SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 4/12/13.

I feared the worst when I tuned in to the club’s website for the twitter feed and saw we were a goal down. But we’ve come back in a few games recently so not all hope was lost.

In the end I saved it for teletext after the game.

It seems Brian Prunty did his overhead kick thing again. Against one of his old clubs too! I can’t remember too many of our players finding the net against previous employers; it usually happens the other way. (Iain Russell’s a shoo-in to score against us today.)

A draw’s not too shabby out of this. I’d like to see us start picking up points at home but it seems we just play better away.

I’ve just noticed this on the BBC Scottish First Division webpage.

Raith Rovers 2-0 Livingston

Striker Iain Russell scored his seventh goal in as many games as Livingston defeated Raith Rovers.

Spot the deliberate mistake….

It’ll probably be fixed soon.*

*Edited (10/3/13) to add:- the website has the correct score now.

Scottish League Cup, Round 2, Almondvale Stadium, 28/8/12

(3-2 after extra time)

Well, this game showed we can at least live with a Div 1 side.

In fact on chances created we did well enough to win it. We hit the post twice within a second in the second half.

To begin with, though, their nippy midfield was skipping through ours as if they weren’t there. They looked confident on the ball and their passes found their men. We struggled to contain them but came onto a game as the half wore on and started to make chances. Mark Gilhaney’s long range shot was spilled by the keeper and scrambled away, Jim Lister was through and squared it to Brian Prunty but it hit off the defender’s leg. Then an inch perfect chip from Scott Agnew allowed Jim Lister in on the keeper. 0-1.

Not two minutes later we conceded a needless penalty. Nicky Devlin should have had a shout to hoof the ball but former Son Iain Russell nipped in front of him and got shoved. He converted the spot kick. Had he not, we might have won 1-0.

The game opened up a bit in the second half but Stephen Grindlay dealt with anything that came through. With more composure in front of goal, Brian Prunty shot hurriedly at one point, we could have nicked it. And Nicky Devlin’s cut in and shot that hit the post for Jim Lister to fire against the same post off the rebound maybe showed luck wasn’t with us. Scott Agnew had a couple of long range efforts, making the keeper save one of them.

Extra time (which we didn’t need with an important league game on Saturday) and the full time nature of Livingston might have made the difference. Their second looked to have been avoided by a Stephen Grindlay save but the rebound was driven past him. Even so our man on the line ought to have cleared but shinned it.

Their second was well worked and we should have been out of it. But we plugged away and finally after a good move, and two saves from their keeper off it, Mark Gilhaney slotted it in. We might have equalised from a header off a Scott Agnew free kick but it flew past.

Positives, then. 1-1 at 90 mins. (I’d have preferred a league point.) Scott Agnew showed a return to form. Jim Lister was a thorn in their defence all night – a good shout for man of the match.

The lads ought to take some confidence from this.

SFL Div 2, Almondvale Stadium,* 6/11/10

League goals for predictor:- 18.

The game was played on a pitch that in one area was very heavy – all but waterlogged – making it difficult for everyone concerned.

I said at the start we’d have to score to get a draw as Grindlay was in goal and he doesn’t keep clean sheets. We didn’t – either of them. Neither did he.

Yet to lose 2-0 to the team at the top of the division is no disgrace, I suppose. To lose 1-0 would have been better. We were on track for that and – with a bit of luck, going downhill with a following wind – might even have equalised. As soon as former Son, Iain Russell, came on as substitute for Livi, though, what then transpired was inevitable.

Believe it or not, at the time it was against the run of play. We were pressing, had been doing so relatively strongly, but a misplaced pass – the story of Dumbarton’s game actually – saw Livi break away. Russell got it out on their right and proceeded to waltz through almost our entire defence before putting it past Grindlay.

Now, I’d seen the shot coming for all the while he’d had the ball and it was never going to be swept back across goal yet somehow Grindlay was still beaten at his nearer post.

Their first was a free header from a corner. That should not happen. I was up the other end (the away fans were crammed into a small section of the South Stand) so can’t say if Grindlay should have come for it or not.

Loan signing Craig (or is it Calum?) McLeish looked impressive first half but it only took him 45 minutes to descend to our level. Young Nicky Devlin showed up brightly on the right hand side, and was good defensively too.

We’re still a poor team. A draw would have flattered us but Livi didn’t look much better – certainly not a team with almost a whole division between us and them.

There were, though, signs of improvement. We looked nothing like the desperate side that was so poor at Stenhousemuir. A bit better decision making (some decisions at all at certain times would be good) and passing to team mates instead of to the opposition and we’ll get somewhere. With Derek Carcary back we might even have a goal threat.

*Like The Rock, Almondvale Stadium has been sponsored but Almondvale’s new name is utterly ridiculous. I am not going to dignify it by mentioning it further.