Livingston beat English Championship squad Plymouth Argyle 2-1 on Monday evening at Creamery Park in Bathgate in a well earned victory for the Lions. The game started at a high tempo with both teams looking for an early advantage.

Roddy McKenzie, outstanding throughout the night, made two early saves to keep the game scoreless. In the 1 st 15 minutes, the back four of Talbot, McKenna, McDonald and Malone were called into action early and often. However, the stalemate was ended n the 36 th minute when Liam Fox squared the ball across the goal to Davie Winters where an unfortunate Plymouth defender turned it into his own goal for a 1-0 Livi lead.

Livi came out unchanged for the second half and built on their advantage with some slick passing and movement that lead to a second goal from Tony McParland for a 2-0 Livingston lead. Despite Plymouth size and power through out their line-up, Livingston matched up well and controlled much of the match. The midfield trio of Fox, Hamill and Torrance were solid throughout, with Andy Halliday covering quite a bit of ground on the flanks for all 90 minutes. A late penalty was not enough for Plymouth as the hosts earned a pleasing victory for John Murphy's young side.

Murphy, however, was quick to put the result into proper context. "The boys put a real shift in today, and I am pleased that we were rewarded with a victory tonight. However, I feel we rode our luck bit and were fortunate not to be punished on some slack defending and also giving the ball away unnecessarily at times. We are a team that likes to pass and keep the ball so you can get caught out when committing numbers forward. But the boys are improving in each game and hope that we can use some of the confidence gained tonight in future league and cup matches."

Livingston will be in action this Saturday in the Alba Cup vs. Division 1 rivals Queen of the South at 3:00pm with a CIS match at Albion Rovers the following Saturday. Information on away game travel and tickets can be found at www.livingstonfc.co.uk.