Livi boss: Loss is our fault, but ref missed two pens
David Martindale pointed the finger of blame at his Livingston players for their defeat to Aberdeen, despite claiming they should have had “more than one penalty”.
The manager was critical of his team’s sloppy defending in allowing Callum Hendry and Ryan Hedges to haul the Dons into a twogoal lead that proved unassailable.
Jay EmmanuelThomas set up a grandstand finale with a stunning volley 10 minutes from time and the Lions roared for a penalty just a minute from full-time after Jack MacKenzie appeared to handle in the box.
But, despite claiming ref Grant Irvine and his team blundered badly on more than one occasion, Martindale admits his side cannot hide behind their own mistakes.
He said: “We’ve only got ourselves to blame. We can’t expect to give the opponent two goals of a start and take something from the game.
“It’s very similar to how I felt after the Hibs game, albeit we were a lot better in the first half today.
“We dominated large spells of the game but it was two poor goals from our point of view. Really poor, especially when it’s something we work on to stop.
“But we came back into the game and scored a fantastic goal. We had another couple of chances that we should do better with.
“I need to watch what I’m saying. There was a blatant handball and there were three officials who were in very good positions to see it. The reaction of the players usually tells you as well.
“There were some big decisions that went against us. There was more than one penalty that we should have got.
“There was one with Jon Guthrie as well. He gets a connection on the ball and Woods cleans him out. If the keeper comes, he has to get something on the ball.
“But we can’t blame the officials. They don’t go out to get decisions wrong.
“There were moments that went against us but we’ve only got ourselves to blame with the goals we gave away and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.”
Livingston drop to sixth on goal difference with the defeat and St Johnstone’s win at Hibs.
And, with both playing the Old Firm next, there could be a huge last-day battle between the teams for fifth place.
Martindale added: “I will be bitterly disappointed if we finish sixth. We have done enough to finish fifth but we have to fight tooth and nail.
“St Johnstone go to Parkhead and Rangers come here. Then it is all to play for when we go to McDairmid Park.”