Saturday 15 February 2014

Alloa Athletic
0 - 3
Livingston

HT 0-1
Mensing (20)
Scott (81)
Kn.Jacobs (86)

A wonder goal from midfielder Martin ‘Jimmy’ Scott stole the show as a ten man Livi side left Alloa with all three points.

After a football-free Saturday, the Lions were back on the road again to take on an Alloa side going through somewhat of a transitional period of late. Kyle Jacobs made his second debut for the club and with a flurry of injuries to our regular frontmen; youngster Danny Mullen was given the chance to lead the line.

Despite going into the game having not won since the middle of December, the home side were boosted with confirmation of ex-Hibs striker Derek Riordan joining the ranks and he took a place on the bench.

However, it was Livi who started the game on the front foot and Jason Talbot almost deceived ex-Livi man Craig McDowall with a goal bound cross but the ‘keeper was able to push the ball over the bar.

It wasn’t to be long before McDowall was beaten though and Talbot was again involved. His low corner found Jimmy Scott and after a bit of a stramash in the box, he was able to tee up Simon Mensing who smashed the ball home to give the Lions a 20th minute lead.

Livi continued to press in search of a second goal and Mensing came close again, this time with an overhead kick from close range but McDowall reacted quickly to save the acrobatic attempt.

Some neat link up play between Mevlja and Talbot resulted with the latter delivering a ball into the box but McDowall was quickest to react, just nicking the ball off the toe of Danny Mullen.

As the half drew to a close, Livi again came close as Scott got on the end of Keaghan Jacobs cross but he couldn’t get enough power on the ball to cause McDowall any trouble.

The second half got underway much in the same way the first half ended as Scott’s corner was met by Mevlja but he failed to keep his header down and the ball sailed over the bar.

Alloa did start to fight their way back into the game with Eddie Ferns looking the most likely to cause any danger. His cross into the box was headed over by Liam Caddis then minutes later, he came close himself after getting the better of Mampuya but he shot over from the edge of the box.

The game was then turned on its head minutes after Alloa boss Barry Smith introduced Riordan to the fray. Mensing appeared to have plenty of time on the ball but when Riordan nicked it off him, the defender had a tug at his shirt and given Riordan was clean through on goal, Mensing was shown a straight red for preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity.

This really sparked Alloa into life and had it not been for an excellent save from Jamieson, Riordan would have had a debut goal to square the game. A long punt forward was latched onto by Holmes and after he fed the ball into Riordan, the frontman spun his man and fired a powerful shot goalwards but Jamieson got down brilliantly to palm the ball away and keep the Lions ahead.

Then came the moment that has led to a LIVItv YouTube clip which has gathered close to a quarter of a million views at time of print.

McDowall fired a clearance deep into the Livi half and the ball was headed out wide to Jimmy Scott. With the ball bouncing in front of him, he strolled ten or so yards into the Alloa half and let rip with a shot that sailed the length of the half, over McDowall’s head and into the net to all but seal the victory for Livi.

This sparked wild celebrations in the Livi dugout with everyone, including Jamieson, getting involved after witnessing what will go down as one of the greatest Livi goals of all time.

You’d have forgiven the Livi players for sitting tight at that point and taking the 2-0 win but after good play down the left wing resulted in the a ball into the box for substitute Marc McNulty, he unselfishly squared the ball to Keaghan Jacobs to tap home and seal a fantastic 3-0 away win.

The win coupled with other results in the league meant the Lions jumped up to sixth place, three points behind the promotion play off places and seven ahead of the relegation play off places.

Alloa: Grindlay, McDowall, Doyle, Meggatt, Gordon, Lindsay, Simmons, Cawley, Caddis (Flannigan 55), Ferns, Holmes (Tiffoney 77), Caldwell (Riordan 56)
Subs not used:
Young, Creaney, Kirk, Bain

Livingston: Jamieson, Fordyce, Kn.Jacobs, Ky.Jacobs (Docherty 58), Mensing, Mullen (McNulty 78), Mampuya (Sives 85), O'Brien, Scott, Talbot, Mevlja
Subs not used:
Denholm, Praprotnik, Wilkie, Walker

Referee: Iain Brines

Attendance: 605

Match report: Dave Black