Happy Holt’s Livingston make it look easy
GARY HOLT was so relaxed about Livingston hanging on to Lyndon Dykes for the rest of the season that he spent the night of transfer deadline day soaking in a bath. Just hours later, he was looking forward to opening the ‘bubbly’ again to toast a fifth consecutive win.
Dykes was at the heart of another belligerent display from the Lions, who dominated Motherwell from start to finish. Only a spectacular performance from Steelmen goalkeeper Mark Gillespie kept the West Lothian outfit at arms length until Aaron Taylor-Sinclair nodded in a deserved winner midway through the second-half.
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson was honest enough to admit it would have been a ‘travesty’ had Peter Hartley’s late shot crept in for an equaliser rather than crash back off the post. It all added up to 24 hours worth celebrating at Almondvale. Speculation linking Dykes with interest from Rangers failed to come to anything and this victory moves Livvy to within four points of Aberdeen in fourth.
‘We were exceptional against a very good side, the way we dominated, our movement,’ said Holt. ‘I said to them at half-time, we’ve all been in dressing rooms where we’ve had a pat on the back and a “well done”, then you go out there and come back in with regrets.
‘We were dictating the game, getting chance after chance, so I said to expect a backlash and be at it from first whistle to last. And we were.’
Questioned about the importance of Dykes remaining at the club, Holt added: ‘He wasn’t going anywhere anyway, so it wasn’t a problem. I was at home, sitting in my bath, enjoying my bubbles. And I’ll go home tonight and have another one to celebrate. Mrs Holt will be getting told to get the bubbles running!’
Gillespie repelled a procession of efforts from Dykes, Scott Pittman, Jack McMillan and Scott Robinson in the first half, while Jon Guthrie volleyed over. The one-way traffic prompted a change of personnel and formation from Motherwell at half-time but to no effect.
Scott Robinson, Dykes and Bartley had all come close before Livingston finally made the breakthrough. Ciaron Brown’s long throw skimmed off a defender’s head and Taylor-Sinclair showed determination to nod into the top corner from close range at the back post.
Holt and assistant David Martindale were both booked as referee John Beaton got it in the neck from the home fans for a string of debatable decisions, but Robinson was the one left scratching his head at full-time as he contemplates the visit of Celtic on Wednesday.
‘We had 10 players off. We didn’t turn up and were unrecognisable today,’ he said.
‘We couldn’t pass the ball. They outran us and outfought us. You need to do the basics if you want to stay third in the league. We deserved nothing from the game. If we had equalised at the end, it would have been a travesty.’