Stuart Kettlewell says opening-day clash hinged on ‘soft’ red card

Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell lamented the pivotal impact of what he felt was a “really soft” red card for George Stanger as his side let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 at home to Livingston in a dramatic Premiership opener.

Killie looked on course for victory after strikes from Djenairo Daniels and David Watson in the closing stages of the first half.

But a 64th-minute flashpoint brought Livi right back into the match as defender Stanger, who joined from local rivals Ayr this summer, was sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity by tugging the shirt of Robbie Muirhead as he tried to get a shot away in the box.

Former Kilmarnock forward Muirhead scored the resulting penalty before the visitors capitalised on their extra-man advantage as Scott Pittman equalised in the 86th minute.

While Kettlewell acknowledged his players could have done better in the lead-up to the incident that swung the game in the Lions’ favour, the manager said: “I do have complaints about the red card.

“From my angle, from the technical area, I actually felt that Muirhead had the initial pull on George. If we deem both pulls the same, then is the foul earlier in the incident?

“I do want my centre-back to deal with the ball, I don’t think it’s going at enough pace to guarantee that it’s going back to the goalkeeper.

“But even at that, is George’s contact enough for Muirhead to go down in the fashion that he does? Is it a red card? We’ll all debate it, some will think it is. I probably sit in the camp of it being soft, I feel it’s really, really soft.

“But once you put yourself into that position, it becomes a difficult one to argue.

“The game hinges on that one moment, in my opinion.”

Livingston boss David Martindale praised his side’s second-half fightback.

“I probably would have taken a point before the game,” he said. “In the first half, they took their moments better than we took our moments, they sat in the mid-to-low block and then hit us on the counter a couple of times, which was poor from us.

“But I was pretty happy with how the boys bounced back, they showed real resilience.

“Overall I’m fairly happy with the performance, but in a couple of key moments we shot ourselves in the foot.”