LIVINGSTON and Morton served up a breathless finale in West Lothian last night but, ultimately, the real winners were in Paisley.
The Ton looked to have snatched a laudable victory against the Lions, having taken full advantage of a second-half red card to Shaun Byrne to claim a late lead through Gary Oliver.
However, David Hopkin’s side simply do not know when they are beaten and the 10-men levelled thanks to a deflected drive by Jackson Longridge, extending their fine recent sequence to seven games without defeat.
Nevertheless, they are now 10 points adrift of St Mirren and any hopes of a late title charge appear to have faded once and for all.
Livi thought they had claimed the lead midway through the first half when a low shot from the edge of the box by Jordan Thompson forced a fine low save from Derek Gaston, only for Lee Miller to tap home the rebound.
However, the celebrations were cut abruptly short by the flag of assistant referee Graeme Leslie.
Livi’s hopes of making their pressure tell were scuppered when referee Greg Aitken dismissed Byrne for a second bookable offence in the space of five minutes, having tripped Gary Harkins.
And the Ton took full advantage after 88 minutes, with Oliver reacting quickest to a loose ball inside the box and scrambling the ball beyond his former Hearts teammate Alexander from point-blank range.
However, there was more late drama to come in injury time when a speculative drive from substitute Longridge took a kind deflection and finally found a way past Gaston.
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