Livingston fell on the wrong side of a goal fest as their Fir Park hoodoo continued following a 4-1 defeat to Motherwell; a result coupled with Ross County’s victory over Hibs spelling the end to Livingston’s time in the Scottish Premiership.

Davie Martindale opted for the same starting eleven who kept the survival bid alive last Saturday against County, with the bench welcoming back Joel Nouble, Andrew Shinnie and Tete Yengi. Emergency loan signing Kieran Wright also made his way onto the bench in place of the injured Jack Hamilton.

Motherwell had an early effort to test the Livi defence, with Sam Nicholson peeling in off the right from a throw, his shot hitting the side netting.

Livi had a great opportunity six minutes in, with Bruce Anderson breaking the line of defence to go through one on one with Liam Kelly. The Well defence did well to recover however, knocking the ball for a corner which was easily taken by Kelly at his far post.

The Lions were looking dangerous on the counter and two minutes later almost broke the deadlock. Clearing from Motherwell pressure, a brilliant reverse pass found Stephen Kelly breaking through on goal from half way. Rushing into the box, the number 10 composed himself before striking the ball to the right corner, whistling past the post and out for a goal kick.

Referee David Munro was called to the monitor 18 minutes into the first half to review a potential handball. Motherwell had driven into the box and the attempt to cross the ball in hit Michael Devlin before going out for a corner. The referee had a look and decided that the ball struck the hand of Devlin, pointing the spot, Theo Bair stepping up and slotting cooly to Shamal Georges right hand side to give the hosts the lead.

Livi looked to hit back immediately and landed a corner following a free kick that forced the Well backline to clear. The corner was sent to the middle of the goalmouth where Michael Nottingham met it with his head, however it was tame and easy for Kelly to take in.

The visitors had the ball in the back of the net on 32 minutes. A ball played to Anderson saw him and his defender get tangled in what looked like a fair tussle. This allowed Dan Mackay to run onto the ball, finding Scott Pittman who nodded beyond Kelly, however the referee then decided to award the free kick against Anderson for the earlier tussle.

Motherwell has an opportunity to double their lead six minutes to the half, a ball played to Georgie Gent was looped to the back post for Bair, the big striker’s header finding George’s hands as he couldn’t direct it on target.

On the stroke of half time, it was two nil to the hosts. Picking the ball up from about 25 yards, Nicholson put his foot through the ball, his strike kissing the underside of the bar on it’s way in to double the Well lead.

Motherwell began the second half looking to kill the game with a third, and had a combination of chances to do just that. Impressive build up play saw multiple attempts in and around the Livingston box, but a combination of poor finishing and good defending kept the score at two.

The game really fell quiet as Livi looked to pick the lock of the Motherwell defence, however on 68 minutes it was game over for Livingston. A well worked ball up the left hand side resulted in a perfectly timed cross to the waiting Bair, who doubled his tally with a well placed header into the top right corner of the net.

Livi’s day went from bad to worse on 74 minutes. A high ball down the right hand side was taken down beautifully by Stephen O’Donnell whose subsequent cross was blocked for a corner. The resultant corner found Dan Casey for a free header past George for 4-0, the goal surviving a VAR check for offside.

Three minutes later and the travelling Lions support had something to cheer about. A lovely cross from Steven Bradley found Joel Nouble at the back post, his header across goal dinking the post on the way in for a mere consolation for Livi.

Match Report: David Hastie

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