'Arrogant' - Livingston star's extraordinary 'little club' rant after what happened v Hibs

Hibs' Martin Boyle handed Livingston their seventh defeat in a row

Hibs continued their winning form this weekend as they took on Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Stadium. Martin Boyle’s 28th minute goal was all that would separate the sides but there was plenty of chaos to keep the fans entertained despite the limited number of goals. 

As is so often seen in recent fixtures, VAR took its toll, taking up several minutes of play with Livingston being the unlucky victims and the aggrieved Lions player was quick to criticise the referee’s decision, claiming Grant Irivne to be ‘arrogant’ when not explaining the decision. 

Kurtis Guthrie felt his struggling side were denied a massive chance to level from the spot when he went down in the box under pressure from Joe Newell. Irvine, however, waved away the protests and Guthrie did not hold back. 

“It was 100 per cent a penalty but when you’re the little club playing the big club and the run is going against you, you just don’t get them”, criticised the 30-year-old.  

“There’s nothing you can do, it’s just the way it goes up here.The ref gave a foul against me. And then when I asked him if he’d at least have a look back at it, he just said, ‘No’. It’s a waste of time.

“They want you to speak to them but then when you try to they’re not interested. People like that are just too arrogant. What’s the point in having the technology and not looking at it? They are the ones you have got to look at.

Guthrie, whose side suffered a seventh straight defeat, continued by saying: “In the position we are in, surely they understand the context that we’re fighting for points. I can’t understand it at all. The bigger teams get the decisions against the smaller teams and you see it all the time up here

“At this point now, I’m not even surprised. When they don’t give you an opportunity to even look at it and have no explanation as to why, it’s just ridiculous.”

When speaking about the foul against him, Guthrie said of the decision: “If I’m taking the ball in, I’m protecting the ball. If my leg is planted and someone comes through my standing leg, how is that initiating contact? Are you not meant to protect the football?

“That’s what the game is all about, getting your body in a good position so they have to go through you to get to the ball.

“Then you get nothing for it. People will fob you off, someone will give a pathetic excuse then it moves on. But there’s loads of positives to take and there’s still a lot of games to play so we’ll keep working hard