THE statistics make for horrific reading for Aberdeen; just one win in their last nine home games.
It’s not the kind of form that will help Derek McInnes rest easily during the break for international football as he wonders how the team who blew so hot in the victorious Scottish Cup victory over Rangers at Ibrox four days earlier, could have blown so cold yesterday.
Had that tie, added to a difficult goalless draw with Celtic at Parkhead a week ago, taken too much out of the Reds?
Whatever, Livingston were rewarded for their diligence and defiance with not one of the frozen Pittodrie spectators disputing that their draw was deserved as Craig Sibbald’s strike moments before the interval grabbed a point for the visitors after the Dons had taken a 30th-minute lead through Niall McGinn.
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For Gary Holt, the Livingston manager, it was gold stars all round for his squad.
“You can’t come here and be expansive,” he said. “They’re too good. At times you could see we frustrated them.
“We stifled and frustrated them and it’s tough to play against. If you can do that for long periods, you’ll get possession of the ball.
“A lot is made of our clean-sheet record and how well we work but it’s all 11 that get it. We get the fruits of our labour by putting in a shift. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a man of the match.”
When Connor McLennan clipped in a ball to no-one in particular on the half-hour mark, it was McGinn for whom it fell nicely and the midfielder’s volley was never going to be stopped by Livi goalkeeper Liam Kelly.
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It was the Dons’ defensive failings as much as downright determination from Craig Halkett, the visitors’ centre-back, that gave them a way back into the game two minutes before the break. The defender bore in from the right following a free-kick, before battering the ball low and hard across Joe Lewis’s six-yard box where Sibbald found the final touch over the keeper’s line.
After much of the opening 45 minutes was spent trying to pierce the Lions’ defence, this was not in the script, especially as Holt’s team had not scored away from home since December 22, at Easter Road.
For Aberdeen it was a chance to establish themselves as clear contenders for a Europa League qualifying spot, ahead of Kilmarnock, who drew against Rangers.
“That’s the way it is,” McInnes said. “It’s going to be like that. We knew that with Rangers and Kilmarnock playing something had to give and we could have gained on one or both of them.
“We haven’t but we’ve come through a tough spell here. We wanted all three points and the first goal should have been enough to get that. We haven’t lost any ground but it could have been a better day for us.”
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