Gary Holt’s enforced absence due to being hospitalised with a muscle injury last week doing nothing to lessen their resilience.
‘We didn’t let our heads drop,’ added MacKenzie. ‘We kept going right to the end and they were throwing their bodies in front of everything. Credit to them because they defend well.
‘We were looking for that wee break or a bit of magic and it didn’t come.’