LIVINGSTON’S target may have been the top six this season but they all but secured the next best thing with this goalless draw at St Mirren.
The point leaves them three points clear in seventh place of Stephen Robinson’s side and with a far superior goal difference too.
It would take the mother of all collapses for David Martindale’s side not to finish the best of the rest, an impressive effort given the size of budget available to them.
“It's a remarkable achievement,” said the manager. "At the start of the season we had a huge turnaround of staff and players.
"Tenth was the objective. At one point I'd probably have taken 11th so to finish seventh having missed out on the top six with a last-minute goal means the staff and players deserve massive credit.”
It was predictably, pedestrian stuff for the most part, both teams having long since secured their Premiership status and with not a huge amount else to get in a froth about.
There were still a sprinkling of chances at both ends, however, with only poor finishing and strong goalkeeping – from St Mirren’s Jak Alnwick – keeping the scoreline blank by half-time.
Joe Shaughnessy struck the post with a header from Scott Tanser’s enticing free kick delivery, while Livingston’s Alan Forrest was twice kept out by Alnwick from close range.
The best chance of the opening period came in the final minute. Joel Nouble skipped clear of a static St Mirren backline but took forever to settle himself and failed to get a shot away, a combination of Shaughnessy and Alnwick snuffing out the danger.
It was a similar pattern after the break. St Mirren harvested plenty of possession but it was Livingston who continued to look more likely to score. The impressive Nicky Devlin had a lash on goal redirected over the crossbar by Alnwick.
At the other end, Ryan Flynn, in what was likely his final home appearance after four-and-a-half years at St Mirren, was played in by Ethan Erhahon but couldn’t thread his shot beyond Ivan Konovalov in the Livingston goal.
Jay Henderson saw an effort cleared off the line by Devlin before Odin Bailey hit the bar late on for Livingston.
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson said: “I thought we were excellent throughout. We were dominant and should have won it. We were well organised and it was another clean sheet.”
