Livingston keep top six bid alive with home victory over St Johnstone

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston kept alive their hopes of a top six finish with a return to winning ways against St Johnstone as they picked up a 2-0 victory.With Hibs having won the Edinburgh derby earlier in the day, the equation for the Tony Macaroni Arena outfit was simple - win to ensure their hopes continued into next week's final pre-split fixture away to Dundee United.

Having picked up just one win in their last seven league clashes, that felt like no easy task but they duly turned in a display more reflective of their earlier form.Cheered on by a bumper crowd thanks to over 4000 free tickets being handed out to the local community, Livi controlled the contest pretty much from the off and were rewarded with a brace of fine first-half goals.

Bruce Anderson - recalled to the team - was instrumental in both goals with his clever pass sending Joel Nouble clear to slot home the opener on 23 minutes before the striker won the free-kick just before the interval that Stephen Kelly curled into the net.It makes for a thrilling final weekend before the split with Livingston knowing only a win will do - and that must be coupled with either Hibs failing to replicate that at McDiarmid Park against St Johnstone or St Mirren losing at home to Kilmarnock.Coming off a pair of 3-0 defeats, David Martindale changed the formation back to the 4-3-3 that has been so effective at various times throughout the season and it worked a treat.Livingston started brightly and twice went close in the opening five minutes as Steven Bradley dragged wide from a wonderful Morgan Boyes pass over the top before Nouble's attempted lob over Remi Matthews moments later had the keeper at full stretch as he clawed it out of the air.Shamal George was alert on the 12-minute