Saints 1-2 Livingston

Little separated the sides during the first half although Chris Kane came close to opening the scoring for Saints on the half an hour mark but his header from a David Wotherspoon corner hit the bar.

The visitors took the lead on 48 minutes as Jon Guthrie headed home a Josh Mullin corner.

Kane pulled Saints level 6 minutes later with a neat finish at the near post. However, Livi got what proved to be the winning goal on 65 minutes as substitute Scott Robinson ran onto a through ball from Mullin before showing good composure to slot it low past Zander Clark.

Next up for Saints is a trip to East End Park on Tuesday evening for a Betfred Cup Quarter-Final tie against Dunfermline Athletic, kick off 7:45pm.

MATCH REPORT

Saints welcomed Livingston to McDiarmid Park this afternoon and Callum Davidson made two changes to the team that got a point at Celtic Park last Sunday. Jason Kerr and the goalscorer last weekend Chris Kane came in to the starting eleven to replace Shaun Rooney and Michael O’Halloran. Livingston defeated Dundee United 2-0 in their last match and caretaker manager David Martindale decide to go with the same team that started against the Terrors at the Tony Macaroni Arena last Saturday for this afternoon’s match.

Saints started the match brightly and were passing the ball well however, Livi created a good opportunity to open the scoring after 13 minutes. Josh Mullin delivered a cross into the Saints box from the right, picking out Scott Pittman, however, Liam Gordon made a great block to deny the Livi midfielder as Saints cleared their lines.

Livi were coming more into the game as the first half progressed as they pressed Saints as Callum Davidson’s side tried to get a foothold of the game.

However, Saints almost took the lead on the half an hour mark as Chris Kane did well to win Saints a corner. It was taken by David Wotherspoon and he whipped a delightful ball into the box and Kane rose to direct the ball towards goal and with Livi keeper Max Stryjek beaten, it crashed off the crossbar before the danger was cleared by the visitor’s defence.

Then shortly after Wotherspoon tried his luck with a curling long range shot that had Stryjek scrambling across his goal but the midfielder’s effort went wide of the keeper’s left hand post.

Livingston made a change at the start of the second half as Scott Tiffoney came on to replace Matej Poplatnik.

2 minutes into the second half the visitors were awarded a free kick after Julien Serrano had been fouled by Kane. Mullin took the free kick and he floated the ball into the box and Jon Guthrie rose tallest to head the ball past Zander Clark to give Livi the lead.

However, Saints were back on level terms on 54 minutes as Danny McNamara played the ball to Wotherspoon and his cross from the byline into the box picked out Kane at the near post and he bundled it home with a neat finish from close range.

Livingston were then forced into a change as substitute Scott Tiffoney had to be replaced by Scott Robinson.

Saints now sensed they could go on and with it and just after the hour mark May saw his header from a Scott Tanser cross go wide.

However, the visitors regained the lead on 65 minutes. Mullin sent a ball over the Saints defence and Scott Robinson ran onto the ball before calmly slotting it past Clark.

Then a couple of minutes later the West Lothian side almost got a third as Jack Fitzwater was denied by Clark.

Looking to get his side back into the match Callum Davidson made a double change on 68 minutes as Guy Melamed and Callum Hendry came on to replace Chris Kane and Stevie May.

Then 4 minutes later Saints made another change as captain Jason Kerr was replaced by Shaun Rooney.

Despite freshening things up Saints couldn’t find a way through a well organised Livingston defence and the closest they came to an equaliser was in the final minutes of the match as Hendry saw his strike saved by Stryjek.

Saints: Clark, Kerr (Rooney 72), Gordon, McCart, Tanser, McCann, McNamara, Bryson (Davidson 84), Kane (Melamed 68), May (Hendry 68), Wotherspoon

Unused Substitutes: Parish (GK), Booth, Craig, Conway

Booked: McCann, Kane

Scorer: Kane (54)

Livingston: Stryjek, Devlin, Guthrie, Fitzwater, Serrano, Sibbald, Mullin (Holt 77), Pittman, Bartley, Forrest (Brown 62), Poplatnik (Tiffoney 45) (Robinson 55)

Unused Substitutes: McCrorie (GK), McMillan, Taylor-Sinclair, Ambrose, Emmanuel-Thomas

Booked:Pittman, Bartley

Scorers: Guthrie (48), Robinson (65)

Referee: John Beaton

Attendance: BCD

Match Report by Daryl Scott

Picture: Chris Kane scores to make it 1-1