Livi to the four to down Diamonds

Apr 28 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON manager Gary Bollan admits he knew his side would face a tough test against the play-off chasing Diamonds but he was thrilled to see his side — bolstered by a handful of emerging teen talents — run out comfortable winners.

A quick-fire double from Iain Russell – who set a new Livingston record for most goals in a single season, beating Leigh Griffith’s previous tally – had the visitors in control but veteran stopper Paul Lovering pulled one back before the break for the hosts before Graeme Owens steered home an equaliser after the break.

But the Lions regained the lead when Raffaele De Vita fired home from a tight angle before teen sub Marc McNulty added a fourth with an exquisite lob 10 minutes from the end.

Bollan revealed his delight at seeing teen hot-shot McNulty on the scoresheet.

The Livi boss said: “We had a great start to go two goals up but we knew we were coming here for a tough game because Airdrie are still playing for something.

“To be fair to them, they got a goal back which gave them a huge lift and then they had a go at the start of the second half. But, again, you have to give credit to my boys who came back to score another two good goal.

“It was a great finish from Rafa and it was brilliant to see McNulty also get a good goal, which we hope he’ll take a lot of confidence from.

“Looking around the team, we had a young average age with a few young kids in it. That’s the way forward.”

There was an early warning for the Diamonds when Robbie Winters galloped clear and hooked the ball across goal but the covering home defence cleared.

It proved a brief respite for the hosts who fell behind less than a minute later when debutant Callum Fordyce whipped a cross in from the right which Russell rose to head into the corner for the breakthrough and also to level the Livi club record for most goals in a season.

The Lions were rampant and Russell netted again two-minutes later and made the record his own when he was put clean through by a clever lofted Winters pass. Mark Ridgers raced off his line but Russell coolly lifted the ball over the keeper and into the empty net.

There was controversy on 22 minutes when Livingston keeper Craig McDowall’s attempted clearance cannoned off the lurking Scott Morton, who coolly clipped the ball into the net but whistler Ross Dunlop cut the home support’s cheers short when he disallowed the goal for an apparent hand ball.

McDowall looked sharper moments later when he dived to his left to tip a goalbound header from Scott Gemmill away before he got down well to smother a free kick from the edge of the box.

Airdrie were enjoying their best spell of the match and they halved the deficit on 32 minutes when Lovering nodded a free kick from the right back across goal and out of McDowall’s reach.

Then they almost pulled level shortly afterwards when Jamie Stevenson produced a speculative shot from 25-yard which McDowall did well to push around the post.

Another Fordyce cross gave Russell a chance to complete his hat-trick but his flick flew narrowly wide on the stroke of half-time.

Airdrie pulled level 10 minutes into the second half when Stevenson’s left-wing burst and shot across the face of goal was turned home at close range by Owens.

Russell was denied a hat-trick again by some superb defending from Kieron Stallard. The Livi man was played clean through by Winters before skipping around Ridgers but his shot was superbly blocked on the line by Stallard.

However, from the resulting corner, Livi regained the lead when De Vita steered home a low shot at the back post.

Another Winters and Russell link-up sent the latter clear in search of his eagerly-awaited treble but Ridgers stood up well to throw a strong hand to beat away his effort.

Livingston did find the net again 10 minutes before the end when Airdrie were once again caught out by a long ball. Joe Hamill sent McNulty sprinting clear and the teenager sent an inch perfect drop shot over Ridgers to seal the points.

Airdrie boss Jimmy Boyle said: “We didn’t start well but the goals we lost were cheap and it was poor defending from us but we got back into it and I thought for the last 25 minutes of the first-half we were very good.

“I also felt we had a perfectly good goal disallowed when their goalkeeper whacked it off our player from a yard. How anyone can say Scott meant to block that with his hand, I’ve no idea. For me, it was a perfectly good goal.

“At 2-2, I thought we could have gone on and scored another but we didn’t. Livingston are a very good team and if you make mistakes, then they will punish you – and that’s what they did. They have won the league and deservedly so.

“We are only four-points behind Brechin but now East Fife have put their name in the hat. But we’ll just go on to next week and see if we can get anything from it.

“If we can, and if results go our way elsewhere, then we have East Fife here on the last day and it might come down to that.”

Courier Man of the Match: Iain Russell

Livingston: McDowall, C Barr, D Jacobs, Watson, Fordyce, Kyle Jacobs, Hamill, Sinclair, Winters (McNulty), De Vita (Keaghan Jacobs), Russell (Deuchar).