Livingston edge seven-goal thriller with late salvage mission

Feb 3 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

BOBBY BARR climbed off the bench to score his first Livingston goal and pave the way for Keaghan Jacobs to become the Lions’ late hero against East Fife.

The winger netted an 82nd-minute leveller after being 3-2 down before Jacobs sent the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium into raptures two minutes before the end with a goal that keeps Livi top of the Second Division table.

And Barr reckons the second comeback win in succession over the Fifers proves the league leaders have the character to become league champions.

He said: “It was an exciting game but one we made hard for ourselves as we gave them goals which were cheap from our point of view. Although they were good finishes.

“The boys showed great character to get the win, which keeps us top of the league.

“Character is something this team has plenty of. Grinding our results like this is something we need to do, as it can’t be pretty every week.

“The boys were two goals down in East Fife last week and dug out a result with 10 men, so we have shown our fighting spirit already. We like to win comfortably but if we need to grind out results to win the league then so be it.

“We are winning games, which is the most important thing, especially as Ayr and Brechin keep winning every week, too.

“I was delighted to finally get my first goal. It’s well overdue but now I have it, hopefully, I can kick on and score more.

“My goal got us back in the game but Keaghan scored two today and was excellent. The win was a real team effort.”

The Lions roared out of the traps and broke the deadlock after just 38 seconds.

Iain Russell was the creator as his a burst of pace from the halfway line took him to the bye-line and he rolled the ball across the face of goal for Jacobs to fire home at the back post.

Livingston almost scored again on nine minutes when Russell raced clear again but his shot spun up off East Fife goalkeeper Michael Brown before being cleared off the line as Kenny Deuchar waited to pounce.

The league leaders were turning on the style and Liam Fox smashed an unstoppable 30-yard shot into the top corner to put the home side two to the good after only 14 minutes.

It was almost three when Joe Hamill lofted the ball over the visiting back line to send Russell in on goal again but his shot was smothered by Brown.

A rare chance for East Fife came on 26 minutes when the ball fell kindly for Steven Hislop inside the box but his shot on the turn drifted wide.

But the Fifers were handed a lifeline just before the half-hour mark when keeper Tony Bullock allowed a Bobby Linn free-kick to squirm away from his grasp and into the net.

That goal gave the visitors a fresh impetus and they began to take the game to Livingston. Former Lions striker Jim Hamilton tried his luck with a lobbed effort as East Fife threatened to completed a quick comeback.

Barr made an instant impact after being introduced as a substitute at the half-time break, carving open a chance when he burst through on the right and whipped a dangerous ball across goal which was missed by both Russell and Deuchar.

But it was East Fife who almost netted next when Linn forced a superb acrobatic save from Bullock on the hour mark with a swerving drive from just outside the area.

Jacobs went close for Livingston again after cutting infield from the left with the ball going narrowly wide.

The game then turned on 72 minutes when veteran striker Stevie Crawford fired past Bullock from 18 yards to put East Fife on level terms.

Livingston were rocked and survived a major let-off just a minute later when Hamilton had a shot cleared off the line then David Muir crashed a shot off the angle of post and crossbar before the ball was hacked out for a corner.

The danger was not over for the West Lothian club, however, as Muir hooked a volley beyond Bullock from the resulting corner to leave Livi’s grasp on the league summit slipping.

A piece of magic from Barr with eight minutes brought fresh hope to the home side. The winger jinked inside from the left before drilling a low shot under Brown.

Both sides looked for that late sucker punch in the final stages, with Linn denied by a superb Bullock save before Jacobs drove the ball past Brown from a tight angle with 88 minutes on the clock to salvage another three points for Gary Bollan’s title chasers.

“It was a game-and-a-half but one I could have done without, to be honest,” said the relieved Livingston boss.

“We started well, scored early and then, for 25 minutes, I thought we were excellent.

“But we allowed East Fife back into the game with an individual error but even then, with the chances we had, the game could have been out of sight by half-time.

“Credit to East Fife, who scored two good goals to go 3-2 up, but it wasn’t very good for me watching from the touchline.

“I’ve told the players we can’t afford to defend the way we have been and expect to win games. They can’t lose three goals and expect our strikers and midfielders to score four to win us the match.

“The boys deserve a huge amount of praise for the character they have shown, and this wasn’t the first time they’ve shown it. When the chips are down, they show they have a bit of mettle about them.”

East Fife boss John Robertson blasted his rearguard for capitulating in the final eight minutes of a match they looked on course to win.

He said: “For the punters and fans here, it was a fantastic match and it was the most topsy-turvy game I’ve been involved in for a while.

“After 10 minutes, we were 2-0 down to a Livingston team who were absolutely on fire but we managed to stay in the game and were handed a fortunate goal.

“In the second half, we were a completely different team and we did to Livingston what they did to us. We got ourselves ahead and Stevie Crawford tells me that’s the eighth time we’ve been ahead and lost the game – that just can’t continue to go on.

“If we turn four of those matches into wins and take draws from the other four then we’d be top of the league, instead of second bottom and in a relegation fight.

“As much as we are good going forward, the players at the back are not taking enough responsibility and it has to stop. It’s the same players making the same mistakes every single week.”

LIVINGSTON: Bullock, C Barr, Talbot, MacDonald (Malone), Watson, Conway (B Barr), Fox, Hamill, Keaghan Jacobs, Russell, Deuchar (Winters).

Courier Man of the Match: Keaghan Jacobs.