Livingston 2 St Johnstone 0: Saints fail to ease fears of relegation following another disappointing defeat
dailyrecord.co.ukSt Johnstone failed to ease relegation fears - instead intensified them - with this latest defeat.The Perth side now sit five points off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership and just four ahead of the dreaded play-off spot.There was no denying that Livingston were deserving winners at the Tony Macaroni Arena.First half goals from Joel Nouble and Stephen Kelly had all but wrapped up victory early doors.In search of a change in fortunes, manager Callum Davidson changed up his formation and sent out a back four of Drey Wright, Ryan McGowan, Liam Gordon and Adam Montgomery.The partnership of Dan Phillips and Cammy MacPherson was reunited alongside Melker Hallberg while starting spots were offered to Connor McLennan and Jamie Murphy.A familiar face in Stevie May was deployed in the forward department.The best chances in the opening minutes, however, were at the other end when first Steven Bradley guided wide with a left-footed effort.Then a long diagonal caught out Wright but, luckily, Nouble was unable to get enough loft on his attempt over Remi Matthews.Up the other end, Murphy had shown off his ability to beat a man on 12 minutes when gliding to the byline.He lifted into the box where McLennan nodded straight at goalkeeper Shamal George.
That was as close as Saints went in the half.Any sort of positive momentum was quashed when Livingston opened the scoring with 23 minutes on the clock.It was incredibly easy for striker Bruce Anderson to receive the ball into feet, 360 turn uncontested and then slip the ball into the path of Nouble.Nouble held off slight pressure to guide beyond Matthews from just inside the box.It would get worse before the break and, on 38 minutes, Kelly whipped a lovely free-kick into the back of the
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