Livingston hit Stenhousemuir for four

Oct 21 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

IAIN RUSSELL netted and took home the man of the match bubbly on a day when he wasn’t even meant to be starting.

The Livingston striker was set to be named amongst the substitutes when fellow frontman Rafa De Vita failed a fitness test which handed Russell a first-team reprieve.

And he made the most of his twist of fate to help the Second Division favourites return to winning ways.

Robbie Winters, a Pat Scullion own-goal and Aaron Conway saw the hosts cruise to victory over Stenhousemuir.

Russell said: “Personally I’m enjoying being at Livingston and the team are doing well. We’ve taken 18 points from the first quarter and if you’d offered that at the start of the season then we’d have probably taken it.

“There is a bit more pressure on us because we are full-time but we’ve played every team now and there’s not been an easy game.

“It’s up to us to make our full-time status count in terms of being fitter and use it to our advantage but I think the table is going to be close all season long.

“We are delighted with the win and it’s a great three points for us after our wee break. We were knocked off the top two weeks ago so to get a win to get the confidence back is great.

“I was happy to get the goal but when I play here I know I’m going to get chances. We have some great wide men and midfielders here and with Robbie Winters and Rafa De Vita also up front I know I’m always going to get chances but I missed another couple today.

“We don’t want to dwell on the Ayr defeat as we had been unbeaten, maybe although we hadn’t played too well in some of the games, and although it was disappointing we’ve moved on. It was important to win today and we did well.

“We’ll take the positives from today but we’re still taking it one game at a time.”

Livingston created the first chance of the match after just eight minutes when Winters clipped a clever ball over the back-line for Russell but Christopher McCluskey got down well to save.

The home crowd didn’t have long to wait though for the opener as Russell and Winters combined again this time with the veteran finding space in the Stenny box to spin and roll the ball inside the far post.

It was 2-0 just nine minutes later when Bobby Barr galloped clear after neat inter-play between Winters and Russell again.

McCluskey made a good stop to deny Barr his first competitive goal for Livi but the ball cannoned off Scullion and rolled in for an own-goal.

Conway marked his first start shortly afterwards with a neat finish inside the box but Stenhousemuir pulled a goal back just before the half-hour mark with a cross-cum-shot from Willie Lyle which skipped off the turf and inside the post.

At the other end skipper Liam Fox had a pop from 20-yards well gathered by McCluskey but the keeper couldn’t do anything to stop Russell five minutes before the break as he glanced in a header from close range.

Russell fired narrowly wide after the restart as did Barr with a thunderous drive which was tipped over the bar but Stenhousemuir had a penalty appeal waved away after a tangle between Paul Watson and Grant Anderson.

Livingston manager Gary Bollan hailed his side’s performance and said: “If I’m being honest Russell was going to start the game on the bench but Rafa (De Vita) failed a fitness test this morning. Sometimes these things pay off for you and today was one of them.

“Russell got himself on the scoresheet and I think he played very well.

“You’ve got to be pleased to score four goals inside the opening half-hour of a game.

“I think we put in a thoroughly professional performance and we got the rewards at the end of the game.

“Since the last game we’ve done a lot of work as we had lost a few sloppy goals and today we scored, from our point of view, four very good goals.

“It was a must win as we have to keep the pressure on the teams around us .”

Stenhousemuir boss John Coughlin said: “Every goal was avoidable and we made some inexcusable mistakes but I’d say they were out of character for the side.

“If you looked at our defensive record before today I think we’d only lost eight goals in the first quarter which is on par with the best defensive records in the league.

“We had three strikers sitting in the stand behind me watching the game injured so we were going to struggle to score goals and if we don’t stop goals at the other end it is inevitable what is going to happen – we will lose games.

“To be fair to them they came out and tried to win the second-half and restore a bit of pride and we made some good chances.

“I also think it was a penalty kick when Anderson went down. There was no other thing it could be as he played the ball towards the goal and their player took him out. It wouldn’t have changed the game and we wouldn’t have won but it would have been nice to win that 45 minutes to give our travelling fans something to cheer about as there was precious little for them in the first-half.”

Courier Star Man: Iain Russell

Livingston: Bullock, C Barr, Malone, Watson, O’Byrne, Conway (Scougall), Fox (Kyle Jacobs), Sinclair, B Barr, Winters (McNulty), Russell.