Livingston manager David Martindale bemoaned the decision to award a penalty to hosts Falkirk in his side’s 1-1 draw.
Calvin Miller’s corner struck the elbow of Livingston striker Stevie May after quarter of an hour, with referee Grant Irvine awarding the spot-kick after being recommended by VAR Nick Walsh to consult the pitchside monitor.
Veteran striker Brian Graham smashed home the penalty and that looked like it was going to be enough to give Falkirk three points until Livi captain Danny Wilson’s towering header from Graham Carey’s free-kick secured a last-gasp draw for the visitors.
Despite the late leveller, Martindale admitted he was frustrated at the award of the first-half penalty, as his side remain bottom of the league going into the international break.
He said: “I think it’s really harsh. The referee in real time says to Stevie ‘your hands are in, you didn’t have time to react to it’.
“Brian Graham runs across the eye-line of Stevie May and it hits him there in the box.
“The referee doesn’t think it’s a penalty and it goes to VAR and we’re looking at it thinking ‘he’s not going to give that’.
“The distance between Brian Graham and Stevie May is a maximum of half-a-yard and it hits his arm. He gives the penalty, so I felt a bit hard done by then.
“Stevie’s disappointed because the referee explains it, Stevie agrees, we agree, then it goes to VAR and I think when you start slowing it down you can come up with any outcome.
“When we watched it back it’s quite hard to see…so maybe there’s another angle and I’ll have to apologise.”
Falkirk manager John McGlynn was frustrated that his side could not see out the game after passing up the opportunity to win a third straight home league match.
He said: “They’re a decent team and you can see that they’ve put us under pressure.
“They’ve got a lot of big players and they’ve put a lot of big players on and that’s part of the game and you’ve got to defend against it.
“Unfortunately, having defended well for most of the second half, we succumbed to that one which is a bit unfortunate.
“I thought we should have maybe been further ahead with the superiority in the first half, but we lost control in the second and Livi controlled it, which is disappointing.
“We were dangerous on the counter-attack but didn’t manage to take advantage of these opportunities.
“Unfortunately for us we lose a goal to a set-piece which is a wee bit annoying. You’ve got to defend it, which we don’t.
“It’s another point. Yes, when you’ve got three in the bag at half-time you’re a bit concerned you didn’t get all three, but it’s still been a very good start and as long as you’re picking up points you’ll keep the wolf from the door.”
