David Martindale in Rangers referee blast as frustrated Livingston boss vents over 2 'debatable' calls

David Martindale insists Livingston suffered a double injustice after defeat to Rangers.

The Lions boss believes a first half penalty which involved a jersey tug by James Penrice on Alfredo Morelos and a late red card for Stephane Omeonga's trip on Kemar Roofe were harsh in the extreme. He said: "I don’t think it’s a penalty, I think it’s very soft. I’m going to concede he had his jersey but I don’t think he pulled it. I don’t think there was any force in it. The momentum of Morelos’ body shape didn’t change. I think it was very harsh.

"There would have been 20 odd penalties being given for someone holding the opposition player’s shirt. It happens to Joel Nouble every day of the week, all over the park, and we don’t seem to get free-kicks or penalties. I don’t think there’s a lot in it. I can see why the referee has to go to look at the monitor but there has to be some argument about the momentum of the force that’s used to pull the shirt. It’s debatable."

Rangers took the game away from the Lions with a James Tavernier free-kick from the foul which saw Omeonga dismissed but Martindale was adamant the decision should have gone Livingston's way. He said: "It’s a fantastic free-kick.

"But Roofe’s contact is on Stephane originally. I don’t think it’s a yellow card even if Steph made the first contact which I don’t think he did, I think it’s a soft yellow card.

I’ve had Steph for two years and he’s never had dissent so I’d be surprised if that was a yellow for dissent. He would have told me.

“Up until about 78 minutes, at 1-0, I don’t think our goalkeeper had a lot to do — McGregor didn’t have a lot to do either — but we were creating some good goal-scoring opportunities. We were well in the game at that point.

"We