Livi Lions continue to roar as Accies fail to register shot on goal
LIVINGSTON 1
Lawless (3)
HAMILTON ACCIES 0
A moment of magic from Livingston’s Steven Lawless was the separating factor in a full-blooded encounter in West Lothian as a committed but toothless Hamilton side struggled to register a shot on goal.
Projected as canonfodder after promotion via the play-offs, the Livi Lions now sit joint second in the table, level on points with Celtic after a three-game winning streak under new manager Gary Holt.
Experience has taught the former Falkirk gaffer not to tinker if there are no glaring issues, with his ego well and truly shelved in pursuit of success.
“Three wins in a row is brilliant and it is testament to the lads, to the staff that were here before me, to keeping it seamless,” Holt said. “With me just fine tuning it and tweaking it when we were out of possession – looking at how we can win it back.
“Limit the mistakes in our half of the pitch as much as we can, as we have boys who can create in the final third and I think that showed today.” Holt added: “We know where we want to be, we want to approach each game to win it as best we can.
“We are never, ever, set up to not lose a game. We try to win every game, while accepting that we might get beat. I believe that you’ll win more games by attacking and trying to score more goals – you’ll stay in the league.”
The Lions could not ask for a better start to the match and took the lead in spectacular fashion as a clearance from Lennard Sowah fell to Lawless 25 yards from goal.
The ball sat up perfectly for the winger who found the top corner with a rasping half-volley that gave Gary Woods no chance.
It seemed that all possible excitement was expended in that fleeting
moment as both sides proceeded to serve up highly committed but dour football thereafter in what remained of the first half.
Come the second half, the home side almost started in stunning fashion once more, this time through an Alan Lithgow effort from a Keaghan Jacobs free-kick, but the defender’s header tantalisingly bounced back off the post.
Holt’s men were in the ascendancy and the West Lothian men were unlucky not to extend their lead through a couple of efforts from Dolly Menga and Scott Pittman that flashed just wide.
Only some superb defending from Accies’ Scott Martin in the dying throes of the match kept the scoreline down as Pittman seemed certain to find Steven Lawson unmarked in the box.
For Hamilton, they will have some serious soulsearching after a performance with such a lack of cutting edge it failed to bring a single clear-cut chance – an issue immediately acknowledged by manager Martin Canning.
“We lacked that spark, we lacked that quality, we lacked that creativity in the final third,” he said. “Too many times the ball bounces off or the final ball is not good enough. We have to do a lot better.” LIVINGSTON:
L Kelly 6, R Lamie 6, A Lithgow 7, C Halkett 8, D Gallagher 7, S Byrne 6, S Pittman 7, S Robinson 6 ( R Hardie 75), K Jacobs 9, S Lawless 7 (S Lawson 66), D Menga 6 (B Burns 88). Unused – R Stewart, N Cadden, J Hamilton, E Kaja. HAMILTON:
G Woods 6, S Mcmann 3 (D Imrie 32 6), Z Gordon 6, D Tshiembe 5, M Kilgallon 6, R Bingham 6, M Miller 6, D Mckinnon 5, S Martin 6, F Brustad 5 (S Boyd 67), L Sowah (J Keatings 86). Unused – A Mcgowan, T Taiwo, S Want, R Fulton.