Livingston boss David Martindale admitted he was bemused by the refereeing display during their 2-1 victory over Aberdeen at the weekend.
Kevin Clancy issued 14 yellow cards - including one to Martindale's opposite number Stephen Glass and two to Livi winger Cristian Montano as the Lions ended the contest a man light and battling valiantly to cling onto the three points in a match in which they were in complete control for large spells.
Clancy appeared to lose control of proceedings with the final 20 minutes or so resembling little more than playground petulance as both sets of players had to be routinely dragged apart.
Despite hitting out at the display, Martindale though did admit Colombian ace Montano had been 'naive' in the incident that resulted in him seeing red with six minutes remaining.
Montano appeared to raise both hands to Aberdeen's Vicente Besuijen after he had attempted to drag Bruce Anderson off the park following a tackle.
Martindale commented: "I’m still trying to get my head round how there could be 13 yellow cards in that game.
“It’s incredible. Are you not allowed to tackle anymore? I can’t believe we walked off the park with eight of my players booked - nine if you include Cristian's double yellow.
“I think with Cristian’s second he gave the referee a decision to make. He put his hands on the player. I think he has been naive because you can’t put your hands on an opponent when you’re on a yellow.
“And I told the boys at half-time them they had to watch because four of them were on yellows.
“Aberdeen do that side of the game very well. I’m not saying it’s cheating, I don’t mean that at all. They’re very streetwise.
“But the boys were all in the changing room after the final whistle enjoying themselves. The music was on full blast and they thoroughly deserved it."
Livi were the better team from the first whistle and took the lead on eight minutes when Ayo Obileye's deft flick diverted an Anderson effort looping over the Dons defence and into the net.
The visitors were struggling to create anything of note but did have strong appeals for a penalty turned down when Lewis Ferguson went down in the box.
Slack defending from the Dons saw Livi squander two great chances to further their advantage before the break when Alan Forrest firstly elected to run at the defence when a through ball would have left Anderson with only the keeper to beat before the winger almost burst the net with a thunderous angled drive that went narrowly over the bar.
Having passed up those chances, he made no mistake four minutes after the restart when he raced in behind the backline to latch onto Montano's pass before a delicate dink over Gary Woods doubled Livi's lead.
The game was inches away from being put to bed five minutes later when Jason Holt clattered the post from 20 yards following a magnificent attacking move as Livi continued to carve open the visitors.
Despite offering little all game, Aberdeen were back in it on 66 minutes when Christian Ramirez smashed high into the top corner from 10 yards out - and the away side nearly levelled 10 minutes later when Max Stryjek produced a brilliant instinctive save from a Ferguson header.
The game by that point was threatening to blow over with countless scuffles and there was no surprise when a red card was finally shown to Montano with six minutes remaining.
That sparked a magnificent defensive effort as Aberdeen flung everything at the Lions as Morgan Boyes produced a goal-line clearance from a Jay Emmanuel-Thomas effort as Livi held on for the three points. They now sit just four points behind fourth place Motherwell.
Martindale added: "We defended our defensive third extremely well when we were down to 10 men.
“Max Stryjek was incredible at points and made up for his error in the last game with Aberdeen. Morgan Boyes got one of the goal-line clearances and headed a couple away.
“But fair play to all my players, I thought they were brilliant.”
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