St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean expressed his frustration with referee Graham Grainger after skipper Liam Gordon gave away a penalty and was later red-carded in his side’s 1-1 draw with Livingston.
The defender was sent off with seven minutes remaining in regulation time after a VAR check penalised a studs-up challenge on Joel Nouble.
The numerical disadvantage prevented the McDiarmid Park side from launching a late push for a first victory of the campaign.
MacLean said: “I’m frustrated with the penalty. I think Liam is naive, he thinks he can win it – but I don’t think it’s a penalty.
“I’ve watched it back and I’ve spoken to the referee, and he says he’s impeded him.
“Then he said he’d need to see it back, so take from that what you want. His reasoning doesn’t suggest it’s a penalty.
“Liam shouldn’t go near him because the ball is going out the pitch. But the ref is 35 yards away looking through Sven [Sprangler], I don’t know how he can give the penalty.”
On the red card, he added: “I saw it from a wide angle. It doesn’t look like a red but I need to see the stills because that’s what they go on these days, isn’t it?
“So I’ve not seen the VAR footage. It looked like a proper, hard tackle.”
It was a third draw in seven Premiership games for St Johnstone, but MacLean felt his side turned in an improved performance from their 2-0 defeat to Hibernian.
After making four changes to his line-up and altering formation, he added: “In the second half, we weren’t as good as first half. The goal probably changes that, we only looked like we’d concede from set-plays because they’re a big side.
“We lick our wounds and go again. It’s not what we wanted but sometimes things are out of your control.
“I thought our shape was good, we were looking comfortable. We should’ve come in at half-time two or three up.”
Meanwhile, Livingston manager David Martindale was happy to see his team spring to life in the second half to register a positive result after defeats to Celtic and Rangers in their last two outings.
He said: “In the first half, we were really lethargic and passive, and I think there was an overhang [from Wednesday’s Viaplay Cup loss to Rangers].
“But you’ve also got to give Stevie and St Johnstone credit, because I think they came after us.
“When we got the goal, we really settled down in the game and from that point we had the impetus to go and try to get more from the game.
“The boys got a wee lift in energy levels. Our tempo increased and we put to bed Wednesday night, in terms of the mental side and the fatigue.
“If you had offered me a point before the game, after this run of fixtures, I probably would have taken it.
“I’m disappointed we never took three points but I would probably say a draw is the right result.”
Venezuela 1-1 Brazil: Super sub Segovia holds Selecao to shock draw
Substitute Telasco Segovia delivered the pivotal goal that saw 10-man Venezuela hold Brazil to a 1-1 draw in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
The shock result leaves Brazil in third place, trailing second-placed Colombia by two points and far short of Argentina in first.
Brazil opened the scoring just before half-time as Raphinha curled a delightful free-kick over the Venezuela wall from 20 yards out to break the deadlock.
On the other side of the break, however, half-time substitute Segovia equalised just 41 seconds after the restart, striking from outside the box, having run onto Jefferson Savarino’s short lay-off.
The visitors were provided with a prime opportunity to restore their lead when Rafael Romo fouled Vinicius Junior in the box. But the Real Madrid forward was unable to capitalise on the resulting penalty, seeing his initial effort saved before firing the rebound wide.
As tensions rose, the game delivered further drama as Alexander Gonzalez received his marching orders in the 89th minute for lashing out at Vinicius after fouling Gabriel Martinelli.
In a farcical ending to the lively affair, sprinklers popped up in the pitch in added time to delay proceedings, but neither side could find a way through.
Data Debrief: Instant impact for super sub Segovia
Segovia's goal, 41 seconds after coming on, is the fastest for a player coming off the bench in the last three editions of the South American World Cup Qualifiers.
Venezuela have now scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, only Brazil (four) and Colombia (four) have scored more in the 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.
Kelleher repays Ireland trust in Finland victory
Republic of Ireland winger Mikey Johnston said the team had always trusted Caoimhin Kelleher after he made a crucial penalty save in their 1-0 Nations League win over Finland.
Johnston's corner set up Brighton and Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson for the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time, after Finland had twice been denied by the woodwork.
The visitors had a golden chance to level in the second half, but Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher made a stunning save to deny Joel Pohjanpalo from 12 yards following a handball from Ferguson.
The result means Finland are relegated from Group B2, while Ireland must come through a play-off to remain in the competition's second tier.
Speaking after the game, Johnston credited Kelleher's all-important penalty save, saying: "I always trust him to go and save a penalty. He has reacted really well and stepped up in a big moment.
"We were aiming for the win. They had moments but there were a few chances we could have taken as well.
"We're happy that we've come away with the win. Sometimes in the last year we would have been on the other side of a bit of bad luck."
Ireland round off their campaign against England on Sunday, in Lee Carsley's final game in charge of the Three Lions before Thomas Tuchel takes the reins in January.
France 0-0 Israel: Les Bleus advance despite frustrating Nations League draw
France advanced to the quarter-finals of the Nations League despite being held to a frustrating goalless draw by Israel at the Stade de France.
Israel picked up their first point in Group A2 by producing a stubborn defensive performance against a France team missing Kylian Mbappe following his omission by Didier Deschamps.
Daniel Peretz kept out Randal Kolo Muani and N'Golo Kante in the early stages as France dominated possession, before the visitors missed a glorious chance in the 37th minute.
Dor Turgeman flicked on a free-kick towards the far post, where Raz Shlomo just failed to get a decisive touch in front of a gaping goal.
Ibrahima Konate headed over the crossbar early in the second half, but clear-cut chances were few and far between for Deschamps' disjointed France side.
Their best opportunities to take three points came in stoppage time, but Marcus Thuram headed straight at Peretz before the Israel goalkeeper made a sprawling save to deny Christopher Nkunku right before the full-time whistle.
Despite their failure to find a winner, France secured safe passage to the last eight alongside Italy, with Israel remaining bottom of the group, three points behind Belgium.
Data Debrief: No Mbappe, no joy for France
Having left Mbappe out of their squad for the second successive international break, France struggled in front of goal despite dominating for long periods in Paris.
They fired off 24 shots worth 2.31 expected goals (xG) to Israel's three efforts worth 0.05 xG, hitting the target on eight occasions but failing to beat Peretz.
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