Heavenly moments for Bruce almighty
Lions king Anderson strikes back after health scare hits confidence
LIONS king Bruce Anderson roared back with a vengeance, putting diabetic health worries behind him to turn on the style against shoddy Saints.
Anderson teed up Odin Bailey and Scott Pittman, which sandwiched his own goal, to end Livingston’s wait for a first league win on their travels.
From the first minute his direct running and penalty-box presence ensured a tortuous afternoon for onetime team-mate Efe Ambrose.
Callum Davidson’s disjointed St Johnstone backline lurched from chaos to catastrophe.
But 23-year-old Anderson, who was rushed to hospital after suffering a diabetic seizure in an August defeat by Hibs, was all smiles.
He said: “As a group we all knew a display like this was coming.
“We’ve been working hard for weeks to try to put things right. You could see there was a real togetherness and a real team spirit there.
“We wanted to come flying out the traps and we did. We put pressure on them right from the start, got the early goal and then we just took it from there.
“On another day we could have scored five or six but we’ll happily take the 3-0 and move on.
“This result has been overdue. You saw how solid we were at the back but this was a united effort from everyone. “We’re now looking up the table rather than over our shoulders but, to be honest, we were doing that even when we were going through our bad run.” Anderson’s thirdminute cross was left by Pittman and stroked home by Bailey. Saints’ Liam Craig struck the bar but the Livi striker cashed in on eye-popping defending before the half-hour mark. Keeper Zander Clark’s short pass surprised Jamie McCart, clipped his heel and fell into Anderson’s path. From the edge of the box he made no mistake. Livingston’s third in the 66th
LIVINGSTON
minute came from more chaotic defending, with Ambrose and Michael O’Halloran decked after a sickening collision. Neither casualty was able to complete the game.
Anderson maintained his composure and picked out midfield runner Pittman for a tap-in. It was the ideal antidote after his health scare.
He added: “It took me a while to get back to normal.
“My confidence took a bit of a knock because it hadn’t happened before.
“In that way, the international break came at exactly the right time for me because I’ve felt really good in training for the past week and I’m back to full fitness now.”
Saints striker Chris Kane brought out a brilliant one-handed save from Max Stryjek late on.
But Perth boss Davidson said: “When you concede goals like that, you don’t win matches. We allowed three of the most simple goals Livingston will probably ever score.
“I don’t mind sometimes if you get beat when someone scores a wonder goal or they dominate the game. But it was far too easy for them to score a goal.
“I have to say it’s not like us but a couple of players didn’t perform to the level I would like.”
Livi manager Davie Martindale was thrilled to see comeback stars making an immediate impact. He said: “Credit to the players – players win you games.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise we had players returning from injury.
“It was pleasing to see wee Scott Pittman, who has missed the vast majority of the league campaign. He pops up with the third goal, his runs are fantastic. I hope we can get a wee bit more continuity into the starting XI.”