Livingston boss says he received 'honest' reply from SFA following penalty award against Motherwell

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston boss David Martindale says he has received an 'honest' reply from SFA Head of Referee Operations Crawford Allan after the club's defeat to Motherwell.The hosts were awarded a penalty in the second half for an apparent handball on Cristian Montano when, in fact, the ball appeared to strike the Colombian's chest.

Kevin van Veen duly scored from the spot for the only goal of the game.And he's hoping both the officials, and his own players, can up their performances from the weekend as they prepare to travel to Pittodrie on Saturday.Speaking to the Courier, he said: "I sent an email to Crawford Allan and I got a very honest answer back and I appreciate that.“Everyone knew it wasn’t a penalty at the time and I think the linesman was guessing because if he has seen it then he’ll have seen it wasn’t a handball.“When it comes to important decisions in games, you can’t guess.

There’s no other explanation but he’s made an error and he’s only human.“The decision actually completely changes your outlook on the game.

I don’t think we did enough to win it but I also don’t think we deserved to lose it either.“If you’re coming away with a draw and a clean sheet at Motherwell, you’re fairly happy.