Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Steven MacLean: St Johnstone skipper Liam Gordon was ‘naive’ but referee got Livingston penalty decision WRONG

Saints were 1-0 up when Graham Grainger pointed to the spot.

St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean.
St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean. Image: SNS.

St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean is adamant that the referee in his side’s clash with Livingston got the game-changing penalty award wrong at McDiarmid Park.

And Graham Grainger’s post-match explanation merely added to the Perth boss’s sense of injustice.

With Saints a goal up and on top in the Premiership contest, Liam Gordon was punished for a foul on Joel Nouble as the pair chased a ball that was a long way from the danger area.

MacLean admitted that his captain was “naïve” in getting close to the Livi forward.

But his chief source of dismay was the man who pointed to the spot, presenting Sean Kelly with his opportunity to level the scores.

“I think Liam is naïve,” said MacLean. “He thinks he can win it. But I don’t think it’s a penalty.

“I’ve watched it back and I’ve spoken to the referee.

“He says he’s impeded him and has done that motion (arms around).

“Then he said he’d need to see it back, so take from that what you want.

“His reasoning doesn’t suggest it’s a penalty.

“The ball is going out of play. Liam shouldn’t go near him because the ball is going out of the pitch.

“But the ref is 35 yards away looking through Sven (Sprangler). I don’t know how he can give the penalty.”

Red card thoughts

MacLean also questioned the VAR ordering off of Gordon late in the game, when a tackle not deemed worthy of a yellow was upgraded to a straight red.

“I saw it from a wide angle,” he said.

“It doesn’t look like a red but I need to see the stills because that’s what they go on these days, isn’t it?

“So I’ve not seen the VAR footage. It looked like a proper, hard tackle.”

MacLean switched formation to three at the back and he was happy with the platform it gave his team in the game.

“I thought our shape was good,” he said. “We were looking comfortable.

“I went with a three, two strikers, two attacking wing-backs, two sitters and one in behind.

“The shape was positive.

“We should’ve come in at half-time two or three up.

“Jephs (Luke Jephcott) had a chance. I think Daz (Dara Costelloe) blocks it. Then Daz has another good opportunity. There were a lot of positives there.

Dara Costelloe scores for St Johnstone.
St Johnstone’s Dara Costelloe scores. Image: SNS.

“For the goal, we’d worked on getting Daz down the side there. He’s got pace and is direct. I was happy with him. Hopefully he can go on a wee run now.

“They were sending the big lads up and throwing balls into the box but I still don’t think Livingston had a clear cut chance later on.

“We lick our wounds and go again. It’s not what we wanted but sometimes things are out of your control.”

Conversation