Livi’s Lawless guns down the Steelmen
Lawless helped Livingston mug Motherwell.
But the Steelmen were the real villains in the eyes of their manager after a criminally slack showing.
A goal in either half from Steven Lawless and Craig Halkett secured a precious three points for Livi.
Victory lifted them above Aberdeen and Hibs in the table.
But for Motherwell – who travelled off the back of a stunning win over Aberdeen last week – it was a miserable afternoon.
They were sluggish from the off, second-best across the park and conceded from two trademark Livi set-pieces.
For gaffer Stephen Robinson, it was an unacceptably sloppy display.
“What’s disappointing is we’ve worked on set-pieces all week,” he said. “Livingston throw long balls into the box – they do it very well.
“But certain people were told to mark a certain way and they didn’t.
“We’ve got beat by that and a corner into the box that we made the players very aware of.
“We simply got what we deserved.
“It’s so hard to explain a performance like that, after the one we had last week.
“Two set plays cost us – two set plays we made them very, very aware of.
“We can’t keep giving information for people not to take it on board.”
With three wins from their last four games, Motherwell started brightly.
They called Livi keeper Liam Kelly into action with just two minutes on the clock when Curtis Main sent a neat header towards his left-hand corner.
The former Rangers stopper got down sharply to turn Main’s effort wide – but with referee Euan Anderson blowing for a free-kick, it wouldn’t have counted anyway.
The Well should have taken heart from their quickfire sight of goal. Instead, Livi took control.
Motherwell matched the home team’s system by stringing five men across the middle of the park, but Livingston still dominated the space.
They were sharper on the ball and smarter with their movement than the Steelmen, who were playing a reactive game.
Livi took the lead on 22 minutes. Under pressure, Well’s Christian Mbulu was forced to clear into row z.
Alan Lithgow stepped up to deliver the long throw, which was flicked on to Lawless, then smashed home with aplomb through a ruck of bodies and past the unsighted Mark Gillespie.
Winless in four before Well’s visit, Livi nevertheless looked like a team brimming with confidence.
Their visitors, by contrast, struggled to break the lines, and were thus too easily contained.
It must have made for frustrating viewing for Stephen Robinson, who threw Alex Rodriguez-Gorrin on for Gael Bigirimana at half-time.
It didn’t get much better into the second half, as Livi continued to shackle the Steelmen.
There were few chances for either team in a second half.
Having replaced Alan Campbell with Elliot Frear just before the hour, Stephen Robinson made a final roll of the dice just after it, sticking Ryan Bowman on in place of Curtis Main.
Well thought they should have had a penalty when Danny Johnson hit the deck. The claim looked soft, and the ref was more than justified in waving it away.
Halkett, the Livi captain, was a towering presence at the back, getting his head to everything that came his way – bar one cross.
When it came, Well’s Barry Maguire found himself at the back post with only Kelly to beat.
Somehow, Kelly dug out a stunning one-handed stop to save his team’s lead.
Two minutes later, Well’s hopes were killed off when Halkett doubled Livi’s advantage with a free header from Scott Robinson’s corner.