Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell accused referee John Beaton of treating him like a "second-class citizen" after he was sent off in the aftermath of his side's 1-0 defeat at Livingston.

Kettlewell had questioned the decision not to award County a foul in the build-up to the only goal of the game scored by Jon Guthrie.

The visitors had already lost defender Carl Tremarco to a red card early in the second half.

Kettlewell said: "I can't complain about [that] sending off but I can about the goal. I believe Guthrie's fouled Ross Stewart.

"In the first half, Ross has fouled Guthrie which is fine. But if he's given the first one as a foul he has to give the second one as a foul too.

"You speak about levels of consistency and how you address or speak to someone. I have got myself involved with the referee at the end there but I am not having someone speak to me with such arrogance.

"He sent me off because I lost my cool but I approach people in the right manner and when someone treats you like a second-class citizen then I won't be having that.

"Tensions are high, passions are high. I want my team to win, I want my team to come here and get something out of the game. But when I go and ask the referee about the scenario and he tells you, 'away you go, you're clutching at straws', then that becomes a wee bit of an annoyance to me.

"As I say, I don't link this to every official because not every official speaks to you like that."

Livingston boss Gary Holt revealed he had previously asked his team to deliver victory at any cost and was delighted to pick up their first three points of the season.

"I've talked openly this week with the players that I wanted an ugly, 1-0 win and we got that," said the Livingston manager.

"With the chances we created we should have scored more but I got my win. The last thing I said to them before the start of the game was to make sure they came back in with the three points.

"I didn't care how they did it as long as they did. We needed a reward today for the work we had done in the first month. We needed to get something out of the game and we got that."