Danny Rohl stood in the away dressing room at the Tony Macaroni Arena and did his best to stay diplomatic. His Rangers side had just thrown away a two goal lead against the league’s bottom club, and a late penalty shout had been waved away by both the referee and VAR.
Mikey Moore was tackled by Cammy Kerr at the edge of the Livingston box deep in added time. VAR official David Dickinson spent minutes reviewing the incident before deciding there was nothing in it. Rohl disagreed.
“For me, it’s a clear foul,” the Rangers boss said. “I think it’s on the line. And then it’s two decisions. If it’s outside, it’s a red card and a free kick, or it’s inside, then it’s a penalty and a yellow card. You see it.”
He added: “The first thing is when they checked over two or three minutes, there must be something. And then I was surprised that the ref did not watch it back.”
The bigger picture is that Rangers were 2-0 down against the team propping up the entire division. Brooklyn Kabongolo and Lewis Smith had given Livingston a comfortable cushion before Cristian Montano’s red card changed the complexion of the game. Late goals from Emmanuel Fernandez and Moore rescued a point, but it could have been all three.
Livingston boss Marvin Bartley took the draw as encouragement. “I came in the first day as manager and I told them we will get out of this and I still thoroughly believe that,” he said.
Rohl, to his credit, insisted the title race will go to the final day. He is probably right. But Rangers cannot afford many more afternoons like this one.