Don Robertson apologised to Livingston for failing to send off Filip Helander in last night’s Betfred Cup quarter-final.
The Swedish defender sent Lyndon Dtkes crashing to the deck as the striker prepared to race in on Allan McGregor but despite a clear view of the incident the referee waved play on.
It seems that Robertson watched television coverage of the incident during the half-time break and decided that he got it all wrong with the Helander incident.
“I think the referee said he had look and said it was a red card after the game,” Livi boss Gary Holt told The Sun. “He’s apologised to the players walking off and sometimes you have to accept he is man enough to do that.
“Yeah. It didn’t help us but I don’t think it cost us the game. We still created enough chances. We look at the performance and we were excellent to a man.”
The usual reaction to such an incident is to praise the referee for his honesty but that won’t do Livingston much use.
Helander and Connor Goldson were given a torrid time throughout the match from Dykes as the former Queen of the South striker won virtually every ball played in his direction.
Robertson is best remembered for awarding a penalty against Erik Sviatchenko when Ross County’s Alex Schalk dived with the Dane at least a yard away from making contact.
Scotland’s referees are sponsored by Specsavers.