Motherwell joy as Holt’s Lions become lambs to the slaughter

LIVINGSTON manager Gary Holt must be relieved that his team started this campaign as strongly as they did.

That purple patch seems a long time ago now; this was their fifth consecutive defeat.

Holt claims his players may have been carried away by their early success in the top tier, arguing that they have abandoned the traits which brought them those positive results because they now believe they are better than they are.

‘It’s something we’ve got to get back to — how we want to play, how we became successful and how we got those points in the bag before, rather than suddenly thinking we are a really good side,’ he said.

‘That’s us as well as the players — it’s all of us. We need to get back to the basics of picking up points and doing our jobs, individually and collectively.

‘We need to do that rather than us all going out and thinking we can go and play football.’

Motherwell’s Jake Hastie stole the show yesterday, aided and abetted by fellow academy graduates Allan Campbell and David Turnbull.

This was their fourth Premiership win on the spin and it leaves them level on points with yesterday’s opponents.

It didn’t take long for the Steelmen to assert their authority on proceedings, although they were helped by some sloppy defending from the visitors.

Chris Erskine brought down Richard Tait on the left flank and, when Turnbull floated in the resulting free-kick, 19-year-old Hastie was left with a free header and he sent it back across Liam Kelly and inside the far post.

Six minutes later, the Livingston defence was all at sea once again as Campbell sent Curtis Main clear and the burly target man drew Kelly off his line before clipping the ball over him for only his third Premiership goal of the campaign.

That at least briefly shook the West Lothian outfit from their torpor and Mark Gillespie made a stunning reflex save to maintain that two-goal advantage, throwing himself to his right to beat away Tait’s attempted clearance from Ryan Hardie’s driven cross.

Gillespie excelled again when he got down low to divert Scott Pittman’s net-bound drive to safety before the Steelmen secured all three points with more than three-quarters of the game still to be played.

Hastie was the hero once again, collecting Gillespie’s kick-out on the halfway line and then surging forward, shrugging off a couple of half-hearted challenges before firing low behind the hopelessly exposed Kelly from 15 yards.

Livingston really needed to reduce the leeway before the interval but Erskine squandered a great opportunity to do just that in the 41st minute, firing over from 12 yards.

It was to prove his last act of the afternoon as he was one of three players axed at half-time as Holt attempted to inject some energy into his charges.

It made little difference. Motherwell continued to look the more dangerous of the two sides.

Turnbull dropped his shoulder to create space for himself and force a fine save from Kelly, while Declan Gallagher headed a Campbell shot off the line.

‘I’m happy with that but, in truth, I think we’ve played better this season and lost,’ said Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson.

‘The young boys have no fear and they give us a real freshness.’