St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin has claimed Livingston should not have had the penalty that sent them on their way to a 2-1 Ladbrokes Premiership victory.
Goodwin was adamant the initial foul that brought Lyndon Dykes down in the box for Steven Lawless’ spot-kick had been outside the box.
Dykes then went on to roll in a second for Livi just seconds into the second half before Jon Obika gave St Mirren hope of a comeback.
However, it was a combination of that first-half penalty and his side’s defending that annoyed Goodwin at full-time.
He said: “I’ve watched the penalty back and I think the initial contact is outside the box.
“It looks a bit clumsy when they get into the box but the initial contact is outside.
“Lyndon Dykes is clever, he allows himself to fall inside but when they come together in the box it looks clumsy.
“The second goal is horrendous from our point of view. It’s so, so bad.
“We take kick-off and put it into an area where we want it. They pick up the second ball and the shape of our back line is all over the place. It’s far too high.
“We offered Dykes far too much space to run in to.
“It’s something we spoke about pre-match. Both goals actually were very similar in terms of the line being too high.
“I’ve been complimentary to the back line and how hard we’ve made it for teams to score against us in recent weeks and months but tonight they were two terrible goals.”
Livingston manager Gary Holt admitted there could be some debate over the foul on Dykes but was thrilled to have registered a sixth home win on the bounce, despite allowing St Mirren back into the game with Obika’s strike.
He said: “I think it was a penalty if it is inside the box. I couldn’t see that from where I was.
“But I thought it was a great run and a great ball and I thought he cut across the centre-half and the defender tripped him so, for me, it is a foul.
“I’d need to see if it is inside the box but for me it is a foul.
“We caused our own problems. Our game management should have been better.
“But we were prepared to put our bodies on the line and put our heads in where it hurts tonight.
“I think if we had played that game last season we would have drawn it 2-2, or even lost it 3-2, so it was pleasing to see that desire to make sure we did not lose the points.’
