Livingston boss David Martindale bemoaned two decisions from referee Nick Walsh that led to Celtic goals in their 3-1 loss to the Hoops this afternoon - but admitted the visitors were deserved winners.
Celtic opened the scoring on 17 minutes when a corner-kick that shouldn’t have been given eventually resulted in Daizen Maeda heading home from close range just two minutes after Walsh had awarded the visitors a debatable penalty that Callum McGregor slammed against the post.
The Hoops doubled their lead less than a minute into the second half when Nicky Devlin diverted an Anthony Ralston cross into his own net.
But Martindale insists there was a handball on Aussie midfielder Tom Rogic in the build-up.
Celtic would net a third shortly after through James Forrest with a sweet left-foot drive across goal while Andrew Shinnie kept things interesting when he bundled home for the hosts just before the hour mark.
Ange Postecoglou’s side, though, played some terrific stuff as they broke their Tony Macaroni Arena hoodoo having failed to win their previous five encounters and Martindale conceded the Hoops were the better side.
He commented: “I don’t think we deserved a lot more from the game, but two big decisions went against us, which led to two goals. That’s the disappointing aspect.
“The first one was a blatant bye-kick. Bobby (Madden, fourth official) and the linesman were telling Nick it was a bye-kick but you still have to defend the corner a lot better than we did.
“For the second, there is a handball by Rogic in the middle of the park. Nick is standing watching it and we don’t get that.
“Again, we still have to defend better, so you find yourself 2-0 down. I don’t think these decisions changed the result, but they changed the dynamics of the game.”
He added: “At the penalty, I think Fitzy (Jack Fitzwater) slipped and his hand’s holding him up and the ball hits his hand. I’m not sure if that’s classed as a penalty. I thought it was really harsh, but it didn’t have a big influence on the game.
“You need everything to fall in your favour. There may have been decisions in the game that went my way that shouldn’t have. But they never led to goals.
“When it’s blatant decisions that go against you and lead to goals, it highlights the officiating.
“I’m genuinely not blaming Nick. He’s not the reason we got beat. We got beat because Celtic were better than us, pure and simple. But it is frustrating.
“It’s not going to be a season-defining game for us. We are sitting fifth in the league after 30 games so our ambitions are to end up in the top six.”
Earlier in the week the Livi boss said Ange Postecoglou’s side went into the clash with a point to prove given their poor record in West Lothian and the fact it was the site of their last league defeat - and he concedes they did just that as the win saw them jump three points clear of Rangers in the title race.
He added: “That was more like the Celtic we saw at the start of the season. I thought they came here with a point to prove and they proved that point.
“There was a different atmosphere leading up to the game. You felt it was a big occasion, whereas before coming to Livingston has been slightly played down.
“The next Old Firm game is going to be a defining moment for the league this season. But do we have a highly competitive league? Yes we have.
“Even from a Livingston point of view, it’s fascinating and exciting to see who’s going to win it.
“From a marketing point of view, that can only be positive for Scottish football.”
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