Livi boss doesn’t blame ref, says best team won
Martindale moans at decisions but praises Celts
Livingston boss David Martindale bemoaned decisions from referee Nicky Walsh that led to two Celtic goals in their 3-1 loss to the Hoops – but admitted the visitors were deserved winners.
Celtic opened the scoring on 17 minutes when a corner-kick that shouldn’t have been given eventually resulted in Daizen Maeda heading home from close range.
Walsh gave the visitors the corner despite a possible handball on Celtic defender Anthony Ralston, while the ball also didn’t touch Livi’s Jason Holt until after it had crossed the line.
Just two minutes earlier Walsh had awarded the visitors a debatable penalty that Callum McGregor slammed against the post.
The Hoops doubled their lead less than a minute after the break when Nicky Devlin diverted a Ralston cross into his own net, with Martindale insisting there was a handball from Aussie midfielder Tom Rogic in the build-up.
Ayo Obileye had thundered a header off the crossbar just before the interval for the Lions as they were inches away from equalising.
Celtic would net a third shortly after through James Forrest with a sweet left-foot drive across goal after being sent clear by Jota, while Andrew Shinnie kept things interesting when he bundled home for the hosts just before the hour mark.
However, Ange Postecoglou’s side, played some terrific stuff with Max Stryjek producing several vital saves as they broke their Tony Macaroni Arena hoodoo.
Celtic had failed to win their previous five encounters there and Martindale conceded the Hoops were simply the better side.
He said: “I don’t think we deserved a lot more from the game, but two big decisions went against us which led to two goals. That’s the disappointing aspect.
“The first one was a blatant byekick. Bobby (Madden, fourth official) and the linesman were telling Nick it was a bye-kick but you still have to defend the corner a lot better than we did.
“For the second, there is a handball by Rogic in the middle of the park.
“Nick is standing watching it and we don’t get that. Again, we still have
to defend better, so you find yourself 2-0 down.
“I don’t think these decisions changed the result, but they changed the dynamics of the game.”
He added: “At the penalty, I think Fitzy (Jack Fitzwater) slipped and his hand’s holding him up and the ball hits his hand.
“I’m not sure if that’s classed as a penalty.
“I thought it was really harsh, but it didn’t have a big influence on the game.
“You need everything to fall in your favour. There may have been
decisions in the game that went my way that shouldn’t have. But they never led to goals.
“When it’s blatant decisions that go against you and lead to goals, it highlights the officiating.
“I’m genuinely not blaming Nick. He’s not the reason we got beat.
“We got beat because Celtic were better than us, pure and simple. But it is frustrating.
“It’s not going to be a seasondefining game for us.
“We are sitting fifth in the league after 30 games so our ambitions are to end up in the top six.”