St Johnstone 0-3 Livingston: Clinical display gives Livi crucial win

Odin Bailey, Bruce Anderson and Scott Pittman were on target as Livingston secured a first cinch Premiership away win since February with an emphatic 3-0 victory over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

The Almondvale side struck twice in the first half, and were well worth their 2-0 half-time lead, before Pittman added a third midway through the second half to seal an impressive victory on the road for David Martindale’s side.

Livingston got off to the perfect start when they took the lead after just three minutes as Bailey netted his first goal for the club with a venomous strike from the edge of the box.

At the other end, Liam Craig came within a whisker of restoring parity as his volley cannoned back off of the bar following a well-worked corner.

Anderson doubled the visitors’ advantage on the stroke of the half hour mark as some calamitous defending from the home side saw the ball fall into the path of the striker who finished calmly past Zander Clark.

St Johnstone came out firing in the second half and missed a golden chance to reduce the deficit as Efe Ambrose got on the end of Cammy MacPherson’s corner but could only head wide of the target.

The home side continued to dominate possession without creating many clear-cut chances and Callum Davidson turned to his bench, bringing on Glenn Middleton for David Wotherspoon, hoping he would help St Johnstone find their creative spark.

However, Livingston added a third on the break after more disastrous defending from the home side as Ambrose and Michael O’Halloran ran into each other, which allowed Anderson to run onto the ball and square it to Pittman for the easiest of tap-ins from close-range.

Max Stryjek was called into action late on to deny St Johnstone any sort of consolation as he made a tremendous save to tip Chris Kane’s looping header over the bar before the home side spurned another gilt-edged chance as Stryjek saved with his legs.

St Johnstone continued to pile pressure on the Livingston defence but the visitors stood firm and nearly added a fourth in a stoppage-time breakaway through substitute Alan Forrest.