BLOOM GLOOM
Livi street-wise after event
The Premiership shock troops suffered their second defeat on the bounce after Mason Bloomfield’s 86th-minute strike gave Accies a vital three points to lift them seven clear of bottom dogs Dundee.
On- loan Norwich st r iker Bloomf ield ran almost half the length of the pitch to score but Holt reckons he should have been felled to secure a point.
Holt said: “We’ve got to cleverer and more street-wise late on in the game.
“You take one for the team when they are breaking late in the game. You take a point at that stage.
“You don’t hand the initiative to your opponents and we weren’t street- wise enough in that instance and it has cost us a point.
“We got hit by a sucker punch and you’ve got to take it on the chin.
“It’s about bouncing back, being brave and being big boys now. I’ll tell them to get the heads up, the chests out and we’ll go again.”
Bloomfield scored his first senior goal after Mikael Miller was red carded by referee Alan Muir for a second bookable offence.
Accies went into the game having won only a single point in their last five matches and were without inf luential banned duo Darian Mackinnon and Dougie Imrie.
But they reacted superbly to hand Gary Holt’s team their second defeat on the bounce.
Holt’s men looked slightly more dangerous in the opening stages but neither keeper had a save to make in the first 25 minutes – and when one was made, it was Livi’s Liam Kelly to deny Fredrik Brustad.
Accies dealt well with the Lions’ aerial prowess at set pieces and at the other end, Miller started to become more of an influence.
Holt’s team panicked the home defence three minutes from the break when Declan Gallagher’s low cross was almost tucked away.
Byrne then f lashed a shot just wide before the teams headed up the tunnel without a goal to show for their efforts.
Sibbald produced the pass of the day in the 51st minute to split the Accies defence and send Scott Pittman in behind but Gary Woods equalled Kelly’s earlier heroics with a brilliant low save to his right.
But Accies got lucky on the hour mark when Dolly Menga sped away from Delphin Tshiembe to home in on Woods, only to drag his shot wide of the keeper’s left-hand post.
It was a bad miss and Tshiembe breathed a massive sigh of relief because he should have done far better.
Accies were reduced to 10 men in 86 minutes when the previously booked Miller got a second yellow card for a high challenge on Steve Lawson.
And almost unbelievably, Martin Canning’s men raced away 60 seconds later to grab a winner.
Bloomfield, who had replaced Brustad in the 81st minute, latched onto a long ball, drew Kelly out and calmly slotted the ball beyond the keeper.
Livi threw everything at Accies but the closest they came was a Bobby Burns drive that smashed the bar in injury time. Not his worst day by any but means still copped a bit flack of from both sets of supporters for some his decisions. of Incurred the wrath of the home fans in particular by booking four Accies players and sending off Miller kept but control most of time. the 6