Livingston remained in third place level on points with Ayr United following a poor 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dunfermline Athletic. A Ewan Otoo goal on the brink of half time was enough to further dent Livingston’s title hopes and attempt to get back to the top division at the first time of asking.

There were two changes to the side who toppled Queen’s Park on Sunday, with Cristian Montano and Scott Pittman dropping to the bench in favour of Dan Finlayson and Robbie Fraser, with captain Jamie Brandon moving into midfield.

It was Dunfermline who started the brighter of the two sides, seeing most of the ball in an advanced position without troubling Jerome Prior. There was a questionable handball shout for Dunfermline, with a ball landing at the feet of Chris Kane bouncing up and appearing to make contact with Jamie Brandon’s arm, but Grant Irvine waved away any protests.

With a quarter of an hour gone, the Pars showed their footballing acumen with a nicely worked freekick that also found the back of the net. A neat reverse pass from a free kick found the Livi backline napping, with Kane slipped through one on one. The angle wasn’t kind to the former St Johnstone man, but he still forced Prior into a fantastic save at his front post to keep the scores level.

The stats made for grim reading for the Lions, and it would get worse for them right on half time. A long ball found Matty Todd to the right of the goal. A good shot was saved well, however the rebound fell to Ewan Otoo on the edge of the box. His first shot was blocked, but he made no mistake with his second, firing low into the bottom left corner to hand the Pars the lead going into the dressing room.

The Lions came out roaring for the second after a change of shape and personnel, with Scott Pittman and Michael Nottingham coming on for Stevie May and Macaulay Tait. Livi looked much more attacking, winning a corner early in the second and Pittman came close to equalising, dragging his shot wide to the right.

Dunfermline weren’t down and out however, and almost doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half. A ball nodded on to Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen wouldn’t sit down for the winger, and by the time he had sorted his feet to direct a shot at goal, Prior had positioned himself to save well. Kane tried to jump onto to the loose ball, but succeeded only in kicking the Livi shot-stopper.

The game was getting scrappy with some wild tackles flying in, with skipper Jamie Brandon taken off likely before he was sent off after a double of fouls in midfield to be replaced by Andrew Shinnie. With the game opening up Livi had the chance again to restore parity, a knock-on finding Finlayson on the edge of the box but his shot was high over the bar.

Tete Yengi had a golden opportunity halfway through the second half. Tenacious play from Robbie Muirhead allowed Shinnie to cross, finding Yengi on the 6-yard box but his header was straight at Oluwayemi, where either side would have saw it nestle in the back of the net.

Livingston keeper Prior inexplicably earned himself a yellow after receiving a blow to the face from Pars sub Ephriam Yeboah. The striker; who also earned himself a caution, attempted to stop the Frenchman from throwing the ball to Nottingham, and when he wasn’t able to, struck Prior in the face.

There were flashpoints a plenty but nothing in the way of clear-cut chances, although Muirhead could and perhaps should have done better from a Shinnie cross after Montano was wiped out on the edge of the box.

Livi would pile the pressure on with a ball flashing across the box again and again, however there was no one in a black shirt that could turn it goalwards, the referee calling time on the game after six minutes of additional time, providing Dunfermline with a massive win in their quest to remain in the Championship this season.

Match report: David Hastie

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