Livi fans keep faith as Pilgrims sent packing

Jul 23 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIFE as a Livingston fan has been as scary as a trip on the ghost train this summer with all manner of horror stories appearing from nowhere, seemingly on a daily basis writes Eric Mackinnon.

The latest chapter saw the Lions forced to play their home friendly against Plymouth Argyle away from Almondvale after the stadium’s safety certificate was annulled.

But county neighbours Bathgate Thistle came to the rescue and offered Livingston the use of their facilities so the travelling fans wouldn’t be locked out.

If the Livi players were affected by the move to the junior ground then they never let it show, as they picked up an excellent win over the English Championship side.

They sparkled in the unfamiliar setting of Creamery Park on a picture-perfect surface which allowed both teams to move the ball around with confidence.

The Pilgrims had a half-hearted penalty appeal waved away in the opening minute after Jim Paterson took a tumble.

At the other end Liam Fox curled the ball just past the top right corner after a clever back heel from David Winters. Five minutes later Andrew Halliday followed suit by narrowly driving wide after cutting inside on to his left foot.

Plymouth couldn’t keep Livingston out for long though and the Lions took the lead on 25 minutes when the impressive Fox latched on to a long punt into the inside right channel and fired the ball across the six yard box.

There were no Livi bodies in the box but Plymouth’s Hungarian stopper Krisztian Timar make a complete hash of his clearance, swinging his left foot wildly before the ball cannoned off his standing right leg and trundled into the net.

The Championship cracks almost netted an instant equaliser when Jason Puncheon found a pocket of space 20 yards out and unleashed a ferocious drive which Roddy McKenzie superbly clawed away at full stretch.

Livingston boss John Murphy resisted the temptation to make any changes at the break and he was rewarded when his side doubled their advantage four minutes after the restart.

Again Timar was in the thick of it as he blundered catastrophically to hand Livingston a second goal when he tried to dribble the ball out of defence.

Livi winger Tony McParland was having none of it and promptly robbed him, showed him a clean pair of heels then curled the ball past keeper Romain Larrieu with the outside of his foot.

Argyle tried to hit back and two minutes later came close to halving the deficit when James Mackie’s powerful drive was blocked by McKenzie before looping backwards and crashing off the crossbar.

McKenzie was proving to be on top form and deserved a clean sheet but unfortunately it wasn’t to be, as Plymouth pulled a goal back 10 minutes from the end.

As he had done in the first minute Jim Paterson embarked on a surging run into the penalty area before taking a tumble.

But unlike a similar effort in the first minute the referee ruled in his favour and pointed to the spot.

Luke Summerfield took the resulting penalty and fired it home with aplomb.

It proved to be the last action of note in an excellent night’s work for Livingston while the match also gave Murphy a final chance to have a look at trialists Stephen McKenna and Cameroonian Berlin Ndebe-Nlome before the season starts on Saturday.

After the match Argyle manager Paul Sturrock bemoaned his side’s wastefulness in front of goal.

He said: “We created an awful lot of chances, but our finishing was not too good. We didn’t hit the target often enough, and we can’t legislate for two mistakes like the ones our centre-back made and expect to win football matches.

“There’s a sharpness missing from the team at the moment, with all the work we’ve done and the boys said they were a wee bit leggy because of that.

“But as the game unfolded we got better. That shows our general fitness is in decent nick.”

Livingston: McKenzie; Talbot, McKenna, MacDonald, Malone (Ndebe-Nlome 52); Halliday, Torrance, Fox (Sinclair 75), Hamill (De Vita 82), McParland; Winters (Keaghan Jacobs, 72).

Plymouth Argyle: Larrieu; Duguid, Timar, Barker, Sawyer; Summerfield; Paterson, Clark; Puncheon (MacLean 62); Mackie (Wright-Phillips 62), Barnes (Fallon 62).