Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin insists Tete Yengi should have seen red for elbowing Dylan McGowan in the face and ‘scarring’ the defender in their defeat to Livingston.
The Lions ran out 3-1 winners with a trio of ex-Accies players delivering the three points, as Stevie May, Lewis Smith and Andy Winter all netted against their former employers to keep Livi within six points of leaders Falkirk.
However, Rankin says referee Grant Irvine was wrong to only show Yengi a yellow for his foul on McGowan, who left the field bleeding and unable to see out of his left eye with the score at 2-1.
To rub salt into the wounds, Yengi provided the assist for Winter to seal the points in second half stoppage time.
Rankin fumed: “Dylan can’t see out his eye. The scar and the stitches are both in two key areas of his face. The challenge is a straight red. The referee has got a hard job but I think he was a bit quick to judge it as a yellow.
“I don’t think Yengi is that type of player that he has meant it, but it is a red card. At that moment, it’s a decisive time in the game that could help us get back in the game.
“I feel sorry for Dylan. He’s come back in after being out for a while with a broken leg and now he’s going to be out for a number of weeks.
“He can only see out of one eye. The good thing is he isn’t concussed, but he is going to be left with a damaging scar.
“It is a disappointing result. When you know players as inside out as we know these guys, it is a bit more difficult to take.
“The Stevie May one is a tap-in at the back post.
“We know Lewis Smith’s qualities. We know he wants to come in on his stronger foot and we are really disappointed we allowed that to happen. We get caught on the counter-attack for the third and Andy scores.”
The Lions took the lead in 41 minutes when the ball broke to Smith at the far post and he showed great composure to dummy an initial attempt at a cross and then clip the ball for May to turn the ball in with his chest from close range.
That was a blow for the hosts but they found an immediate response. Stephen Hendrie picked the ball up out wide and delivered a terrific cross into the box for O’Hara to nudge a header into the bottom corner.
Five minutes into the second half Livi regained the lead. Smith collected the ball out wide, wriggled his way into the box and then rifled a low strike to beat Albinson at his near post, before holding back the celebrations against his former club.
Accies provided a rapid reply to going behind in the first half and history almost repeated itself. On their next attack, it looked like O’Hara was destined to turn the ball home at the back post, but a stunning save from Jerome Prior on the line denied him a certain equaliser.
And in the second minute of stoppage time, Livi found the clincher when Yengi left Scott Martin for dead with a clever turn and set up Winter to slot home.
Lions boss Davie Martindale added: “It definitely wasn’t malicious from Tete. He hasn’t swung his elbow at him. He did catch him but I don’t think he meant it. I’d need to see it back to see if Dylan has been over aggressive [with his head]. If we had VAR it might be a different outcome.
“There was one on Scott Pittman as well that was a bit naughty.”
He added: “I think that was Lewis Smith’s best game for us. He’s not really played a lot for me lately because I need more from him. Going away to his old club, it could have gone either way, but I thought he really stood up to the test and he was very good.
“There was a lot to like about him. He comes up with a good finish.
“Andy Winter as well. I know what he is going to give me every time he steps on the park. He is not short on endeavour and aggression. I love everything about wee Andy. His goal settled us down a bit.
“We had more than enough chances to make the game a bit easier.”