Saturday 1 February 2014

Livingston
1 - 2
Queen of the South
McNulty (40 pen)
HT 1-0
Durnan (55)
Lyle (79)

It was a third straight home defeat for the Lions as two second half goals from the visitors ensured all three points would be heading back to Palmerston.

John McGlynn named an unchanged starting select from the one that lost to Morton a fortnight ago but there were places on the bench for new signings Craig Sives and Michal Habai.

With the rain lashing down as the game got underway, both teams found it hard to get in to much of a rhythm and as a result, long range shots at goal looked to be the order of the day, Paul Burns was first to try his luck from distance but his shot flew wide of the post before Gavin Reilly worked himself some space on the right hand side of the box but his shot was easily dealt with by Jamieson.

Up the other end, Martin Scott sent a 25 yard effort well wide while Marc McNulty watched his cross-come-shot roll into the hands of Jim Atkinson as Mark Burchill prowled for scraps.

The Lions then had a great chance to break the deadlock as Burchill dispossessed Mark Durnan on the edge of the box but he over hit his pass to McNulty who, with better service, would have had a tap in from six yards.

However, McNulty wouldn’t have to wait too long to get another chance to break the deadlock, this time from 12 yards. An excellent spell of passing play sent Mampuya scurrying down the line and as Burchill leapt to meet the defenders cross, referee Greg Aitken adjudged Chris Mitchell to have pushed the striker and pointed to the spot. Up stepped McNulty and he made no mistake, slamming his penalty into the top right hand corner to give the home side the lead.

It was almost 2-0 right on the stroke of half-time as some more neat play down the right hand side ended with the ball being fed back to the edge of the box where Jason Talbot shot goal wards but his effort deflected wide.

Into the second half and Queen of the South looked a different side as they harried and chased everything, desperate to get back into the game and back into the game they got with only ten minutes of the second period played. A foul by Mampuya on Bob McHugh out on the wing gave Michael Paton the chance to whip a free-kick into the box and his ball was met by Mark Durnan who headed past Jamieson to level the game.

Queens further stepped up their game after getting level and both Ian McShane and Daniel Carmichael sent shots just past Jamieson’s post.

With ten minutes of the game remaining, Queens found their second goal. A long ball forward from Durnan found McHugh who looked to be in an offside position. With the Livi backline appealing to the linesman for a flag, McHugh ‘played to the whistle’ and continued forward with the ball. Despite Jamieson doing well to thwart McHugh, the ball deflected back to Derek Lyle who fired the ball past Fordyce and Mampuya on the line to give the Dumfries side the lead.

The home side did have one last half chance to try and draw level as Andy Barrowman met Danny Denholm’s corner but the big forward could only send his header wide.

The poor home form continues but with our next three games being on the road, the Lions will be looking to get back in the play-off race, starting with Dumbarton on Wednesday night.

Livingston: Jamieson, Mampuya, Mensing, Fordyce, Talbot, Scott (Habai 79), Kn.Jacobs, O'Brien, Docherty (Denholm 65), McNulty, Burchill (Barrowman 65)
Subs not used:
Walker, Mullen, Sives, Propratnik

QoS: Atkinson, Mitchell, Holt, McKenna, Durnan, Downie, Reilly (Lyle 62), Burns, McHugh, Paton (Carmichael 67), McEwan
Subs not used:
Antell, Dzierzawski, Slattery, Hooper, Smith

Referee: Greg Aitken

Attendance: 1041

Match report: Dave Black