On a wretched afternoon that was as dismal as a cold buffet at Jeremy Corbyn’s house on election night, St Mirren and Livingston served up the hearty fare of a six goal feast to warm the spirits.
Trailing 3-1 after 55 minutes, St Mirren mounted a robust rally and plundered a share of the spoils as Jon Obika’s brace hauled the hosts level
While the pitch in Paisley was perfectly playable, the swirling, gusting wind did little for the general creativity. “The conditions would get the game stopped, it was brutal and if the referee had come over to stop the game I wouldn’t have complained,” admitted the Livingston manager Gary Holt after 90 minutes characterised more by graft than craft . “We always talk about if the pitch is playable but we must look at the conditions too. It was a gale force wind and it made it a mockery at times.”
Holt’s St Mirren counterpart, Jim Goodwin, offered his own meteorological musings. Asked if he would have backed up Holt’s sentiment on the game being called off, the Irishman replied: “I wouldn’t have supported that. I’ve played in worse. In this country, if we’re going to call game off because of high winds and rain, then we’re probably not going to kick a ball.”
There was plenty of huffing and puffing in the fairly scrappy opening skirmishes but, in the grim conditions, the advances were more of the attritional variety as opposed to any forays of finesse and flair. Amid the general grit, Livingston forged ahead. Ryan Flynn’s sloppiness in a defensive area was pounced upon by Aymen Souda and the he raced in on goal and delivered a fine, low finish of total authority.
Buoyed by that breakthrough, the visitors continued to make a nuisance of themselves and Vaclav Hladky had to show his athleticism to leap to his left and parry a header from Lyndon Dykes.
St Mirren were having to work hard to gain a foothold in an uncompromising tussle and, after a purposeful little spell, they got an equaliser just after the half hour. Obika’s industry got him into a good position in the box and his cut-back was swept home by Junior Morias from a few yards.
Goodwin's men had a sprightly spring in their step as they looked to press home their new found gusto but Livingston had other ideas and put St Mirren's gas at a peep with the last act of the half. A free-kick was dinked into the box and with the defence all at sea, Guthrie gleefully headed Livingston in front again.
St Mirren’s mood was not helped when Kyle McAllister limped off after 50 minutes and not long after Livingston added to the woes when Souda latched on to a raking punt and thumped in the third. Game over? Not by a long shot.
St Mirren were back in it on the hour as Tony Andreu fizzed the ball across the face of the goal and Obika diverted it home. On 73 minutes, parity was restored as Obika looped an effort over the keeper with the aid of a deflection. “I’m delighted by the character shown by the players,” added Goodwin of his team’s admirable tenacity and resolve. “I think both sets of players deserve credit for the way then went about it in the conditions.”
Holt, meanwhile, was keen to emphasise the positives despite his team surrendering a healthy lead. “When you are 3-1 up then you should see it out but we knew they wouldn’t lie down,” he said. “It is a point gained and I said that to the boys.”
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