LION TAMERS
Gary hails Fifers as they bare their claws to dump Livi
Gary Naysmith was left purring after East Fife reduced the Livi lions to pussycats.
The East Fife boss was delighted his side blew away Livingston by racing into a three-goal lead which the Lions never looked like clawing back.
A double from Jamie Insall and a Chris Kane strike secured the points for the Fifers with Josh Mullin netting nine-man Livi’s consolation.
Naysmith said: “My team talk before the game was for the players to believe they could win because I believed it.
“Livingston had been on a great run and had won five of their last six but I knew if we got on the front foot we’d win.
“It wasn’t a surprise that we won because I’ve seen signs of us coming together in the past few weeks.”
East Fife opened the scoring after keeper Mark Hurst’s long clearance played in Insall who lobbed Liam Kelly.
Within a matter of seconds it was 2- 0 as Kane rifled home from 12 yards.
A ball into the box then should have been claimed by Kelly but the keeper was beaten in the air by Insall who tapped in.
On the hour mark, Liam Buchanan crossed for Mullin who struck from a yard out for Livi’s solitary strike.
Late on, Mikey Miller was shown a straight red for a nasty lunge while Alan Lithgow walked for an elbow on Insall.
Livi boss David Hopkin said: “There were three errors and we were 3- 0 down.”