Livingston probably made the better start but never threatened Smith in goal. Paul Lambert is approaching retirement rapidly but he was a key player for Livi in keeping possession early on.
What a poor away support!
We almost took the lead when Foran played McDonald in but he selfishly tried to squeeze the ball in the near post when Clarkson and Fagan were well positioned in the middle. The goal was only delayed though and it was Richie Foran who opened the scoring. O’Donnell played in a great in swinging cross from the right and Foran evaded his marker to head home.
The goal gave us a boost and we began to play with more confidence. Clarkson should have made it two but shot weakly at the ‘keeper and Foran had another header wide.
The second half was a different story altogether though. We were second to every ball and Livingston played some pretty passing patterns in midfield largely unchallenged.
We had an escape when Strong headed a free kick at Smith and a glancing header from Snodgrass went just wide of the far post. We had another break when Barrett curled a right footed shot just wide and Livi hit the face of the bar with a curling free kick.
It wasn’t all Livi – we did break forward sporadically and Clarkson fed Hamilton to shoot just wide. Clarkson himself latched on to a short back header from Strong but the ‘keeper was out quickly to smother his shot.
We were sitting deeper and deeper as the seconds ticked by and yet another header flashed past the post in the last minute. We did hold on though to record a win we did not really deserve.
However, we must look to take the positives from the game. We’ve dropped points we should have had in the bag before and getting the win today was vital. Corrigan came back into the side from the bench and Jim Paterson returned too. With Rangers at Ibrox up next, a big improvement is needed though.