Livingston exacted revenge on Boroughmuir Thistle following their Sky Sports Cup exit, with a dramatic 3-2 win at the death at Meadowbank. Emma McFadyen’s 96th minute winner combined with strikes by Rachel Walkingshaw and Hannah Davie as Livi corrected their performance from a few weeks ago.

Paul Greig welcomed new loan signing Elise Macara to the Livingston squad, with the centre back slotting in next to Captain Natasha Frew for her debut.

The Livingston backline was tested early on, with Frew, Mia McArthur and Summer Laird all making crucial blocks to deny Thistle shots on goal. At the other end, Anna Dickov threatened with a run in behind but her effort could only find the side netting, whilst Toni Harkness made a big save to deny Erin Burns.

The Lionesses did take the lead on twenty minutes through a superbly placed free kick by Rachel Walkingshaw. The game’s Player of the Match calmly dispatched the set piece into the top left corner to give Livi the lead from twenty-five yards.

Thistle looked to threaten through Becky Galbraith but the forward was unable to find the target with a header from a corner as well as from a cute little flick on the six-yard box.

The home side will have been frustrated with their performance in the first half but came out firing early in the second. Cailin Michin fired in from the edge of the box to level things up six minutes after the restart.

Both teams had opportunities to take the lead but it was Livi who got ahead with fifteen left to play. A left footed corner by Rachel Walkingshaw found the run of substitute Hannah Davie at the front post who made no mistake from close range to make it 2-1.

As Thistle chased to get back into the game, Livi had some good opportunities on the counter attack but good goalkeeping and last ditch defending denied a third goal at this moment.

Thistle were rewarded for their pressure in the ninety-third minute as Becky Galbraith tapped in at the back post in what seemed like a cruel sucker punch to the Livingston performance.

However, the drama would not end there as Emma McFadyen found a winner for the away side in the ninety-sixth minute of play. A Livi counter attack saw Kaitlyn Canavan emerge into the final third before selflessly laying off the substitute McFadyen. The Livi number twenty made no mistake from close range, calmly firing into the bottom corner to take the three points back to West Lothian.

The Livingston side showed tremendous character to bounce back from such adversity recently against the same team, with a true team performance getting its reward in the end.

Match report: Angus McGregor

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