Kenny Deuchar wows Livingston with hat-trick

Jan 20 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Just what the Doctor ordered

KENNY DEUCHAR blasted his way into the record books by grabbing a hat-trick on his Livingston debut – just 24-hours after joining the Second Division leaders.

The man known as The Doctor, for combining football with a career in medicine, helped resuscitate a struggling Lions side who were trailing East Fife 1-0 at half-time.

His second-half hat-trick not only secured a 4-2 at Bayview on Tuesday night for Gary Bollan’s side, who had Mick O’Byrne sent off with 10 minutes left, but was also the first-ever debut treble in a Livingston shirt.

Deuchar admits he’ll never forget his Livi bow – especially as he also gave away a penalty to put the Fifers 2-1 up.

“I had to get myself out of a hole a wee bit but I didn’t actually think it was a penalty,” said Deuchar (below right). “It was a bit harsh but luckily I managed to score three goals to help win the game.

“We showed a lot of character to come back from being behind twice, especially after the 3-0 defeat at Peterhead on Saturday.

“It is good to be winning games away from home and, from a personal point of view, the second half was great.

“We had a few chances in the first half and I hit the bar with a header. But we were top in the latter part of the half, so we had confidence.

“The manager had a wee go at us at half-time and it got the right reaction as we showed a lot of character, even after going down to 10 men.

“At that stage, it was 2-2 and maybe people were thinking we would do well to hold on but we kept going and got the goals.”

Having made his debut, Deuchar admits to being thrilled by the quality of his new team-mates and insists he has every confidence the side can go on to win the title.

He added: “I was impressed with the boys going forward and we made a lot of chances.

“The boys also put a couple on a plate for me; their deliveries were great.

“We are top of the league again and it is always good to have points in the bag, even although we have played a game more.

“Now we have to keep winning if we want to be there at the end of the season.”