Fantastic Mr Fox rescues Livingston home record

Sep 17 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON rescued their 100-per-cent home record this week with a last-gasp penalty from skipper Liam Fox.

It looked as if the Lions would have to settle for point after visitors Elgin City clawed their way back from two goals down to draw level with just eight minutes on the clock.

Italian hitman Raffaelle De Vita had given Livingston a first-half lead with a stunning overhead kick and despite Fox adding a second, the hosts were pegged back by the visitors in the closing stages following goals from Jason Crooks and Kyle McAulay.

But the West Lothian side took all three points in the final minute after referee Stephen Finnie awarded a controversial spot-kick which was stroked home by Fox.

After two successive Third Division defeats on the road, Livingston were desperate to get back to winning ways and they almost had the perfect start when on-loan Hearts kid Stephen Husband crashed a header off the Elgin post.

It was the first of three times in a dominant first-half in which the Lions would rattle the woodwork.

The road incident on the M8 which forced the postponement of two games on the Scottish football card also robbed the hosts of the services of three regulars, Andy Halliday, Joe Hamill and Tony McParland.

But their absence handed boss Gary Bollan the chance to cast his eye over some of the other talent in his squad and teenager Keaghan Jacobs looked hungry to impress as he sent a swerving drive just wide from the edge of the area.

On 15 minutes, Livi should have taken the lead when right-back Johnny Brown found himself in acres of space but he smacked the ball off the crossbar from 12 yards.

However, just 12 minutes later, De Vita showed the youngster the way to goal when he acrobatically hooked the ball over his shoulder and inside the post to spectacularly convert Robbie Winters’ cross.

It was all one-way traffic and left-back Jason Talbot almost bettered team-mate De Vita’s glorious opener with a dipping effort from 22 yards which rattled John Gibson’s crossbar for the third time.

Elgin should have been level before the break when sub Paul Edwards capitalised on a Paul Watson slip.

With Lions keeper Roddy McKenzie off his line, all the Elgin sub had to do was roll the ball past the covering Brown, but he dragged his shot well wide.

At the other end, Robbie Winters almost bagged his first Livingston goal after latching onto a De Vita flick and firing a half-volley from 20 yards which was pushed around the post.

Livi doubled their lead 14 minutes after the break when skipper Fox was sent in on goal by David Winters and slid the ball past Gibson.

Robbie Winters had a chance to kill the visitors off after bursting clear of the defence but Gibson made the save.

It was a miss which threatened to come back to haunt the former Scotland international when Crooks halved the deficit with a goal for Elgin after hesitation in the Livi rearguard 16 minutes from time.

The goal gave the visitors a glimmer of hope and they completed a remarkable turnaround eight minutes from the end when they grabbed an unlikely equaliser.

Fox lost possession 25 yards from his own goal to Craig Frizzell, who threaded the ball through to McAulay and he slipped the ball between McKenzie’s legs for the leveller.

Time was against the hosts, who threw the shackles off and went for the win. Winters came agonisingly close to grabbing the winner on 87 minutes when he flicked the ball over Gibson and knocked it goalwards but Elgin’s Mark Nicolson hacked it off the line.

The resulting corner was met by the head of Watson but his goal-bound effort was, again, cleared off the line.

But Livingston couldn’t be denied when Winters’ attempted overhead kick struck David Craig’s hand and the ref pointed to the spot.

Fox accepted responsibility stroked the ball into the top corner to clinch the win.

Livi Gary Bollan said afterwards: “I’m pleased with the result and that we scored three goals, but I’m also disappointed with the goals we lost.

“But credit to Elgin for the way they fought back into the match and credit to our boys for never giving up.

Elgin manager Ross Jack said: “It is hard to take a defeat with a sucker-punch like that. There weren’t many people out there who thought that was a penalty kick.”

LIVINGSTON: McKenzie, Brown, Talbot, Husband (Kyle Jacobs), Moyes (Macdonald), Watson, Fox, Keaghan Jacobs, D Winters (Sinclair), R Winters, De Vita. Subs : Griffin, McDowall.