Livingston hold off frantic St Johnstone fight back to jump into fourth place

14.01.2023 - 20:17 / dailyrecord.co.uk

Livingston climbed up to fourth in the Premiership table after taking full advantage of a woeful defensive display from St Johnstone - only to almost throw away a three goal advantage in Perth in a 4-2 victory.

The Lions looked likely to find the net every time they ventured forward in the opening 45 minutes with an abject Saints defence meaning they were fortunate to find themselves only three down at the break.

A near identical Stephen Kelly early double - firing the first home from distance after jinking beyond a lunging defender before wonderfully sweeping home no.2 when both he and Nicky Devlin - who set him up - were given acres of space.

James Penrice made it three just before the break when he turned home from close range after the Perth outfit failed to deal with a corner when given multiple chances to clear.

But a quick-fire double from Jamie Murphy and Connor McLennan around the midway mark of the second-half - both tapping home after Shamal George parried initial efforts - made for a nervy finish with the pressure only alleviated when Penrice smashed high into the roof of the net with nine minutes remaining to kill the game off.

Livi boss David Martindale elected to make no changes to the side that defeated Ross County in Dingwall last weekend.

Saints went into the clash on the back of four straight defeats but started brightly. Ryan McGowan's flicked effort went narrowly over the bar in the opening minutes, while Nicky Devlin was at full stretch to make a pivotal interception on the edge of his six yard box.

But such is their luck right now that Livi opened the scoring with their first chance on eight minutes. Stephen Kelly showed wonderful composure to avoid a lunging defender and switch the ball from right foot