Livingston boss praises side's second-half fightback as 10-men Lions grab draw

David Martindale heaped praise on his side's battling second-half performance but criticised keeper Shamal George's 'bizarre' decision that resulted in him being sent-off just before the break.

The Lions had it all to do at half-time having fallen behind early on to a Kevin van Veen strike after the Dutch ace lost his marker and slammed home on three minutes.

Things went from bad to worse when George rushed from his goal and clattered into the goalscorer shortly before the interval. While Chris Graham's initial decision was a yellow card, that was overturned following a lengthy VAR delay and the keeper ordered off.

But the hosts should plenty of fight and character in the second-half - something that had been sorely lacking as their form dipped in recent months - and deservedly bagged themselves a point thanks to an 84th minute leveller.

Skipper Nicky Devlin, making his final appearance at the Tony Macaroni Arena before a summer move to Aberdeen, charged down the right flank before teeing up Andrew Shinnie from close range.

Martindale commented: "We changed the shape in the second-half and I thought we dealt with it very well. There were spells when it was difficult to see who had 10 and who had 11.

“We had the momentum and got the goal from Shinnie. He's very clever and good on the press and in game management. We work on those patterns of play in training and we got the goal from it.

He added: "Shamal makes a really bizarre decision. It's a bad decision and we find ourselves down to 10 men. I thought it was a red in real time to be honest. In the first-half we were very passive and they made us defend. It was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde performance but it keeps that push for seventh going.”

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