22nd January 2020 Livingston v St Johnstone

Hearts are playing Ross County tonight but I did not fancy the trip of almost 170 miles on a January night. There is a full SPL programme tonight but but no other fixtures locally. As I do not, on a matter of principle, like giving my money to Hibs I decided to head through to Livingston to watch there match against St Johnstone. I bought my ticket online for £25 but as a bit disappointed to be charged a further £1 for both buying online and then for the ticket to be sent to me electronically. Do clubs not realise that fans can make a choice to attend a match and these additional charges, while minor, can be a niggle which will prevent  people  returning. I left home at 17.55 to catch the 18.03 X27 at the West Approach Road. That was a bad idea as the bus was late and did not arrive until around 18.20. Things got worse when driver stopped at Sighthill and said he was waiting for a relief driver. After five minutes he phoned the depot and was told he had stopped at the wrong stop. He drove to the correct stop where the relief driver was waiting. At that time of the day the bus was not too busy and arrived at the Almondvale Centre in Livingston at 19.20. It is only a short walk to the stadium and I was there by  19.30. Did not buy a programme as Livingston no longer issue paper programmes although the match magazine can be downloaded from their website. However as it has seventy-two pages I would doubt that many people print a copy to keep. Once inside the ground I met Simon, and his young son, who I had worked beside some years ago. We had a catch-up chat before heading off to our allocated seats in the stand.  

Livingston had beaten Raith Rovers in the Cp on Saturday but made a few changes for tonights game. Goalkeeper Ryan Schofield, on loan from Huddersfield, had been injured in Saturday's match and was replaced by Rangers loanee Robbie McCrorie. McCrorie had been on a season long loan to Queen of the South but Rangers recalled him and then promptly loaned him out to Livingston. I think this was a bit harsh on Queens given their loan deal, albeit with a break option, covered the full season. Former Hearts player Scott Robinson started up front with Keaghan Jacobs making his three hundredth appearance for the club in midfield. St Johnstone with manager Tommy Wright in charge for his three hundredth game also field former Hearts player Jason Holt in midfield. Holt was a very promising young player and played in the Hearts side restated to the Championship in 2014. While he started in the Championship side he fell out of favour and moved on to Rangers on expiry of his Hearts contract. While he started well at Ibrox like many other players we seemed to lose his form in a blue jersey and was on loan to Fleetwood last season. On expiry of his Rangers contract he moved to St. Johnstone but I feel that he is a player who could have achieved more in his career. 

The game started slowly with defences on top and most of the play in midfield with neither goalkeeper troubled. the first major incident came in about fifteen minutes. Saints Michael O’Halloran chased a through ball into the penalty area with Livingston’s Ciaron Brown. O’Halloran went down in the box after clashing with McCrorie who had run off his goal-line to clutch the ball. O’Halloran claimed for a penalty as he felt he had been pushed into the keeper by Brown but Referee Euan Anderson waved away his claims. Thee was an amusing incident when a fan shouted at assistant referee Kylie Cockurn, after she awarded a throw-in, “ linesman you don’’t know what you are doing”. He then shouted “sorry linesperson” to which another fan respond by shouting “ Don’t be sexist she is a lineswoman”. Maybe the initial shout should just have referred to assistant referee. Just after the half hour mark Livi’s Marvin Bartley was fouled about twenty yards from goal towards the left of the penalty area. Steve Lawson took the resultant free-kick and his shot curled round the wall and hit the far post before going out of play. McCrorie then came into the action as he parried a shot from O’Halloran from about fifteen yards after a through ball from Stevie May. The ball rebounded to Holt just outside the penalty area but McCrorie recovered to hold his shot. Livi had a good chance when Brown sent a cross into the box after a long throw was cleared by the Saints defence but Jon Guthrie’s header went wide of the Saints goal from about eight yards out.

Just after the start of the second half Zander Clark in the Saints goal made an excellent save from Livi’s Scott Pittman. The keeper leaped to push the shot from just outside the penalty area onto the top of the bar and out for a corner. The first goal, and as it turned out only goal, arrived after fifty-six minutes when Livi’s Lyndon Dykes made a break down the left hand side of the penalty box. He sent a low ball across goal and Pittman at the far post, eight yards from goal, shot low into the net. Saints made a triple substitution after seventy minutes in an effort to save the game. Callum Hendry, Chris  Kane and Scott Tanser replacing Anthony Ralston, Liam Craig and May. It was disappointing to see May taken off. In his first spell with Saints he looked a very good player and scored a number of goals for the club. He moved down south with Sheffield Wednesday and Preston before returning to Scotland with Aberdeen and re-signing for Saints this season. He has had a number of injury problems and seems to have lost a bit of the sharpness he showed earlier in his career. Just after the substitution McCrorie missed a low ball across goal and the ball came to O’Halloran about twelve yards out. Brown however got back to block his shot on the goal- line. Saints had most of the possession in the remainder of the match but were unable to force an equaliser giving Livi the three points as the referee blew the final whistle.

After the game I walked back to Almondvale Centre and after a five minute wait caught a bus back to Edinburgh. I had to listen to two guys behind me discussing loudly what to do about one of them having lost his mobile phone. After a long and noisy discussion the other one managed to phone McDonalds in Livingston to find it had been left at the charging station there. They were going have to go back out to Livingston tomorrow to pick it up. Got of the bus at 22.40 at the West Approach Road and was home two minutes later.

Teams
Livingston: McCrorie, Lawson, Brown, Guthrie, McMillan, Bartley, Jacobs, Pittman, Lawless, Robinson, Dykes.
Subs: Lamie, Erskine, Crawford

St Johnstone: Clark, Ralston, Gordon, Kerr, Booth, Craig, McCann, Holt, Wright, O’Halloran, May.
Subs not used: Kane, Hendry, Tanser