Livingston could be forgiven for thinking they have one foot in the final of the William Hill Premiership Play-offs, following a wonderful 2-0 win at Firhill against Partick Thistle. Goals from Scott Pittman and Danny Wilson means the Lions look very comfortable going into the second leg, however should be warned against complacency against a usually clinical Partick side. 

Lions manager David Martindale named an unchanged team from the previous match, a 1-0 defeat to tonight’s hosts, with Player of the Year winner Robbie Muirhead heading up a front three, with Young Player of the Year Macaulay Tait in midfield.

Livingston were on the front foot early and a combination of saves and blocks prevented the Lions from the taking the lead on three minutes. A cross from Lewis Smith on the right was cleared to the edge of the box where Stephen Kelly was waiting, his shot was saved and fell to Cristian Montano, his first attempt also saved before landing back at his feet, the second effort cleared by a Thistle header to Scott Pittman, his attempt also blocked and out for a Livi throw.

The early flurry settled into a tense stalemate, with neither team wanting to give an inch, although the visitors were seeing more of the ball and playing nice football on a revitalised Firhill surface. Thistle had gllimpses to show their danger on the counter attack though, with comfortable Livingston defending stopping any real chances from taking place.

Centurian goal scorer Brian Graham squandered a huge chance for the Jags just before the half hour mark. Some tidy play down the left hand side saw Aidan Fitzpatrick square the ball across the Livi goal, and rather than taking the simple tap in, opted for a back heel flick which he got all wrong and the ball rolled harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Thistle were growing into the game and more importantly, getting the home crowd behind them. A long ball up the park was taken well by Fitzpatrick who skipped past Jamie Brandon before knocking the ball back to Graham. He in turn played through former Lion Robbie Crawford, who zipped a shot across the face of Jerome Prior flashing past the back post and out.

Livi were quick to reply and Pittman with space in the Jags half worked a great ball to Montano. His cross was too high for Muirhead and too far away for Stephen Kelly though, with the effort going out for a Partick throw.

Five minutes to half time, and Livingston took the lead. Robbie Fraser took the ball well on the left wing, seemingly in miles of space, before picking out record appearance holder Pittman who made no mistake from close range to fire the Lions ahead.

It was almost two minutes later. A poor attempt to play the ball back to keeper David Mitchell was seized on by Montano, however he couldn’t guide his effort over the rushing Thistle stopper who managed to block the ball into the path of Stephen Kelly who sent the ball goalwards but was cleared off the line. More importantly though, it was the Lions who took the lead in at half time.

The second half the Lions with an attempt within a minute of the restart. A great cross from the right found Montano in the Thistle box but his header lacked conviction and was easily saved by Mitchell.

Danny Wilson was next to get in on the action and almost scored from the spectacular. A Muirhead freekick from about 30 yards out was floated to Ryan McGowan, who nodded towards Wilson, his overhead kick rippling the top of the net.

And seven minutes after the break, the Lions doubled their lead. A free kick from Kelly on the right side bounced around the box, landing at the feet of the aforementioned Wilson who opted for the more traditional smash into the roof of the net, crashing off the crossbar on the way in to silence the home fans.

From there, it was all Livi, and it could have been three minutes later. Kelly again did well to find space on the byline picking out Lewis Smith who rather than being selfish squared to Pittman, whose effort was saved well by Mitchell.

Partick weren’t quite out of it yet, and had a chance to half the deficit on the hour mark a corner finding Graham at the near post, his effort over the bar.

Kelly went close to getting on the scoresheet himself on 75 minutes, with a quick freekick allowing Pittman to move the ball forward to Tete Yengi on the right wing. With Dan Finlayson on the overlap, the Aussie found the right back as he hit the byline, his cut back finding Kelly, but his effort screwed over the bar.

Thistle were unlucky not to score with around 7 minutes left on the clock, a superb run by Lee Ashcroft went unchallenged, allowing him to rip a fierce shot which flew past Prior, rattling the crossbar and over.

Into extra time Thistle had their best chance of the game. An incredible low cross from Logan Chalmers evaded the Lions backline, and the Jags were lining up to tap the ball home. It fell to their manager, captain and top scorer Graham, but he lost all composure and fired the ball clean over the bar, sending the Lions back East along the M8 with a very comfortable lead going into Friday’s second leg at the Home of the Set Fare Arena.

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