Livingston vs St Mirren; Scottish Premiership
Livingston vs St Mirren. Scottish Premiership.
Tony Macaroni ArenaAttendance1,627.
Livingston 0-1 St Mirren: Ethan Erhahon nets winner as St Mirren extend unbeaten run
Match report as St Mirren go five games unbeaten with victory at Livingston; The victory moves Jim Goodwin's side up to seventh in the Scottish Premiership; Livingston lose for the third successive game
Saturday 2 October 2021 21:17, UK
St Mirren stretched their unbeaten run to five matches as they beat Livingston 1-0 thanks to a first-half strike from Ethan Erhahon.
The Buddies clinched their first league win of the campaign last weekend at home to Aberdeen and Erhahon’s goal at the end of a lightning counter-attack was enough to ensure Jim Goodwin's side lifted themselves up to seventh in the Premiership table.
For Livingston, a third straight loss leaves them with just their recent shock win over Celtic as their only success in the top flight.
After some tentative early exchanges, it was St Mirren who earned themselves the first meaningful sight at goal in the 15th minute.
Jamie McGrath found a pocket of space 40 yards from goal and slipped a bouncing pass through for Matt Millar to chase.
Just as it appeared the wing-back might win the foot race, home keeper Max Stryjek sped from his line to snuff out the attack at the edge of his box.
Livingston finally sparked some life into their attack six minutes later but Alan Forrest’s shot could not make it through a sea of legs in the St Mirren defence.
Midway through the half, they then carved out the game’s first real opportunity.
Jackson Longridge’s tenacity won back possession for the Lions and Stephane Omeonga burst forward before slipping a pass wide for the supporting Odin Bailey.
The winger engineered room for the shot but Jak Alnwick was equal to the effort and beat it away.
Just as the home side looked to be gaining the upper hand, St Mirren made the breakthrough.
Livingston enjoyed an attacking corner but the Buddies broke at speed and Erhahon drilled into the bottom corner from the left edge of the box after benefiting from a Marcus Fraser pass.
The Lions recovered and finished the first half the stronger of the two teams.
James Penrice combined well with Andrew Shinnie but Alnwick was equal to his eventual shot and the St Mirren keeper was untroubled by an Omeonga effort before Forrest’s drive was deflected across goal and wide.
In added time, Bailey’s deep corner was nodded back into the mix by Forrest but Ayo Obileye’s close-range volley was booted clear on the line.
Livingston began the second half as they finished the first and Longridge’s shot was deflected wide before they worked another clear sight at goal.
Forrest’s cross was deflected into the path of Bailey but the winger’s shot was deflected up off a St Mirren defender and over the crossbar.
The Lions pushed hard for an equaliser but it was St Mirren who threatened to grab the next goal.
Stryjek had to save from Millar and substitute Curtis Main before Conor McCarthy volleyed over with the goal at his mercy.
In the end, a second was not required as the visitors stood firm for another three points.
What the managers said...
Livingston boss David Martindale: "Overall, I felt we deserved more from the game. But I'm standing here talking about getting beat again.
"It's a goalkeeping mistake, Max has got to save it. End of, done.
"It's a shot from a wide area. It's not a great finish, it's not a great goal. Jim will be delighted but I'm raging.
"I don't care what anybody says, I don't think we deserved to lose that game.
"On the balance of play we deserved more from the game. The players gave it everything and they were really unlucky.
"Do I think we were the better team? Yes, I do. Do I think we had the better chances? Yes, I do."
St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin: "Some of that is down to the pitch and the way Livingston get stuck in. You need to give them credit for that but any side in the Premiership would come here and take a 1-0 win all day long.
"We would obviously have loved to have played a bit more possession-based football and try and dominate the game that way.
"But I said to the boys before a ball was kicked that I didn't care how we got the result just as long as we came away with all three points.
"Putting together back-to-back victories was the most important thing and we managed to grind out the result.
"We've now won two games back to back which is a difficult thing to do.
"We have a bit of consistency now and we have played better than we have shown. We stood up to everything Livingston had to throw at us and they will feel unlucky not to have taken a point."
