Livingston hold nerve

THE Livingston Brass Band might have regaled us with regular refrains of ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’, but there were precious few paragons in maroon shirts yesterday. In slipping to their third defeat of the season against this staunch Livingston team, Alan Maybury was red-carded for violent conduct, Stephen Simmons should have earned similar punishment for lashing out at Davide Fernandez - he was merely cautioned - and even Ricardo Fuller found his name in the referee’s book for trying to con a penalty.

Hearts were awarded one in injury time, but just to compound their misery, Simmons’s powder-puff sclaff was easily stopped by Nick Culkin and he rightly hung his head. Although Fuller pressed Culkin into making a string of fine saves in the course of the afternoon, Livingston could even afford to squander a gift sparked by a mix-up in the opposing defence and still emerge victorious.

Given the significance of this encounter for both clubs, with European qualification a significant incentive, Hearts will be aghast at their indiscipline and, Fuller excepted, lack of penetration up front. Yet it was the Tynecastle men who started the brighter, and they almost went ahead in the first minute after Oscar Rubio dithered and almost allowed Fuller to dart in, until Gary Bollan sprung to the rescue with a marvellous retrieving tackle.

The hosts were surprisingly nervy in these initial exchanges, coping with the menace posed by Fuller, Gary Wales and Steve Fulton with some unease. They weren’t out of the game, by any means, and a Steve Tosh shot zipped over Roddy McKenzie’s crossbar, while Barry Wilson demanded a smart save from the keeper, but their flow and rhythm were rarely in evidence throughout a opening half-hour, and they were fortunate when Fuller missed from close range.

However, just as Hearts seemed to be establishing an ascendancy, the tussle suddenly erupted with the kind of scenes you would more normally expect at a Don King promotion. The melee started following a wild challenge by the over-zealous Maybury on Fernandez, and in the next few seconds, as the defender kicked out at his adversory, and Jim Leishman dashed furiously past the Hearts technical area and conflagration ensued, it looked as if Dougie McDonald had an impossible job in restoring order.

Maybury was quite correctly sent packing, Fernandez was subsequently booked for booting the ball away, and the game resumed, albeit not without frequently threatening to develop into some footballing equivalent of Black Hawk Down.

The Hearts manager, Craig Levein, remained admirably calm amidst this tempest, but he immediately replaced Wales with Simmons in a ploy which hinted at settling for a draw. Yet, on the stroke of the interval, the substitute nearly broke the deadlock, latching on to Fulton’s cross and heading netbound before Culkin leapt athletically to push the attempt over.

That incident might have served as a microcosm of the game, and Livingston orchestrated an even better chance a minute later with David Bingham releasing Fernandez, who fed on to Tosh, only for the latter to send his shot wide. In short, this was one of those afternoons where the scoreline at the break hardly reflected the feverish activity and unstinting commitment on display.

As you may have surmised, class was in short supply, but Fernandez oozed said quality, and one jinking burst of acceleration upon the resumption left the Hearts rearguard for dead. His example galvanised his team-mates, and as they capitalised on their extra man, it was no real surprise when Livingston grabbed the lead in the 54th minute.

The goal itself was a thing of beauty, a swift incision which sliced through Hearts like Dr Christian Barnard. Francisco Quino was the catalyst with a superb long ball, which Phillippe Brinquin volleyed on to Bingham who left McKenzie clutching at air.

A blizzard arrived to do its worst, and while Levein’s men refused to buckle, and Fuller almost equalised twice, their cause grew utterly hopeless in the 66th minute when, fittingly, Fernandez sealed the Lions’ victory with a bullet header from Brinquin’s cross. Again, the move was superbly executed, and the Edinburgh side looked understandably deflated, and had Wilson not been booked for diving in the Hearts box, when it seemed obvious he had been hauled down by McKenzie, the margin could have been more emphatic.

Livingston, thus, can surely start checking out their passports?

Taken from the Scotsman