RAMPANT LIONS ARE HISTORY MAKERS
Livvy record five straight top-tier wins for the first time after thumping Hibs
DAVID MARTINDALE hailed his unstoppable Livingston side as they racked up a fifth straight top-flight win for the first time in their history.
In a three-goal cruise which could easily have been doubled, his team came out of the blocks like Usain Bolt to inflict an early burial on a Hibernian side already flagging from back-to-back defeats.
And the move up to fifth place should have the Easter Road side, only weeks ago were ambitiously eyeing overhauling Celtic for second, looking nervously as the on-fire West Lothian outfit loom large in their rear-view mirror.
Two goals in the first 17 minutes from Josh Mullin and Jon Guthrie, allied to some scandalous Hibs defending, put Martindale’s side in the driving seat — and they had the game sealed just three minutes after the restart, Scott Robinson capitalising on more calamitous rearguard capers to inflict the home side’s third straight defeat. ‘To win five on the trot in this division is a phenomenal statistic,’ insisted Martindale, still with a 100-per-cent record since taking the helm from Gary Holt.
‘And if you are comparing budgets, which I usually hate to do, then it’s a stat the boys should be massively proud of.
‘We reaped the rewards of our game being off in midweek today, and I said to them to take advantage of that early, but that will potentially catch up with us in the near future. The Aberdeen game is on January 13 and we are coming into a period of 11 games in 35 days.
‘Momentum is massive, though, It makes my job that much easier.’
Jack Ross was dealt a pre-kick-off blow when returning No 1 Ofir Marciano suffered a recurrence of his calf problem in the warm-up and had to be replaced by stand-in Dillon Barnes.
Livingston made three changes of their own to a team coming in on the crest of a six-game winning wave, Scott Robinson retaking his starting spot from Jay EmmanuelThomas, a move which paid massive dividends — although not before the diminutive frontman was booked for a dive in the opposition box in the seventh minute.
Two minutes later, however, he was instrumental in Livingston taking the lead with a sweetlypackaged goal. Marvin Bartley’s powerfully-won header in the middle of the park was expertly flicked on by Robinson into the inside-right channel, Mullin doing the rest as he blew past Lewis Stevenson to laser a shot across Barnes and into the bottom corner from just inside the box.
Hibs were all over the shop as Livvy outworked, out-thought and overpowered them from middle to front. And defensively the only word you could use to describe their attempts at Livingston’s second was shambolic.
Barnes came unconvincingly and ballooned a weak punch from Mullin’s corner, his defenders spurned at least two chances to clear, and the towering presence of Guthrie was there to finish convincingly from five yards.
It was no more than Livingston deserved though, their early play bearing all the hallmarks of a team who have forgotten what it feels like to lose.
In their seven wins, they’ve scored 17, coming from 10 different players, and conceded only two. It’s no fluke, it’s down to discipline, industry, an understanding of each role within their shape and a boundless energy to execute their game-plan to the letter.
The same couldn’t be said for the home side, who looked a long way short of the potent force who buried the same opposition 4-1 away from home in the second week of the season.
Striker Kevin Nisbet, who scored a hat-trick that day in August, was better marshalled here, his intent good but his contributions limited, including being denied a timid penalty claim, going down under a challenge from Nicky Devlin.
His partner Christian Doidge was
equally a mile off it, looking sluggish as keeper Max Stryjek gifted him a free run on goal with a poor clearance, only to be overhauled by Guthrie before he’d even managed to cock the hammer, far less pull the trigger.
Hibs were lucky not to go in three down at the break, another piece of car-crash defending allowing Mullin a snapshot from 12 yards which Barnes had to fingertip brilliantly round the post.
Any hope they had of turning the tide vanished within three minutes of the restart.
And it was the result of more Keystone Cops defending and more Livingston tenacity. A Guthrie up- and-under from his own 18-yard line had Porteous and Hanlon floundering, neither dealing with it, while Robinson had his eyes on the prize, eventually turning both inside out again inside the box before prodding home.
Ross instantly brought Murphy on for sitter Alex Gogic for some width and inspiration, but the ship had long since sailed.
Livingston diligently settled into an oppressive block, counterattacked at will, and Hibs simply couldn’t buy a pass that found another green and white shirt for love nor money.
‘All my time at Livingston,’ Martindale added: ‘We have always been big on clean sheets. We lost that a bit at the start of the season but now we’ve lost one goal from open play in seven games.’
HIBERNIAN (4-1-3-2): Barnes; P McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Stevenson (Doig 67); Gogic (Murphy 50); Boyle, Mallan, Newell; Doidge (Gullan 67, Wright 87), Nisbet. Subs (not used): Samson, Gray, McGregor, Hallberg,
S. McGinn. Booked: None.
LIVINGSTON (4-2-3-1): Stryjek; Devlin, Ambrose, Guthrie, Brown; Holt, Bartley; Mullin (Lawson 74), Sibbald (Serrano 75), Pittman; Robinson (EmmanuelThomas 83). Subs (not used): McCrorie, McMillan, Pignatiello, Taylor-Sinclair, Forrest. Booked: Robinson. Referee: David Munro.