Livingston look increasingly menacing in a title race that has already seen its share of twists and turns.
No-one relishes a trip to Dumbarton these days, but Livingston handled this admirably to move within three points of third-placed Dunfermline Athletic with a game in hand.
Two Dumbarton goals at the death gave narrowed the scoreline but Livingston were on cruise-control by that stage.
Livingston knew what to expect from this revitalised Dumbarton. The home side made their intentions clear from the start when Bryan Prunty tested Andy McNeil with a shot in the opening minute that the goalkeeper dealt with comfortably.
Jim Lister also had an early opportunity but could not catch his shot properly and McNeil was untroubled.
Prunty caught McNeil out with a cross which drifted over his head and hit the top of the crossbar as Livingston escaped again.
Livingston finally responded and highly-rated midfield player Stefan Scougall managed to get in behind the Dumbarton defence but could not direct his shot on target.
Marc McNulty followed up with a decent effort from outside the area which slipped wide of the post.
The home side did not heed the warning and Livingston took the lead shortly before half-time, with Iain Russell producing an exquisite finish to guide an angled shot past Jamie Ewings from 12 yards.
Scougall doubled Livingston's advantage early in the second half with a close-range finish after Russell had beaten the Dumbarton offside trap.
McNeil protected his side's two-goal lead when he produced an instinctive save to keep out a free-kick from Scott Agnew which was flicked on by Prunty.
Mark Gilhaney pulled back a goal for Dumbarton with a left-foot shot but it only gave them false hope.
Jordan Morton should have sealed it for Livingston when he was clean through, but Ewings managed to turn aside his shot for a corner.
Russell, with a glancing header wide of Ewings, made it 3-1 before Morton scored a wonderful fourth goal from distance.
Remarkably, Alan Lithgow headed one back in the final minute and Prunty volleyed home from 18 yards deep into injury time, but it was not enough to matter.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article