A late winner for the champions saw Queens Park deny Livingston the play off spot on the final day of the season. Natasha Frew and Ashley Elizabeth fired Livingston ahead but the Glasgow side showed why they are champions by coming back to win 3-2 at Beechwood Park.

Livingston knew they would have to better Kilmarnock’s result should they hope to sneak into the SWPL 1 play off on the final day of the season. Hosting the Champions Queens Park was always going to be a tough task but the Lionesses got off to a flying start.

Good pressure early on from Livi saw Sharon Hughes-Lee cause a number of issues down the right hand side, forcing Queens keeper Lucy Inman into a great save on two occasions. Livi’s pressure would see them winning a penalty in the 17th minute.

Natasha Frew took responsibility for the second week in a row but her penalty was saved by Inman. The ball rolled kindly back to Frew who furiously fired the ball in off the cross bar to open the scoring.

Ten minutes later, Livi had doubled their lead with Sharon Hughes-Lee providing a great assist to Ashley Elizabeth. The forward met a cross by Hughes-Lee, placing the ball expertly into the bottom corner to double the Lionesses lead.

The double from Livi woke the champions up, who clawed one back on the half hour mark.Monica Harty battled to get the ball to Abby Callaghan who fired in off the post from outside the box. Callaghan then thought she had equalised but the offside flag denied her a quick double.

Livi responded well with a good few chances from Hughes-Lee and Lauren Evans, before being caught on the counter on the stroke of half time. A Livi corner broke with Queens Park punishing the Lionesses through Ami Robertson who fired beyond Molly Reeve to make it 2-2.

This goal seemed to sap some life out of the Livingston side, with Queens putting the pressure on in the second half, forcing Reeve into some handy saves and last ditch clearances from Sharon Hughes-Lee, Jess Murphy and Hannah Davie.

However, Livingston weren’t able to maintain the pressure with another counter attack seeing Megan Quigley fire home to give Queens Park the lead and in the end, the victory.

Livingston may be disappointed to have come so close to the play off spot, but for a first season in the division, they can be proud of their efforts in a hectic season.

Match report: Angus Mcgregor

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