Practice pays off as Bahamboula strike wins it for ‘lucky’ Livi

Davie Martindale was delighted to see his work on the training pitch come to fruition after watching Livingston overcome St Johnstone 1-0 in a hardfought encounter.

The Lions bounced back from successive losses to move up to fifth courtesy of Dylan Bahamboula’s deflected first-half effort.

Martindale reckons his team deserved their slice of luck as Saints goalkeeper Remi Matthews was left wrong-footed by an effort that spun off defender Andy Considine.

Martindale put his players through hours of shooting practice during the week after the West Lothian side fired a blank in last week’s loss to Ross County – despite having 22 efforts at goal.

Martindale said: “We controlled large parts of the game and got in behind them.

“I spent nearly every training day this week working on hitting the target.

“Over the last three games, we have got into great areas and created chances but not hit the target.

“If you don’t hit the target, you let the opposition off the hook.

“By hitting the target, you have a chance of a goal, a corner, a penalty or you have a second phase from a rebound.

“We worked on Dylan coming in on his right foot, and it worked.

“That’s why he came over to the dugout after he scored because I have been working with him on that since he arrived.

“He has so much ability and I have a lot of time for him.

“Dylan is a player who, if he applies himself properly and gets his numbers, he won’t be here very long.”

Livingston are now within two points of third-placed Hibs but the outcome could have been different had Saints, who have now conceded in each of their last 13 away games, made their early pressure count.

There were only 15 seconds on the clock when Stevie May was given a sight at goal just inside the box but the striker pulled his leftfoot shot just wide.

Lions captain Nicky Devlin’s blushes were spared by home keeper Shamal George in the eighth minute.

Devlin’s attempt to head the ball back was intercepted by May but George made himself big to block from point-blank range.

Saints kept up their attack on the rebound and James Brown’s shot from the corner of the area struck the underside of the bar.

Fortunately for Livingston, the ball appeared to come down, still in play.

The home side slowly began to find their feet although Bahamboula should have done better with a tame header he hit straight at Matthews.

Livingston, however, went in front in the 35th minute with a helping hand.

Bahamboula picked up a pass from Joel Nouble and his shot from the edge of the box took a big deflection off Considine before landing in the net past the stranded Matthews.

Livingston kept the pressure up after the break and went close to adding a second in the 62nd minute following a counter attack.

Stephen Kelly cut out a slack pass from Brown and fed Jason Holt in the box after charging upfield but the midfielder’s shot was blocked by Matthews.

Nouble then had a goal chopped off for a shove on Ryan McGowan after heading into the net.

Martindale added: “I am happy with 15 points from the first 10 games. We still have Celtic to play away in the postponed game to complete that third of the season.

“But I work in thirds and I am a lot happier going into the next two games against the Old Firm.”