‘Stallion’ Pittman is reigning supreme as Livi take the points
Pittman (57)
Livingston boss David Martindale saluted the club legend that he believes is as strong as a stallion.
Scott Pittman recorded a new record of top-flight appearances for the West Lothian outfit and came up with a winning goal.
Pittman turned out for the 124th time in the premiership, beating the previous record held by Spanish defender Oscar Rubio.
The 29-year-old has played 299 times in all competitions for the Lions and is 10 away from the all-time total of 309.
Not only does Martindale expect him to break that, he is determined to extend his contract and make sure he gets a testimonial.
The manager said: “I am so happy he broke the record but he will smash all the records at this club.
“Keaghan Jacobs is 10 games ahead of him for the all-time record but he could surpass that by 100 at least.
“He’s a local boy and it’s great to see as I don’t think it will ever be done again. I am going to speak to Pitts’ agent again to get him tied down and take him through to his testimonial year and beyond.
“For the first four years at the club, he never asked me a thing about his contract.
“I told him to sign it and he would sign it.
“I gave him what I could give him and we never talked about money.
“Then, we got into the Premiership and I said to him, ‘you should maybe think about getting an agent, this is too easy for me!’.
“He’s a living legend at Livingston and he’s like a stallion.
“I have told him that he needs to remain as the fittest player at the club.
“When I join in training I stay away from him. In fact, I make sure he’s in the other team.”
This was a game that really didn’t catch fire until after half-time.
The visitors had a decent amount of possession but never tested Russian debutant Ivan Konovalov in the Livi goal.
Josh Doig had a decent chance for Hibs but his attempt was blocked by Livi captain Nicky Devlin.
Martindale’s side didn’t fare much better when it came to attempts on goal.
Joel Nouble took advantage of hesitation to clear a long ball by heading over the advancing goalkeeper but his effort made little progress towards the net and was easily cleared.
The second half had to be better, you hoped – if only to create a bit of crowd noise to drown out the grating noise of some plastic horns brought by some youthful supporters.
It was quickly evident that some half-time motivation had done the trick with the Livingston players.
Martindale isn’t easily pleased at the best of times and is always a man to make his displeasure very clear.
It’s very hard for a caretaker boss like Hibs’ David Gray to get players fired up because they know he won’t be the man in charge next season.
The winning goal came when Shinnie linked up with Boyce on the left flank and did well to pick out Pittman just inside the penalty area. The record-breaking midfielder took the ball in his stride and smacked it into the top-righthand corner of the net.
You would have expected Hibs to battle back in search of an equaliser but further goals for Livingston looked a lot more likely.
Nouble had a shot saved by the feet of Matt Macey and the English goalie also did well to tip an Alan Forrest effort over his crossbar.
Livingston remain on course to finish top of the bottom six, while Hibs’ season can’t end soon enough for their fans.