Livingston Lions march on with win over Shire

Mar 11 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

ANDY HALLIDAY and Robbie Winters shattered Shire hearts for the second game in a row as they fired Livingston seven points clear at the top of the Third Division.

The Lions’ pair bagged the goals in the league leaders’ recent 2-0 win at Ochilview in what was Livingston’s last league outing.

And they repeated the trick at Almondvale on Tuesday night by grabbing a goal in each half as the title favourites dumped the title hopefuls.

Halliday headed home the opener after 34 minutes when he planted a Johnny Brown cross into the bottom corner.

Winters then sealed the points seven minutes after the break with a superb curled finish from the edge of the box.

Livingston started well and carved open the Shire rearguard inside the opening 30 seconds but flying full-back Brown’s low cross was beaten away by Jamie Barclay.

Halliday went closer still for the league leaders on 12 minutes when he rippled the side netting with a low shot after linking up with Liam Fox.

The same player had Livingston’s next chance but with just the keeper to beat the in-demand teen side footed wide from 16 yards.

At the other end Fox had his pocket picked by Simon Lynch who forced a diving save from Roddy McKenzie. The ball cannoned back into the penalty area where Andy Rodgers was looking to pounce but Danny Griffin made a timely block.

The breakthrough arrived ten minutes before the break when Brown cut inside onto his left foot and sent a cross to the back post where Halliday headed home.

Halliday had looked the most likely to create something for the hosts and it was the second match in succession where he had bagged the opener against the Shire.

After the break Livi doubled their advantage when Winters silenced the Shire boo boys with a controlled finish from the edge of the box.

Shire were up against it now but right-back Craig Donaldson put his side into trouble with an attempted clearance which rolled across his own penalty area and Raffaele De Vita flashed a snap-shot inches wide.

Livingston were tightening their grip on the match and they should have added a third when Keaghan Jacobs was presented with a one-on-one chance with Barclay after excellent work by Winters and De Vita but he blasted his effort against the keeper’s legs.

Halliday went close ten minutes from the end after throwing his body at Winters’ cross and sub Bobby Barr was denied a first ever goal for the club by Donaldson’s goal line block before the end.

After the match East Stirlingshire assistant Davie Nicholls admitted the title looked to be Almondvale bound this season.

He said: “The best team by a mile won the game and too many of our players never showed up so Livingston thoroughly deserved it.

“I thought we were well in it at the start of the game but overall they showed a lot more composure than we did.

“I’m sure Livingston are now well on their way to winning the league.

“We will definitely keep chasing and the three of us Jim (McInally), myself and John (O’Neill) will certainly not be giving up on it and we will be emphasising to the players not to give up until the very end.

“But we didn’t do ourselves any favours in this match where we didn’t turn up.

“That’s something you can’t do against a team that’s top of the league and are full-time.”

Courier Man of the Match: Halliday

Livingston:McKenzie, Brown, Griffin, Watson, Malone, Keaghan Jacobs, Fox, Tosh (Sinclair), Halliday, Winters (Hamilton), De Vita (Barr). Subs: Devon Jacobs, McDowall.