Gerrard takes aim at officials as Rangers clinch narrow win over Livi

Steven Gerrard criticised referee Euan Anderson and his team of officials after Rangers narrowly beat Livingston 1-0 at Ibrox.

In a fixture that was postponed on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch, midfielder Scott Arfield scored with a drive in the 59th minute with striker Alfredo Morelos and substitute Florian Kamberi subsequently having the ball in the net only to be ruled offside.

The Light Blues boss, whose side went back to being 10 points behind Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership, with a game in hand, claimed Morelos's strike at 1-0 should have stood and that his team should have had a penalty in the second half for an apparent handball by Livi defender Ciaron Brown to stop Rangers defender Connor Goldson getting on the end of a corner.

Gerrard said: We aren't firing on all cylinders at the minute so it is important that you get the over the line and we did that today but we could have done it more convincingly.

Disappointed in the officials today, I must say.

When they look back at their performance I think they will be disappointed.

I think he got the second one just right, we accept that one but Morelos' one is onside and there is a stonewall penalty. It is a blatant handball.

The referee said to Connor Goldson that he couldn't give it because of the conditions. He didn't mean it. That is new to me.

I don't like talking about officials especially after a defeat because you can look like the violin is out or you are looking for excuses but when I think the timing is right, I must say I was disappointed in them today.

People will probably look at highlights and think Rangers rode their luck because they hit the post but if we had good and the right officials today, that would have been a 3-0 win, if we score the penalty.

I am not sure you would back us to do that right now but we could have been out of sight and a lot more comfortable if the officiating had been better.

It is nothing to do with how I feel or where we are. I just think at this level you expect decisions like that to be right and that is all I ask.

I don't ask for favouritism at all, I just ask for them to be right.''

Livi manager Gary Holt refused to point to the fact the match had been hastily rearranged as their reason for losing.

He said: I said to the players we are not going to use it as an excuse.

I said, 'don't come in here after the game saying we didn't have time to prepare right, or we didn't do our usual routine'.

The game was on, we accept that and got on with it and I think both teams went about it in the right way.

Considering the conditions I thought it was a really good game of football.

Both teams coped with the wind and rain really well.

But I'm disappointed we never came away with something out of the game.''

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