Livingston slumped to a disappointing defeat at home to Partick Thistle on the final matchday of the regular Championship season. Both the Lions and the Jags will now have to navigate the playoff system to secure a return to the top flight, as Falkirk survived an early scare to lift the Championship title. Aaron Fraser reports from Almondvale:
David Martindale was confident in the eleven players who played from the off in Livingston’s last game, naming an unchanged eleven from the side that comfortably dispatched Hamilton Academical on Saturday. Brian Graham started himself up front, as Thistle’s player / captain / manager looked to fire his team into the playoffs.
The game’s first big chance arrived with only two minutes on the clock, and it was for the visitors. Thistle’s evergreen goal machine Brian Graham gave the Lions an early shot across the bows, narrowly firing over from close range after latching onto a ball into the box.Â
News from elsewhere brought the home crowd to their feet in disbelief, as already-relegated Hamilton Academical took the lead at The Falkirk Stadium. Despite the game barely being ten minutes old, as things stood at the time, Livingston were champions.
The match continued to be a cagey affair, with neither side able to enjoy much in the way of meaningful possession. Play was often broken up by niggly fouls, as both teams seemed a little on edge and hesitant to make any glaring errors in judgement.
As the first half approached its halfway point, things suddenly went from bad to worse in a hellish six minute spell for Livingston. Firstly, news filtered through from FK2 that Ethan Ross had equalised for the Bairns, putting them back on top of the table. Minutes later, Macaulay Tait deflected Kanayo Megwa’s wicked delivery into his own net, sparking scenes of jubilation in the away end.
Tait was keen to make amends, and the Hearts loanee sent a dipping half volley narrowly over the crossbar in first half stoppage time.
The second half was just as cagey as the first. Thistle were keen to hang onto their slim advantage, and resorted to time wasting in order to achieve this. Livi’s support were irate at the tactics being employed by their visitors, and hearing of Falkirk’s second and third goals did little to improve the mood from a black and gold perspective.
On sixty four minutes, Robbie Muirhead managed to beat Mitchell in the Thistle net, but saw his effort cleared off the line. Shortly afterwards, substitute Teti Yengi fired goalwards but once again Livingston were thwarted by heroic last-ditch defending from Thistle, as the men from Maryhill continued to keep their playoff dreams alive.
Stevie May, another second half substitute, looked to have rescued a point in the final minute of regular time, but an excellent stop from Mitchell kept the St Johnstone loanee at bay.
In the end, Livingston could have little complaints about losing this one. The Lions simply did not work visiting goalkeeper David Mitchell hard enough. Despite enjoying six shots on target to Thistle’s single effort, and dominating possession with an impressive 63%, Livi never really looked like scoring and in the end one shot was enough for the Jags to seal a playoff berth at the expense of Raith Rovers.
