Livingston boss David Martindale frustrated by two big calls which favoured Hibs and "horrendous" defending

Livingston boss David Martindale felt his team were on the wrong end of two big decisions against Hibs at Easter Road, but described his team’s defensive performance as “horrendous”.
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Martindale felt Bruce Anderson should have been awarded a penalty inside the first ten minutes after going down under pressure from Paul Hanlon just as the striker was preparing to pull the trigger. He also felt Jason Holt’s straight red card should have been a yellow at worst in the 4-0 defeat at Easter Road.

“I thought in real time it was a penalty on Bruce,” Martindale said. “He’s lifted his right foot, he’s ready to shoot and Hanlon has come in on the back of him and doesn’t get any contact on the ball, so how it is not a penalty I don’t know.”

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Holt’s red card for a challenge on Kevin Nisbet after just 15 minutes was a significant moment in the game, reducing the visitors to ten men just three days after an arduous match away to champions Celtic. Hibs boss Lee Johnson described it as a “yellow and a half”.

Livingston's Jason Holt is shown a red card by referee Craig Napier after playing the ball but catching Kevin Nisbet with a high boot in the aftermath. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNSLivingston's Jason Holt is shown a red card by referee Craig Napier after playing the ball but catching Kevin Nisbet with a high boot in the aftermath. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNS
Livingston's Jason Holt is shown a red card by referee Craig Napier after playing the ball but catching Kevin Nisbet with a high boot in the aftermath. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNS

Martindale said: “In real time I thought it was a yellow card, but the more I watch it [the more I think it wasn’t a foul]. Jason’s foot isn’t high but he stretches with a bit of momentum to clear the ball. Nisbet comes in on his blind side. The ball is already half a yard away when there’s contact with Nisbet. It’s not a tackle.

“I don’t understand why he didn’t give a yellow and leave it to VAR. That was disappointing. I’ve only got one camera angle, but that’s what I made of it.”

He added: “That aside I think we were horrendous defensively. The four goals we gave away were very unlike us. Playing with ten men a few days after a tough match on Wednesday is not ideal, but there’s no way that should lead to the performance defensively. I don’t just mean the back four. It’s on us all collectively and we will need to rectify it.

“The goalkeeper has to do better with the free kick. I can’t defend the third goal. Terrible. The fourth goal, terrible too. That’s up to me as the manager to sort.”