Hibs rivals in red card claim as Livingston boss issues 'poor decision' penalty verdict
David Gray’s men cruised to 4-0 win that takes them into third place
Livingston boss David Martindale admits his team got lucky not to suffer a double punishment for the turning point in yesterday’s heavy loss to Hibs at Easter Road. And he lamented the “really poor decision” that allowed the home side to go two goals clear on their way to a thumping 4-0 victory.
Thibault Klidje opened the scoring after just eight minutes yesterday. And the Togo international won a penalty early in the second half, with substitute defender Cristian Montano guilt of a clear pull on the striker.
Martindale believes Montano could have seen red for the offence, explaining: “We just shot ourselves in the foot at the penalty. It was a really poor decision.
“He was lucky he wasn’t sent off because there was no attempt to play the ball. I think we got lucky.
“At that point, the game was getting away from us very, very quickly. It became a lot harder.
“Hibs really punished us for our own mistakes. It’s a harsh reminder of how difficult the Premiership is now.
“At that point, the game’s getting away from you very, very quickly with 18,000 fans in the stadium getting behind Hibs. Hibs get a bit of confidence, they’ve got that two-goal cushion, they start popping it, and the game becomes a lot harder at that point.
“Third goal, we should do better, we should find the contact in the box, but that’s probably the one goal I think I can take on the chin. I can tell we’re trying to affect the cross in the wide area, we’re trying to stop the cross, we’re a wee bit unlucky.
“The fourth goal is just poor defending, but I think by that point, at 3-0, the game was away from us. We weren’t a team — there were certain players trying to go on and win the game, there were certain players trying to see the game out, and we were just a wee bit disjointed from 3-0 onwards.”
SPFL split obvious to Livi gaffer
Martindale sees a definite divide between the haves and have-nots in the Scottish Premiership. Which he expects to be reflected in the table.
“I think in this league you’re going to have, I feel, maybe five, potentially six teams that are a wee bit above everyone else in the league,” he said, adding: “That’s how I think the league’s going to be.
“I think the gap’s got a wee bit bigger in terms of that group from previous years in the Premiership — that’s just my feeling now. Then I think when you drop down to probably seventh to 12th, I think anybody can beat anybody at that point, and it’s probably a wee bit more of a level playing field.
“I’m not saying you can’t compete with the top six on your day — you can — but you need a lot of things to go in your favour. You probably need them to be off it a little bit as well.”