Livi relent on boycott and Shire take advantage

Oct 8 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON had the weekend off due to Annan Athletic, their scheduled opponents, being involved in the Alba Challenge Cup.

And it is probably just as well as it gave boss Gary Bollan the chance to plot a return to winning ways for the Lions after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at Ochilview last Wednesday (September 30) to East Stirling.

The game had been due to be played way back on August 8, but the Lions had boycotted that match in protest at being relegated the Third Division.

The club are still under threat of a points deduction for this action while East Stirling were also threatened with a points deduction if they carried out their own threat to boycott the rearranged game.

In the end the Shire ran out victors to move up to second place in a match in which they will feel justice was done.

Stephen McGuire gave the hosts a 19th-minute lead when he steered home from close range after Livi keeper Roddy McKenzie could only parry an Andy Rodgers volley into his path.

The same player then doubled his tally when he rose highest to flick a header past McKenzie from a Dean Richardson corner. Livi halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time when Robbie Winters outstripped the home defence to grab his second goal in as many games.

After the break it was all Livingston, pushing hard for an equaliser. The impressive Raffaele De Vita fizzed a free-kick across goal only to see the unmarked Paul Watson fail to find the target with a free header.

Left-back Jason Talbot almost caught Shire keeper Barclay out with a cross cum shot, David Winters elected to pass while a shot looked the better option, and a De Vita header across goal had the Shire defence panicking but there was no takers.

And Livingston were made to pay for not capitalising on their dominance as they fell 3-1 behind when David Dunn’s lofted ball was headed home by Simon Lynch — ironically a Livi trialist in the summer.

Livingston: McKenzie, Malone, Moyes, Watson, Talbot, McParland (Husband), Sinclair, Keaghan Jacobs, Fox, R Winters (D Winters), De Vita. Subs not used: McDowall, Griffin, Kyle Jacobs.