I remember growing up watching Football Italia on Channel 4 and you had defenders like Franco Baresi. We all know he was one of the greats but a huge part of his game was the 'dark arts'...being dirty but very clever about it. Fouling forwards but not giving away fouls. I'm not comparing the Livingston players to him or Holt to the great Italian managers but it's all part and parcel of football, particularly if a team are facing superior opponents.
When you watch British football from the 70s and 80s compared to now, it's night and day, in terms of the dirty side of the game. I get the impression some people want it to be a non-contact sport played by a bunch of fairies. The same sort of people who want supporters to sit down, behave and never say anything nasty. It's a man's game - or at least it was.