It was the proverbial game of two halves in Greenock as Livingston held on to a precious three points to keep their title ambitions alive with a 2-1 win over Greenock Morton. Two first half goals from Cristian Montano and Scott Pittman; his 50th in a Livi shirt, was enough to take the points back to West Lothian despite an Ali Crawford freekick and several poor referring decisions threatening to spoil the Lion’s afternoon.

It was one change for the Lions from the side who sauntered to victory against Queens Park last weekend, with club captain Jamie Brandon dropping out for Dan Finlayson.

Morton were gifted a freekick with five minutes on the clock, with Finlayson adjudged to have fouled Owen Moffat on the left side of the box. The ball was whipped in fiercely forcing Macaulay Tait to head out for a corner, that found former Lion Morgan Boyes, his header just wide of the near post.

Livi were looking threatening themselves, Stephen Kelly finding acres of space on the left side of the box before unleashing a powerful drive goalward that was deflected out for a corner. The corner found Montano who rose above all at the back post and looked to nod the ball home, however he got the header all wrong and Morton were able to clear. Some nice play up front then found Robbie Muirhead on the edge of the box, his shot flashing over the bar.

Just clear of the ten-minute mark and Muirhead again had an effort from distance, this time from about 25 yards, but his freekick didn’t have enough dip and sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Up the other end and Moffat was sent clear as Morton looked to sting the Lions on the break. Moffat’s touch was poor though and allowed Ryan McGowan to regain ground and make a superb tackle to stop the ‘Ton number 7 getting a chance away.

Jerome Prior was called to his first action of the game on 16 minutes. A good throw in was collected by Ali Crawford, his shot-come-cross landed at the feet of Tomi Adeloye, with his point-blank effort saved superbly by the Frenchman, who wasn’t to know the linesman had raised his flag.

A minute later, and the Lions took the lead. A brilliant cross from Lewis Smith on the right-hand side found Cristian Montano at the back post, his header forcing a brilliant save from Gary Woods, however the ball landed straight back at the feet of the Columbian who made no mistake in lashing the ball beyond the prone keeper for a 1-0 lead.

There was a penalty shout from the home fans waved away by referee Ross Hardie just after 20 minutes. Morton had a ball into the box which Livi failed to defend convincingly, this allowed Adeloye half a yard, forcing Scott Pittman into a tackle. The midfielder perhaps appeared to catch the Morton striker, however there wasn’t enough in it to award a foul in the eyes of the ref.

Midway through the second half and the Lions made it two. An incredible turn from Montano gave him the edge over the defender, and he raced down the byline before sending in a low ball to the feet of Scott Pittman, who showed all the composure to slot the ball home for his 50th goal in Livi colours.

Livi were hungry for more goals and as the clocked over to the half hour mark it was almost three. A high ball was headed by Muirhead into Montano’s path who was one-on-one with Woods in the Morton goal. His first touch wasn’t the best allowing the hosts to recover, and his effort was tame in the end.

Just before the break, and Morton pulled one back with a wonder free kick. The foul itself was awarded in questionable circumstances but there was no question on the quality of strike from Ali Crawford, who expertly lifted the ball up and over the wall finding Prior’s bottom right corner to cut the deficit by half.

Greenock rolled the dice coming out for the second half with Michael Garrity and Grant Gillespie replacing Moffat and Lyall, looking for an instant impact to get back into the match. And with around two minutes played Prior had to be alert as Cameron Blues flashed a shot goalwards, taken comfortably by the Lion’s shotstopper.

Morton were awarded another freekick from a similar position to the one they scored from. It was a carbon copy in almost every way with Crawford again taking. It was another incredible strike from the veteran and looked destined for the top corner, but for a flying save from Prior knocking it wide for a corner which came to nothing.

The hosts had the bit between their teeth and were pushing for the equaliser. Another Crawford freekick was zipped in, finding the head of Boyes, who nodded the ball just wide.

Stevie May, who replaced Lewis Smith had a half chance from a throw-in just after the hour mark but his attempted half volley was screwed well wide and was never troubling Ryan Mullen, the Morton substitute keeper.

Tete Yengi almost had a moment of brilliance five minutes later. A good run by Fraser on the left wing opened up the cross, with the Rangers loanee finding the Aussie with his back to goal. The number nine took two touches to create the room on the spin, but his shot at goal was straight at Mullen and saved easily.

It was all Morton for large parts of the second half, with Livingston struggling to get a hold of the ball and the game. Adeloye perhaps should have done better midway through the half with a ball crossed onto his head on the six yard box, but he fluffed his header over the bar.

Gaffer Davie Martindale opted to change the shape to three at the back in a bid to secure the three points and regain control of the game, with Robbie Muirhead making way for Michael Nottingham, Yengi and May making up a front two.

It was change that wasn’t producing what Martindale wanted, and Morton again almost grabbed the leveller. A floated cross to the back post saw Cammy Ballantyne rise for a free header, but he couldn’t find the target, much to the relief of the visitors.

With minutes to go, Morton had the ball in the back of the net. A poor header from Danny Wilson set up Garrity who poked the ball through to fellow sub Jordan Davies. The striker took his chance superbly burying the ball into the bottom right corner, but the assistant referee had raised his flag, judging him to be offside.

The hosts were pressing and pushing for a goal to steal a point from the underperforming Lions, and Cameron Keay had another header to test Prior, but he easily held on to the tame effort.

Into the fourth minute of added on time, Boyes fluffed his lines from a corner to the back post. All alone, he had a huge chance to strike the ball, but completely missed and the ball rolled out for a throw in, prompting Ross Hardie to bring the game to a close.

Match report: David Hastie

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