Our reserve side were defeated by Rangers at Murray Park this afternoon after a nightmare start in which the home side scored twice in the opening three minutes.

Thereafter our performance improved considerably, but we were unable to take a share of the points that our overall performance might have merited.

Both of Rangers' early goals were in the avoidable bracket.

The first saw Kal Naismith pick up the scraps inside the penalty area after we failed to clear our lines, while the second saw Robbie Crawford take advantage of a slip from Darren Jamieson when dealing with a wayward Coll Donaldson back pass.  Crawford robbed Jamieson of the ball inside the six yard box and squared for Sandaza to tap in.

We gradually settled into our trademark passing game whilst pressing Rangers during their spells of possession, finishing the first half strongly.

Clear cut chances were thin on the ground but we got a welcome break after 35 mintues when Rangers keeper Scott Gallacher fluffed a punch under pressure from Danny Mullen, allowing Scott Wilson to reduce the deficit.

The second half saw us threaten more, with Jordan Morton hitting the Rangers crossbar with a well struck free-kick shortly after the restart.

Rangers restored their two goal advantage, however; Naismith popping up again to notch his second goal of the game with a header.

We worked hard to find a second goal, but Rangers sub keeper Blair Currie produced a fine fingertip save to stop a Mullen shot.

Later, one of his defenders came to the rescue when Liam Gray carved through the Rangers defence with a wonderful mazy run, only for Mullen's final shot to be kicked off the line.

Despite the defeat, there was plenty to admire in our performance, not least the character we showed to overcome the bad start and the manner in which we maintained possession against a quality side.

Livingston: Jamieson, Tufail, McDonald, Fordyce, Donaldson, Cummings (A Russell 54), Wilson (L Gray 60), Beaumont (Murphy 77), Mullen, Downie, Morton.  Subs not used: Lander, Hurst