Livingston boss full of praise for players despite late collapse in Rangers defeat

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston boss David Martindale admitted he was delighted with his side's performance at Ibrox - for 78 minutes.But a late flurry of goals put paid to any hopes of an upset as Rangers struck three times in the final stages to seal a 4-0 victory despite the Lions being well in the game for the most part.Sam Lammers bagged an early opener but the visitors gave as good as they got and came close to finding a leveller after the break when Andrew Shinnie forced Jack Butland into a brilliant save.Entering the final 15 minutes, there was plenty of reason to believe the Lions could bag themselves an equaliser - only for ruthless Rangers to put them to the sword in the closing moments.Danilo's header was followed by strikes from Abdallah Sima and Kieran Dowell but while the Livi boss confessed he was gutted at the outcome, he was far from critical of the performance.He said: "From 0-78 minutes I thought it was a decent game.

We nullified a lot of Rangers’ threat so I was fairly happy. I thought we could get a goal at 1-0. Shinnie’s was the big chance, it was a good save from Butland.”“I was about to make changes before their second goal – we didn’t defend well enough.

Rangers get energy, confidence and momentum from the crowd because, until then, the game could have swung.“I’m frustrated. I’m proud of the players up to a certain level but also disappointed for them.

I could see how much they put into it."He added: "Rangers’ subs really helped them. They brought a lot of pace and power onto the park.“Goals change games.