Livi suffer late sickener as Saints nab winner
Late drama saw Livingston fall to a 2-1 defeat at home to St Johnstone as Ali Crawford netted a 90th minute winner for the visitors on Tuesday night.
The victory was the Saints’ first in the league since October and saw them climb off the foot of the table.
But it was a disappointing and disjointed display from the hosts.
The Lions were fortunate to be on level terms at half-time after a sloppy opening which saw the Saints take an 11th minute lead as Callum Hendry rose above Jack Fitzwater to head home.
The hosts levelled things against the run of play on 34 minutes when Alan Forrest charged behind the defence before squaring for Bruce Anderson to slam home his 10th goal of the season.
Livi took that momentum into the second half, with Forrest going close twice.
But it would be Callum Davidson’s men who notched the crucial goal as the clash looked to be heading for a draw.
Glenn Middleton wrestled Ayo Obileye off the ball before firing across goal with Crawford on hand to net the winner.
The drama didn’t end there as Joel Nouble was handed two questionable yellow cards in a matter of minutes for Livi, who then passed up a glorious chance to steal a draw when Nicky Devlin struck the outside of the post deep into injury-time.
A late equaliser for Motherwell at St Mirren means Livi remain in eighth but are now just eight points off the foot of the table.
Livi boss David Martindale made two changes to the side that had beaten Hibs at the weekend, with James Penrice returning at left-back
at the expense of the injured Jackson Longridge, while Anderson started in place of Nouble up front.
The hosts almost gifted St Johnstone the lead twice in the opening seven minutes through defensive lapses as firstly Obileye and then Fitzwater were guilty of slack passes that almost led to Stevie May finding the net.
Obileye did well to charge back and recover in the first instance, while Max Stryjek raced back to collect the ball before it rolled into the net in the other.
The Saints would deservedly open the scoring on 11 minutes as Daniel Cleary’s cross from the right was met by Hendry who rose above the defence to firmly plant a header into the corner .
Livi looked out of sorts for the opening half hour, with a string of panicked decisions and misplaced passes being in stark contrast to the type of display that had seen them recover well from a slow start to the
season. So it was very much against the run of play when they netted a 34th minute equaliser.
Penrice played in Forrest down the left flank, with the winger wonderfully dummying Cleary before charging to the line and rolling the ball across goal for Anderson to gleefully slam home from close range.
The Lions started the second half looking much more like the team of recent weeks, with a real cutting edge and urgency to their attack.
It nearly paid dividends on 56 minutes when Obileye skilfully collected the ball in a congested area and fired at goal– with his effort rebounding into the path of Forrest who saw his fizzing strike deflected wide.
The winger, who turned down a move to Perth last week, was in stunning form all evening and again went close on the hour mark when his free-kick from 25 yards looked to be heading for the top corner before
Zander Clark tipped the ball over.
Livi were unable to make their advantage count as St Johnstone finally got to grips with the second half and enjoyed a period of pressure inside the home side’s half .
But they offered little in terms of a genuine threat to Stryjek as the defence dealt with everything thrown their way until the game ticked into the 90th minute.
Obileye should have dealt with the ball out wide but passed up possession to Middleton who rolled the ball across goal, with Crawford diverting the rebound home to spark jubilant scenes amongst the visitors.
Nouble, on the park just 11 minutes, was then shown a red for two near identical incidents as his arm inadvertently struck opponents when battling for possession.
Even a man down, the Lions still created a wonderful late chance deep into injury-time when Forrest played in Devlin, only for the skipper to hit the post as they fell to defeat.