Holt gutted as luckless Livvy slide to defeat
LIVINGSTON tried everything to put the ball beyond Joe Lewis but manager Gary Holt admitted he knew the game was up when he watched his team’s best effort play goal-frame bingo.
Jon Guthrie’s second-half shot looked destined for the roof of the net yet contrived to bounce off the bar and the post before rebounding into play.
‘When I saw that happening, I thought that’s it,’ groaned Holt. ‘I turned to the goalie coach and he said: “It’s one of those days”.’
Derek McInnes bristled at the suggestion this was a smash-and-grab act from Aberdeen but, while the visitors deserve credit for grinding out a win on the Premiership’s stickiest playing surface, there was a dearth of ideas from his injury-ravaged side.
Scott McKenna, Ash Taylor, Funso Ojo and Craig Bryson were all missing from the squad and, for the first of three away games that could define the Dons’ season, McInnes made the call not to risk striker Sam Cosgrove on the plastic, handing Curtis Main his first start since the defeat to St Mirren last month.
Out of practice, the former Motherwell man found it difficult to find his touch and, as a result, Aberdeen struggled to make any territorial gains.
Despite the lack of fluency, Aberdeen claimed a first-half goal that was a set-piece dream for Andy Considine. Ryan Hedges pitched the ball towards the near post with such precision that the defender didn’t have to break stride as he stroked it into the net.
Such simplicity belied a troubled half of football in which the home team should have scored three.
Scott Robinson, starting instead of the suspended Lyndon Dykes, was cleverly found by Steven Lawless on the overlap but was denied by a sharp piece of goalkeeping from Lewis.
Chris Erskine succeeded in whipping the ball beyond the keeper a couple of minutes later but his effort swerved over.
Best of all was the chance carved out by the forceful persistence of Marvin Bartley, who played in Erskine but the striker, under pressure, contrived to fall over the ball instead of applying a simple finish.
Aberdeen continued to do little even after Cosgrove replaced Main midway through the second half.
Guthrie’s snap-shot offered a microcosm of the game but Robbie Crawford and Steven Lawless were both denied by some brave penalty-box defending.
‘It’s been a theme of the last two weeks. We were excellent, had a right good go — but we’ve lost and it’s hard because I have to be critical,’ said Holt.
‘Aberdeen defended their box better than we did. That’s the horrible side of the game.
‘It’s annoying. The players are angry, they’re hurt, but the first goal was bread and butter.
‘When I was a player, if I had a job to do and my man at a corner scored, I’d get it in the neck.
‘I made sure my man never scored. We need to be set much better.’
The second arrived on the counter as the home team pushed in desperation. Niall McGinn’s floated pass sent Cosgrove’s rangy legs into motion and the trailing Keaghan Jacobs brought him down.
The big striker picked himself up to tuck away the points McInnes was hoping for ahead of a Betfred Cup tie at Tynecastle on Wednesday night.
And with Rangers looming at Ibrox next weekend, this was not a bad day to climb into third place in the table.
‘We came here to do a job,’ said McInnes. ‘We knew what to expect and to fight fire with fire. There’s a reason Livvy don’t lose too many here. We knew we would have to stand up to periods of pressure at times and, thankfully, a combination of good defending and two bits of quality — Andy Considine’s movement and Niall McGinn’s pass — settled the game.
‘The pitch was particularly awful. It’s not how I want my team to play but I want to win.
‘We didn’t quite bring the quality often enough in the final third but our away record last year was excellent and it was achieved in different ways.
‘Today, the pleasure comes not from watching the game but from winning.
‘There’s no players coming back for Wednesday so we’ll try to go again and produce a performance which gets the club through to another semi-final.’
LIVINGSTON (4-2-3-1): Stewart; Devlin, Lamie, Guthrie, McMillan; Bartley (Lawson 60), Jacobs; Lawless, Crawford, Erskine (Stobbs 46); Robinson (Tiffoney 66). Subs (not used): Sarkic, Sibbald, Pepe, Souda. Booked: Devlin, Jacobs. ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis; Vyner (Logan 75), Devlin, Considine, Leigh; Ferguson, Campbell; Hedges (McLennan 64), Gallagher, McGinn; Main (Cosgrove 68). Subs (not used): Cerny, Barron, Wilson, Anderson. Booked: None. Referee: Nick Walsh. Attendance: 2,803.