Livingston 1-1 Hamilton Academical
A last gasp equaliser afforded Livingston a point however a lacklustre penalty performance meant the bonus point travelled back along the M8 to Lanarkshire with visitors Hamilton.
With their first competitive home match of the season, manager David Martindale made one change from the side that beat Brechin City last week, with Sean Kelly making way for Morgan Boyes.
It was the League One side that got off to the better start, pinning the Lions back and putting pressure on Jack Hamilton between the Livingston sticks, with Tumilty hitting the cross bar after 12 minutes.
And 15 minutes later it would again be the Accies who hit the woodwork with a shot from a corner striking the outside of the post and going out.
Hamilton’s pressure would eventually pay off and the visitors would take the lead on the half hour mark, with Barjonas squaring for Andy Winter to drive home into an empty net.
The hosts would make a better go of it in the second half and Pittman who could, and perhaps should, have evened the game up. Penrice set the number 8 up to tap into an empty net, but he just wasn’t able to steer home.
It was Livi’s turn to hit the woodwork next, with Cristian Montaño striking and his effort hitting the foot of the post before being cleared for a corner.
With the game edging towards a disappointing result for Livingston, it needed a moment of magic, which was granted a minute from time. A corner was swung into the back post, and eventually fell to Bruce Anderson who drilled the ball into the bottom corner to equalise for the West Lothian side.
Remarkably, the Lions almost stole victory from the jaws of defeat three minutes into added time. A foul on the edge of the box teed up Stephen Kelly, who duly delivered a beautiful free kick which crashed off the crossbar before being cleared, taking the game to penalties for the bonus point.
Onto the shootout, and Hamilton dispatched all four of their penalties, with only Kelly replying with a goal of his own; Michael Devlin seeing his effort saved and Joel Nouble’s hitting the post.
Match Report: David Hastie
LIVINGSTONHamilton, Obileye, Devlin ©️, Boyes, Sangare (Shinnie 61), Pittman (St.Kelly 61), Holt, Penrice ▊(Brandon 66), Nouble, Anderson, Montaño (Guthrie 72) Subs not used: Goals: |
HAMILTON ACADEMICALJ.Smith ©️, Tumilty, Kilday, Barjonas (One 74), Longridge ▊, Hendrie, MacDonald, Tait ▊(Zanatta 68), Martin ▊, Winter (Murray 74), O’Hara (McGlynn 84) Subs not used: Goals: |
Referee: Craig Napier | HT: 0-1 | Att: 923 |