Livingston boss David Martindale heaped praise on debut keeper Shamal George - but admits the stopper should have done better for Rangers' second goal as the Lions fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Gers on Saturday.Livi opened the scoring on five minutes through Joel Nouble but their defensive resolve was eventually broken on 72 minutes as Scott Arfield headed home a Ryan Kent cross after the visitors had peppered efforts on George's goal throughout the second half.And the turning point arrived just two minutes later when James Tavernier fired home a free-kick from the edge of the box.Martindale concedes the former Colchester United man's positioning of both himself and the wall played a key role in the ball finding the net but admitted it's part of the learning process as the 24-year-old gets used to the Scottish Premiership.Despite that, the gaffer insisted the stopper kept them in the game.He commented: "We’ve spoken to him about it.
I thought he was a bit too central and the wall was a bit to his right. I said to one of the coaches that I could see where he (Tavernier) was going with it."There’s a couple of Rangers players a metre off our wall.
It’s a wee bit of naivety and a welcome to Scottish football. We did a lot of work with him and gave him clips on Tav but there’s a big difference between watching it and being up against it.“In hindsight, should we have had another defender in there?
I think we should have. We should have locked that area of the park off with the two Rangers players which then allows Shamal to take a step to his left and he probably saves it.“But the big man kept us in the game also.
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