Halkett takes full responsibility as ‘schoolboy’ error hands victory to play-off rivals Queens

Craig Halkett has accepted full culpability for the goal which saw Livingston drop out of the play-off places at the expense of Queen of the South, vowing to learn from the costly blunder, writes Alan Temple.

The 22-year-old’s clumsy attempt to play his way out of trouble went horribly wrong after 39 minutes on Saturday when he was robbed in his own half by Stephen Dobbie, sending the Championship’s top scorer scampering clear.

Dobbie’s shot struck the bar but Chris Kane reacted to the rebound more swiftly than Livi defender Alan Lithgow and stroked the ball beyond Neil Alexander.

Lions manager David Hopkin was typically honest in the aftermath of the defeat, describing the incident as “schoolboy”, and Halkett – largely excellent this term – was big enough to front up to the assembled media following the fixture.

“It would be easy to make excuses like the ball getting caught in the turf, but the fact is I just got caught on the ball and I was a bit slow,” said Halkett, pictured. “It’s a sore one, but Queens did well to finish it. We move on from that.

“From a personal perspective, it was really disappointing to make the mistake that cost us the goal but I feel like I’ve had a good season and, as a defender, moments like that are going to happen. You just need to try to get over it as quickly as you can.

“It’s a learning curve. I’m a young player and things like that will happen. People will look at how you recover and I’m determined to get my head down, work hard and respond in the right way.

“Dobbie was a player we highlighted at the start and

if you give an opportunity to someone like that then you are going to get punished – that’s what happened.

“In this league every single game is a battle and we know that every player needs to be at 100 per cent to get the right result. There were a couple of us that had an off-day out there and that showed with the performance and result.”

While far from their best, Livi will rue missed opportunities after Queens leapfrogged them into the final promotion play-off berth.

Raffaele de Vita was particularly unlucky in the first half when he jinked into the box, only to see his well directed left-footed shot strike the post and bounce to safety.

Substitute Steven Boyd also contrived to waste a gilt-edged opportunity, directing his late header wide from six yards, having been left unmarked in front of goal.

However, Kane’s fourth goal in five matches proved enough for the Doonhamers, who saw Dobbie force excellent saves from Alexander on two occasions during a stubborn, structured display.

“The whole game was a bit ugly,” Kane conceded. “It was a real battle but the boys were absolutely brilliant.

“We stuck to what the manager told us to do and, while the last ten minutes were a bit scrappy, we defended well and thankfully held on to win. We went to Livingston, where not many teams win, and did a real job. It’s a massive win for us.”

On his own recent goal glut, the St Johnstone loan star added: “I’ve got four in the league and one in the cup now. When you’re a striker you want to score goals but the reason I came to the club was to play more games.

“My first job is to help the team. Goals are just an added bonus.”