No protection: Levein says the ref got it wrong. Pic: © SNS Group
Scotland opened their Euro 2012 campaign with a 0-0 draw against Lithuania and manager Craig Levein says a weak refereeing performance was a contributing factor. The play was broken repeatedly by a series of fouls from the home side as Scotland struggled to establish a rhythm to their play.
Levein said he was happy with the performance despite the lack of goal-scoring opportunities and pointed to the officiating as the main cause for Scotland failing to start their campaign with a win.
“I’m a little bit disappointed,” he told the BBC. “The biggest disappointment for me tonight is that we weren’t allowed to play.”
“Any time we got any momentum going it was free-kick after free-kick after free-kick and I felt the referee should have been harsher.
“I expected our players to be allowed to play a little bit more but every time we got the ball it was crude challenges coming in. “
Tadas Kijanskas was booked for persistent fouling after just 15 minutes and three other Lithuanians had their name taken. Levein said he felt that referee Cuneyt Cakir should have dished out further punishment.
“Some of the guys in there team were picked up for fouls five, six, seven times,” the manager said. “That annoyed me more than anything else.”
The Scotland boss said he was happy with his own side’s approach to the game and pointed out that Lithuania had rarely threatened to score. However, a sense of injustice remained.
“I’m delighted with the players and their attitude and the way they went about the game,” Levein added. “I think Allan McGregor had one save to make and that was after a blatant foul against us.
“So well done to the boys but I’m a little bit angry and a little bit frustrated.”
