Livvy put Covid-hit Accies to the sword
The gulf in class between these teams was painfully obvious as Livingston made it five wins from five under new management. But the story behind their victory was told as much by Brian Rice’s dejection as it was by David Martindale’s delight.
Second-half goals from Jon Guthrie and Josh Mullin provided justice to a polished performance as Livvy moved menacingly to within a point of the top six.
The crestfallen hamilton boss Rice, however, was a disconsolate figure afterwards as he tried to pick up the pieces of yet more Covid-inflicted misery seeping its way into Scottish football’s season.
Already shorn of their two scorers from the weekend win away at Ross County, Ross Callachan and Scott Martin, and the creative potency of Nathan Thomas, a single f ailed test resulted in three more track and trace absentees and stretched Accies past their breaking point.
‘We had nine players missing,’ sighed Rice .‘ For a club like hamilton, we can’t cope with that.
‘That’s not why we lost. Livvy were excellent and thoroughly deserved to win. But seven of those nine would be starters and that includes one Covid case and three track-and-trace.
‘ Don’t ask me the rules on track and trace as it seems to change from day to day, but we were told late on Tuesday night we had lost them and the heart of my team was ripped out. It’s soul-destroying.
‘We could field a team. Nobody is wanting games cancelled. But there were young lads out there nowhere near the team in recent months and we were just hanging on.
‘We play Celtic on Saturday and because of the ten-day rule none of them will be back — and I lost my goalie to injury as well.’
As Rice admitted, the calibre of Accies side may have been academic to the outcome anyway. Livvy were slick and purposeful, their ball retention and recycling outstanding and their streak under Martindale looked in no danger of being cursed simply by the stand-in boss finally now being given the job on a permanent basis.
‘Was it our best performance ?’ mused Martindale. ‘Potentially. We moved the ball well but we never got the goal until the second half. We missed a few chances, some that can come back to haunt you. hopefully the run goes on a wee bit l onger, though. Momentum is massive.
‘ Look at the l eague and i t’s really tight. A draw and a defeat and you could be bottom three, but fifth or sixth has to be our objective.’
There may only have been a point between them in the table at the start, but the quality of football on offer was night and day.
Accies were nothing i f not resilient, though, getting bodies where it mattered defensively — but the absence of even a single attempt at goal in the first half, far less one on target, was a measure of their struggles.
For the guts of the game, they were a pedalo trying to take on a tidal wave — valiant but pointless.
Scott Robinson had come closest for Livingston before the interval, crashing a header off the bar early, but it only took them six minutes to finally get their rewards after the break.
Alan Forrest laid the ball off to Jason holt, and the former hearts and Rangers midfielder delivered the cross Guthrie (below) had been dreaming about to the back post.
The defender’s f i nish was textbook and took his league tally for the season to four.
In the end, though, the lack of margin was flattering Accies. Forrest hit the side net and curled a 22-yarder just past, Robinson then blew two good chances, the first from a one on one, the second after referee Gavin Duncan played a poor advantage following a clear foul on sub Jay emmanuel-Thomas right on the edge of the box.
The gloss deservedly came in stoppage time, however, Mullin’s dreamy free-kick from 20 yards beating Accies’ sub keeper Kyle Gourlay to his left, and nicely rounding out the midfielder’s 100th appearance for the Lions.
HAMILTON (5-1-2-2): Fulton 6 (Gourlay 63); Hodson 6, Stirling 5, Martin 6, Easton 6 (Hamilton 85), McMann 5; Odoffin 5; Mimnaugh 6, Hughes 5 (Johnson 63); Munro 5, Moyo 4 (Winter 67). Subs not used: Scully, Hamilton, Trafford, Stanger, Owolabi. Booked: Stirling, Odoffin. LIVINGSTON (4-2-3-1): Stryjek 6; Devlin 6, Fitzwater 6, Guthrie 7, Serrano 6; Sibbald 7, Holt 8; Mullin 6, Pittman 7, Forrest 7 (Emmanuel-Thomas 77); Robinson 6. Subs not used: McCrorie, Brown, Poplatnik, McMillan, Ambrose, Taylor-Sinclair, Lawson, Pignatiello. Booked: None. Man of the match: Jon Guthrie. Referee: Gavin Duncan.