The Scottish Mail on Sunday

The good, the bad & the ugly...

Miller manages a successful start but it’s not all plain sailing for Livvy

- By Calum Crowe

KENNY MILLER can reflect on a winning start to his managerial career — but it certainly was not straightfo­rward.

The Livingston player-boss gave himself a full 90 minutes as his Premiershi­p new boys held off a spirited fightback to defeat Airdrieoni­ans in Group F.

Livvy got off to a flying start and were two goals up midway through the first half before being forced to hang on towards the end of the game after Darryl Duffy had pulled one back for the League One side.

And the former Rangers striker was satisfied with the win but admitted that it had been a case of the good, the bad and the ugly.

‘I thought we were very good in the first half but then not so good in the second half,’ said the veteran striker.

‘We should probably have had more than just two goals to show for our efforts in the first half.

‘After the break, we weren’t quite at it. We lost a cheap goal and gave our opponents a way back into the game.

‘But we dug deep and eventually settled ourselves down and started to control it again towards the end.

‘I was really happy with a win. But there are still a lot of things we need to work at and improve.’

Miller set Livvy out in a 3-5-2 system and they knocked the ball around with confidence in the early stages, asserting their authority over their opponents.

They were twice denied by the woodwork as they searched for the opening goal. A towering back-post header from Lee Miller saw the ball come crashing back off the crossbar on ten minutes, with Alan Lithgow following suit just a couple of minutes later.

Their dominance was rewarded when some good hold-up play from Lee Miller saw the ball fed out to Scott Pittman in the left channel of the penalty area.

The little midfielder showed a clinical touch to cut back inside and clip the ball into the far corner of Scott Gallacher’s goal.

And Gallacher had a howler just one minute later to gift Livvy their second goal. Ricki Lamie’s header did not look troubling the big keeper but he fumbled it, allowing Lee Miller to poke into the empty net.

A well-timed run from Kenny Miller then saw him arrive in the box to get on the end of a flowing team move, but he was denied a debut goal after Gallacher got down low to save his first-time shot.

Airdrieoni­ans’ best moment of the first half came when a dipping Ryan Conroy free-kick required a fingertip interventi­on from Livvy keeper Liam Kelly.

But Stevie Findlay’s side improved markedly after the interval. It took them just eight minutes of the second half to halve the deficit — and it is not one that former Rangers keeper Kelly will want to see again.

He came charging off his line after Dale Carrick had slipped Duffy through on goal. Kelly was never getting there, allowing Duffy the simplest of tasks to poke the ball past the keeper from around 25 yards.

Livvy’s Scott Robinson then hit a post with a header, but it was Carrick who so nearly produced the standout contributi­on of the afternoon when his thunderous strike from 25 yards thumped back off the crossbar.

It was not to be, though, and the visitors saw out the game. Miller takes Livvy to face Premiershi­p rivals Hamilton on Tuesday, while Airdrieoni­ans travel to Berwick next Saturday.

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