Livi are floored by late kick in the teeth
Accies snatch three precious points
Hamilton Accies ........... 1 Livingston ..................... 0
Livingston fell to their second defeat in a week after being hit by a late sucker punch against 10-man Hamilton.
On-loan striker Mason Bloomfield raced through on goal four minutes from time – moments after the hosts had Mikel Miller dismissed for a second bookable offence.
It was a frustrating afternoon for the Lions who fell to a second straight loss for just the second time since December 2016.
The away side made three changes to the side that lost 1-0 at home to St Johnstone four days previously, with Jack McMillan, Craig Sibbald and Steve Lawson replacing Steven Lawless, Scott Robinson and Keaghan Jacobs.
The visitors started the better of the two sides, as they looked to dominate possession, but it was Hamilton who had the first real chance.
Rakish Bingham played through strike partner Fredrik Brustad, but one-on-one with Liam Kelly, the Norweigan saw his effort saved. The rebound fell to James Keatings, who went down under the challenge of Craig Halkett, but referee Alan Muir waved away his penalty claims.
Just before half-time, Livingston had a great chance to take the lead. Some nice link-up play between Declan Gallagher and Ricki Lamie saw the latter square the ball to McMillan but he was unable to adjust his feet and failed to convert the opportunity .
Five minutes after the restart, the Lions had another glorious chance to put themselves in front. Sibbald exquisitely played through Scott Pittman but the
We created some really good chances. But we got the old sucker punch
midfielder’s shot was saved well by Gary Woods at point-blank range.
On 60 minutes, the Premiership new boys again squandered a great opportunity when Dolly Menga outmuscled Delphin Tshiembe only to drag his effort wide of the post.
Livingston received what was thought to be an advantage on 85 minutes when Miller was given his marching orders for a late tackle on Bobby Burns, having already been booked for an earlier tackle on Halkett.
But, just a minute later, as the Lions committed bodies forward in the hunt for a winner, Accies hit them on the counter. Steven Boyd, who struggled during a loan spell with Livi last season, shrugged off the challenge of Lawless and slipped through substitute Bloomfield. The young English forward raced through on goal before slotting the ball between Kelly’s legs and into the net. Despite that blow, the visitors still had a brilliant chance to take a share of the spoils in the closing stages when Egli Kaja did well to dribble past a couple of Accies defenders out wide as he drove to the byline. The Albanian winger cut back for fellow sub Burns, but the young Northern Irishman’s effort smashed the crossbar, leaving boss Gary Holt to admit the defeat was a “kick in the teeth”.
He said: “We’ve got to take our chances. It’s not half-chances, it’s good chances and they’ve got to be goals.
“We’ve got to be cleverer and more streetwise late in the game. It’s their break and somebody’s got to bring him down.”
He added: “At the end of the day, we played well. We created some really good chances and we hit the bar at the end.
“But we got the old sucker punch, the kick in the teeth as they say, and you’ve just got to take it on the chin sometimes.”
An immediate response won’t be easy for his side as they welcome Celtic to the Tony Macaroni Arena on Sunday, then travel to Ibrox to face Rangers after the international break.