Livingston manager Gary Holt refused to get involved in a war of words with Rangers counterpart Steven Gerrard.
Holt wished Gerrard and Rangers well as the fallout surrounding Livingston’s Betfred Cup defeat continued on Thursday.
Gerrard was unhappy with Holt for claiming Filip Helander deserved a red card for a tackle on Lyndon Dykes while, he felt, not saying much about an aerial challenge that left Joe Aribo needing 20 stitches after being caught by Ricki Lamie’s elbow.
However, Holt pointed out he did speak about the Aribo incident when interviewed on BT Sport after the game. He was only asked for his opinion on the Helander tackle in the general post-match press conference.
Gerrard alluded to other head knocks in his team’s 1-0 win on Wednesday and during Rangers’ recent league victory over Livi but Holt did not feel the need to defend his team’s approach.
“I don’t even want to talk about it to be honest,” he told the PA news agency on Thursday. “The game was the game, and I want to praise Rangers and Stevie. They are through and I hope with my best wishes that they go on and extend their cup run. And that’s all I really want to say on the matter.”
When asked about Gerrard’s criticism that he had not mentioned the Aribo incident, Holt said: “I did mention it. I mentioned I hadn’t seen it. But I am not going to stand here and talk about it. It’s done.
“I wanted to be through, I’m not, and I can can only congratulate Stevie and his staff and the players for getting over the line and getting the result.
“I wanted it for the players and fans and people associated with the club, to get to a semi-final, but I’ve got to praise Stevie and Rangers, they are the ones that got through, and I wish them all the best.
“But I thought it was a good cup tie, we gave our all and just came up short.”
Holt is also counting the cost of the competitive encounter with Lamie undergoing treatment for a knock and striker Dykes struggling to make Saturday’s trip to Hamilton.
“Lyndon has a sore, sore ankle and probably a lesser man would have come off with it,” Holt said. “His ankle is probably telling him this morning that he should have come off.
“But it shows the character of the players that they want to keep playing, they want to get through, they want to battle for the club and their team-mates. We will see how he is in the next 48 hours. But I very much doubt that he will make it.”
