Lions made to pay for lacking killer instinct
A frustrated David Martindale admitted the Lions are costing themselves points after they conceded late on for the second successive league game.
The hosts were dominant against St Mirren at the weekend – albeit they were in front in fluke circumstances when Bruce Anderson’s effort bounced off the post before hitting the striker as he fell to the ground and rolling into the net.
However, the Buddies would snatch a draw with a 78th minute strike from the edge of the box by Greg Kiltie with their only shot on target in the contest.
It comes off the back of missing a late penalty away to Ross County to open up a 2-0 lead – before conceding an equaliser late in stoppage time in Dingwall.
And last weekend the Lions were dumped out of the Scottish Cup on penalties against Hearts despite creating the better chances and keeping the Jambos at bay for 120 minutes.
Had Livi been more clinical over that three game stretch, they’d have been sitting in the European places and the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.
A disgruntled Martindale said: “I’m really disappointed. We created more than enough chances to win at Ross County and we come away with one
point. We go to Tynecastle and keep a clean sheet for 120 minutes and create the better chances but we’re out the Scottish Cup then against St Mirren we created the better chances.
“We need to have more composure in the final third. I had a go at the offensive players because I think they’ve got to do more. They have to be more clinical.”
Both sides looked to get on the front foot early on with Jordan Jones hitting the side-netting for the Buddies while at the other end Anderson could only fire wide from a Nicky Devlin cutback after neat play from the hosts had sent the captain into space down the right wing.
The hosts were creating the better chances and went close to opening the scoring midway through the first half but
Ayo Obileye’s header from a corner-kick went inches over the bar.
Livi would see plenty of the ball but on numerous occasions play was just too slow to really cut open the Buddies.
They showed greater urgency from the off in the second half and it paid dividends 10 minutes after the restart.
Devlin’s enticing delivery into the box was fired towards goal by Anderson. The initial effort clattered the woodwork but the rebound bounced back off the Livi striker via defender Joe Shaughnessy as he was tumbling to the ground and into the net for his 11th goal of the season.
The hosts were unable to make the swing in momentum count as they failed to test Jak Alnwick again despite having plenty of attacking possession.
They would be made to pay 12 minutes from time when Alan Forrest missed an attempted clearance from a corner.
The ball fell kindly to Kiltie on the edge of the box with the winger fizzing an unstoppable effort beyond Max Stryjek.
The game swung in Livi’s favour once more five minutes later when Charles Dunne saw red for an elbow on Sebastian Soto – with Alnwick producing a stunning instinctive save from the resulting freekick when Forrest’s delivery deflected off a defender.
The hosts would fling everything forward in search of a winner that wouldn’t arrive as they had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Martindale added: “I didn’t at any point feel under pressure from St Mirren and we come away with a draw.
“We gave away a poor corner then it’s an easy connection to boot it up the park, he misses it and it falls to the man he’s marking and he puts it in the bottom corner.
“I’m not happy. We’re not showing enough composure in the final third. Yes, we conceded from a set play but it wasn’t from a defensive point of view as such, it was from an error that we should be dealing with easily.
“We got behind them about eight times but our final decision making just isn’t quite right just now.”