Jim Hamilton makes second debut for Livingston in home win over Queen’s Park

Feb 4 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

JIM HAMILTON made his debut — second time around — for Livingston on Tuesday night as the Lions cruised three points clear at the top of the Third Division table following a 2-0 win over Queen’s Park.

The veteran striker, who returned to the club last week after leaving Partick Thistle, was handed a starting berth alongside Robbie Winters by boss Gary Bollan.

And it was his strike partner who proved the difference on the night creating both of Livingston’s goals in their second home win in a row.

But Winters’ performance came as no surprise to Hamilton who was his a strike-partner at Aberdeen a few years ago.

Hamilton said: “I played alongside Robbie Winters with Aberdeen before so we know each others game well.

“Hopefully that will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season and we can create chances for other players and score goals ourselves.

“It’s great to be back at Livingston and be back playing as I didn’t have the best of times at Partick playing wise.

“I hadn’t played for a wee while so it was good to get 60 minutes under my belt and I was quite surprised I lasted that long.

“We had a great start to the game and the two early goals settled us down but it was really hard going with the state of the park.

“It is a great set-up at Livingston and I’m delighted to be back here.

“The boys have done really well in the first-half of the season to get to the top of the league but we’re only taking it one game at a time and although it’d be nice to win the league we are not thinking about that at the moment.”

Winters rolled back the years to produce a vintage display on an Almondvale surface which cut up badly.

It took Livingston just seven minutes to take the lead after David Sinclair’s long ball sent Winters clean through on goal.

The 35-year-old striker showed a cool head to skip round keeper Peter Hamilton in the box before pulling the ball back into the path of the arriving Liam Fox who fired into the bottom corner from 10 yards.

Five minutes later it was 2-0 with Queen’s Park being caught out trying to play the offside trap.

Winters was again the architect this time threading the ball through to Andy Halliday who had acres of space to stride into before lashing home past the exposed Hamilton.

The visiting defence were all at sea with Winters causing chaos and another superb pass sent Halliday clean through again.

This time the winger shaped to shoot before cutting the ball across the face of goal where it was knocked inches past his own post by Queens left-back Barry Douglas.

From the resulting corner Keaghan Jacobs’ thunderbolt was parried over the top as the Lions turned the screw.

After the break Jacobs crashed an effort from 18 yards off the post while for Queen’s Martin McBride fired a shot straight at Roddy McKenzie.

Livi struck the woodwork again on 65 minutes with a curling free kick from Halliday which bounced off the top of the crossbar.

The one real moment of concern for the home bench came after 72 minutes when Halliday was sent flying off the park and into the wall and advertising boards on the touchline following a push in the back from McBride.

But to the relief of the home crowd he limped gingerly back onto the field a few minutes later.

Home sub Marc McNulty should have added a third nine minutes from time after squeezing through on goal but Hamilton came off his line to save well with his feet.

Hamilton was again called into action on 86 minutes when he tipped a vicious drive from Jason Talbot onto the crossbar.

Queen’s Park manager Gardner Speirs said: “We were well beaten and I’ve no complaints.

“Livingston started really well and during the first fifteen minutes we were poor.

“They were bad goals for us to lose defensively and we looked a wee bit nervy at times.

“We improved a bit in the second-half but we never really troubled their goalkeeper.

“The experience of Robbie Winters and Jim Hamilton will be important for Livingston and they were too good for us in the first 15 minutes of the match.

“We kept trying passes which probably weren’t on and we picked the wrong option too many times.”

Courier Man of the Match: Robbie Winters

Livingston: McKenzie, Brown, Talbot, D Sinclair, Watson, MacDonald, Fox (Barr), Keaghan Jacobs, J Hamilton (McNulty), Winters (Tosh), Halliday. Subs: Griffin, McDowall.