Livi saw another two-goal lead slip away as they had to settle for a share of the points in a six-goal thriller with St Mirren at the Simple Digital Arena.

Aymen Souda gave the Lions an early lead before Junior Morias equalised for the hosts. Jon Guthrie and a second for Souda then seemingly put Livi in control but a double from Jonathan Obika salvaged a point for the Buddies.

Unsurprisingly, Gary Holt went with the same side that had thumped Kilmarnock 3-0 the previous week and the Lions came close to taking the lead in fortunate fashion on 11 minutes when Ricki Lamie’s clearance from the edge of his own box was caught by the wind and almost looped over Buddies keeper Vaclav Hladky but he was alert to the danger and gathered comfortably.

The breakthrough did arrive for the visitors just two minutes later when Souda gathered possession on the edge of the area and cut inside before curling a fine, low effort past Hladky into the bottom corner for his first Premiership goal. Livi almost doubled their lead seven minutes later when Aaron Taylor-Sinclair curled in a fine cross from the left hand side which was met by Lyndon Dykes but he saw his header well saved by Hladky.

Steve Lawson picked up the game’s first yellow card on 26 minutes before the home side had their first chance four minutes later when Ilkay Durmus’ low effort was comfortably saved by Matija Sarkic. The equaliser did arrive three minutes later as the ball fell kindly to Morias in the Livi box and he tapped home from close range.

It looked like the teams would go in level at the interval but the Lions had other ideas and restored their lead on the stroke of half-time when Craig Sibbald curled in a terrific free kick and Guthrie rose highest to power home the header to separate the two teams at the break.

Half-time: St Mirren 1-2 Livingston

The Lions made a change at the interval as Taylor-Sinclair made his way off to be replaced by Alan Lithgow before the hosts followed suit two minutes after the restart, former Livi man Tony Andreu coming on to replace Kyle McAllister.

Livi started the second half brightly and doubled their lead on 56 minutes when a long ball from Sarkic was flicked on by Dykes and Souda controlled the ball brilliantly before firing low into the net from the edge of the box. Frustratingly for the Lions, their lead was halved again just five minutes later when the Livi defence failed to deal with a corner and Obika was on hand to turn the ball home from close range.

Goalscorer Morias was the first Saints player carded on 61 minutes before Livi made their second change five minutes later, Keaghan Jacobs coming on for Sibbald. Jacobs’ first involvement was to be on the receiving end of a crunching challenge from Ryan Flynn on 70 minutes for which the Buddies man was cautioned.

Saints made their second change on 71 minutes as Cody Cooke replaced Scott Glover before they drew themselves three minutes with a goal that had more than a hint of fortune about it as Obika’s shot took a massive deflection that allowed it to loop over Sarkic and into the net.

Livi responded by making their final change on 77 minutes as Souda was replaced by Scott Robinson before Hladky fumbled a header from Ricki Lamie three minutes later but the home defence was able to clear.

Robinson and Dykes picked up late yellow cards for the Lions before the home side made a final change on 88 minutes as Morias was replaced by Danny Mullen. Livi forced a couple of late corners, the latter of which saw Stevie Lawless fire over from the edge of the area as the Lions were forced to settle for just a single point.

Full-time: St Mirren 3-3 Livingston

St Mirren: Hladky, Flynn, Glover (Cooke 73), McLoughlin, Waters, McAllister (Andreu 51), MacPherson, Magennis, Durmus, Morias (Mullen 89), Obika
Subs not used: Lyness, McGinn, Djorkaeff, Jamieson
Goals: Morias (33), Obika (61 & 73)

Livingston: Sarkic, Taylor-Sinclair (Lithgow 45), Sibbald (Jacobs 66), Lamie, Guthrie, Bartley, Pittman, Lawson, Lawless, Souda (Robinson 78), Dykes
Subs not used: Stewart, McMillan, Odoffin, Erskine
Goals: Souda (13 & 56), Guthrie (45)

Referee: Nick Walsh
Att: 4,344
Match Report: Andy Crawford
Photo Gallery: Rae Irvine

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