Last gasp Liam Fox leveller secures point for Livingston

Jan 28 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIAM FOX slammed home a sensational stoppage-time leveller to shatter Stranraer and put to bed his midweek penalty nightmare.

The Lions skipper smashed home from 12 yards in the fourth minute of added time to earn a point in a dramatic match at Stair Park, just days after his costly spot-kick miss in the Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Dundee.

Fox, who had trouble sleeping in the days following the cup defeat by the First Division leaders, admitted his timely injury-time equaliser on Saturday helped heal the pain of his penalty miss.

He said: “I was pretty gutted after missing the penalty on Wednesday night and I felt like I let the boys down.

“So I had sleepless nights on Wednesday and Thursday, but far better players than me have missed penalties.

“We conceded a sloppy goal against Stranraer but then we put them under a lot of pressure and we were knocking at the door for a long time.

“The boys deserve credit for going right to the very end and we managed to get an equaliser, which we deserved

“I thought maybe it wasn’t going to be our day but we’ve got belief in our dressing room and a good team spirit. We felt, if we kept knocking on the door, we’d eventually get one and that is how it turned out.

“In any league, I think the sign of a good team is picking up points when you maybe aren’t playing well and things aren’t going for you.”

Kevin Nicoll grabbed the opener for the home side after just 12 minutes when his near-post header squeezed past the diving Roddy McKenzie.

Andy Halliday forced the first save of the match from Blues keeper David Mitchell, who pushed his low drive past the post. Keaghan Jacobs’ long-range drive was also saved by the Stranraer No 1.

A minute before the break, the home side had a chance to double their advantage when Michael Moore was gifted a free header eight yards out but his effort was straight at McKenzie.

Stranraer created the first chance of the second half when an long ball from Moore released Scott Agnew, but the on-loan Ayr United winger dragged his volley the wrong side of the post.

Livi threatened when Fox rippled the side netting with a shot from the edge of the box, while a snapshot from teen star Halliday 10 minutes from the end was saved by Mitchell before squirming out of the keeper’s arms and almost falling to Robbie Winters.

Mitchell was called into action again when he had to palm over a looping Winters drive which had spun off defender Murray Henderson.

From the resulting corner, Livingston were caught short at the back and a long ball picked out Armand One, who spotted McKenzie well off his line.

The ex-Livi striker chose to try and beat his former team-mate from almost the halfway line but his effort whizzed narrowly wide.

Substitute Raffaele De Vita then had a drive deflected in to the arms of the keeper, while Fox’s powerful shot on goal was too straight to trouble Mitchell.

Livi were throwing everything at the Blues and even keeper McKenzie joined the attack in the closing moments, popping up on the right wing to whip a cross in.

It looked as if Stranraer had done enough to hang on for the win until the fourth minute of injury time. Fox found a pocket of space to drive into and he smashed the ball beyond Mitchell from 12 yards for a dramatic leveller.

The final whistle sparked a furious reaction from the home team towards referee Thomas Robertson, resulting in the Blues’ Romauld Bouadji, who had earlier been substituted, seeing red.

Seething Stranraer manager Keith Knox bemoaned the amount of time added on.

He said: “The referee said there would be three minutes of injury time, but he played five. Where he got those extra two minutes from we’ll never know but it is so frustrating for the players after the effort they put into the game.”

Courier Man of the Match: Cammy MacDonald.

Livingston: McKenzie, Kyle Jacobs (De Vita), MacDonald, Watson, Talbot, Fox, Barr, Hamill, Keaghan Jacobs, Winters, Halliday. Subs not used: McDowall, Griffin, Sinclair, McNulty.