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.”
Late Palma strike sinks St Mirren as Celtic celebrate SPL triumph on final day
Luis Palma struck a late winner as champions Celtic twice came from behind to see off St Mirren 3-2 on the final day of the Scottish Premiership season.
It was a day of celebrations at Celtic Park for Brendan Rodgers' side, who wrapped up their third successive domestic title in midweek.
However, St Mirren threatened to spoil the party when Mark O'Hara fired them in front after just seven minutes.
Top scorer Matt O'Riley equalised for the hosts in the 21st minute, but they fell behind again just five minutes later when O'Hara doubled his tally from the penalty spot after Stephen Welsh fouled Toyosi Olusanya.
Kyogo Furuhashi levelled for Celtic before half-time, and the Hoops completed the turnaround with Palma scored the winner with four minutes remaining.
Rodgers' side finished eight points clear of second-place Rangers, who were held to a 3-3 draw by Hearts.
Despite falling behind to Lawrence Shankland's strike, goals from Ross McCausland, Todd Cantwell and Fabio Silva seemingly had the visitors on course for a comfortable win at Tynecastle.
However, there was to be a late twist with Dexter Lembikisa pulling a goal back in the 82nd minute, before Kyosuke Tagawa struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a point for the hosts.
There was also nothing to separate Dundee and Kilmarnock, who drew 1-1 in the other match on the final day.
Luke McCowan cancelled out Gary Mackay-Steven's earlier effort, though the Dundee captain squandered a glorious opportunity to complete the turnaround when he missed a penalty two minutes from time.
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Al-Ittihad pegged back as winless run rolls on
Mohamed Sherif scored late on as Al-Ittihad's winless run in the Saudi Pro League stretched to four games after a 1-1 draw with Al-Khaleej.
Al-Ittihad have endured a miserable title defence, and with just two games remaining, the highest the big-spending, PIF-backed club can finish is fourth.
Muhannad Al Shanqiti put them ahead on the stroke of half-time, yet despite having a further eight shots and accumulating 1.07 xG in the second half, Al-Ittihad could not add another.
Their profligacy proved costly in the 81st minute, with Egypt international Sherif snatching an equaliser for 11th-placed Al-Khaleej.
Al-Tai moved out of the relegation zone with a surprise 3-1 win over seventh-placed Al-Fateh, with Bernard Mensah scoring twice.
Al-Raed, meanwhile, claimed a 1-0 win at Al-Wehda.
Data Debrief: Kante the creator?
On the day he received a surprising France recall, N'Golo Kante created three chances for Al-Ittihad, leading the team.
On the flip side, Kante only attempted one tackle, with the midfielder showing a different side to his game, not that it proved fruitful for his team.
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