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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Callum Carson

Livingston secure Premiership status with victory over Hibs

Livingston secured a fifth successive Premiership campaign thanks to a 1-0 victory over Hibs at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Scott Pittman, on the day he broke the club's record for most top flight appearances, struck the decisive blow with a composed finish from just inside the box on 57 minutes.

In truth, the three points was in large part down to a complete lack of cutting edge from the visitors who were unable to muster a single shot on target despite peppering the Livi goal with nearly 20 attempts over the course of the contest.

Livingston boss David Martindale handed a debut to Russian keeper Ivan Konovalov in place of the suspended Max Stryjek, while Morgan Boyes was given his first start for the club.

There were milestones for Pittman and Nicky Devlin, too, with the former breaking the club record for Premiership appearance with his 124th top flight game for the Lions while skipper Devlin made his 100th appearance in a Livi jersey.

The Lions started brightly with Pittman neatly creating some space for himself on the edge of the box before seeing his effort blocked while Devlin's fizzing ball across the face of goal was agonisingly out of the reach of both Pittman and Odin Bailey when a touch from either would surely have resulted in the opener.

At the other end, Harry Clarke was presented with a chance at the back post but fired high and wide from a tight angle on 16 minutes.

The visitors would enjoy a prolonged spell of attacking play but struggle to breakdown the hosts with chances being restricted to long-range efforts or being crowded out in a congested penalty area. Ewan Henderson went the closest as he nicked possession off Jason Holt before charging at goal and seeing his effort deflected and loop inches over the bar.

The Hibees continued to create chances aplenty in the second half without troubling Konovalov. Joe Newell's fierce strike from the edge of the box flew narrowly over the bar as they looked to break the deadlock.

So it was very much against the run of play that Livi took a 57th minute lead. Fine play down the left flank saw Boyes feed the ball to Andrew Shinnie who in turn teed up for Pittman who slammed the ball home unmarked from 16 yards out.

The hosts went close to extending their lead less than 10 minutes later when Joel Nouble's dancing feet saw him get an angled drive on goal in a congested penalty area with Macey alert to turn the ball behind for a corner. Hibs were struggling to get back into the contest and nearly handed Livi a second when a slack pass across the backline was pounced on by Alan Forrest but the winger was unable to turn the ball home under pressure with Macey out of position.

Both Henderson and Elias Melkersen would see headers go wide of the mark for the visitors but they continued to lack a cutting edge in front of goal whenever they created opportunities which allowed Livi to see out the remaining minutes in relative ease.

Livingston: Konovalov; Devlin, Obileye, Fitzwater, Boyes; Kelly, Holt, Pittman; Bailey (Forrest 66), Nouble (Soto 90), Shinnie (Sibbald 84). Subs not used: Maley, Longridge, Montano, Lewis, McMillan, Chukwuemeka.

Goal: Pittman (57)

Hibs: Macey; McGinn, Hanlon, Stevenson (Mitchell 80); Clarke, Doyle-Hayes, Newell, Doig; Henderson; Melkersen, Scott (Jasper 61). Subs not used: Dabrowski, Mueller, Allan, McGregor, Campbell, Bushiri, Delferriere.

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