St. Johnstone vs Livingston. Scottish Premiership.
McDiarmid ParkAttendance4,274.
Match report as Livingston win 3-0 at St Johnstone thanks to goals from Odin Bailey, Bruce Anderson and Scott Pittman; result doubles Livi's league goals tally for the season and earns first league away win since February
Saturday 16 October 2021 21:00, UK
Odin Bailey, Bruce Anderson and Scott Pittman were on target as Livingston secured a first cinch Premiership away win since February with an emphatic 3-0 victory over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The Almondvale side struck twice in the first half, and were well worth their 2-0 half-time lead, before Pittman added a third midway through the second half to seal an impressive victory on the road for David Martindale's side.
Livingston got off to the perfect start when they took the lead after just three minutes as Bailey netted his first goal for the club with a venomous strike from the edge of the box.
At the other end, Liam Craig came within a whisker of restoring parity as his volley cannoned back off of the bar following a well-worked corner.
Anderson doubled the visitors' advantage on the stroke of the half-hour mark as some calamitous defending from the home side saw the ball fall into the path of the striker who finished calmly past Zander Clark.
St Johnstone came out firing in the second half and missed a golden chance to reduce the deficit as Efe Ambrose got on the end of Cammy MacPherson's corner but could only head wide of the target.
The home side continued to dominate possession without creating many clear-cut chances and Callum Davidson turned to his bench, bringing on Glenn Middleton for David Wotherspoon, hoping he would help St Johnstone find their creative spark.
However, Livingston added a third on the break after more disastrous defending from the home side as Ambrose and Michael O'Halloran ran into each other, which allowed Anderson to run onto the ball and square it to Pittman for the easiest of tap-ins from close-range.
Max Stryjek was called into action late on to deny St Johnstone any sort of consolation as he made a tremendous save to tip Chris Kane's looping header over the bar before the home side spurned another gilt-edged chance as Stryjek saved with his legs.
St Johnstone continued to pile pressure on the Livingston defence but the visitors stood firm and nearly added a fourth in a stoppage-time breakaway through substitute Alan Forrest.
Livingston boss David Martindale: "It was a good result. We knew we were away from home and what St Johnstone are all about as a team, so we came here with a slightly different game plan compared to how we'd normally approach the game, but credit to the players as they win you games of football.
"It's really difficult to win any game of football away from home outside the top four teams. It's pleasing to get a win here, score three goals and get a clean sheet because I think the last few times, we've come here it has been draws.
"I thought Max [Stryjek] was excellent and deserves a lot of credit as he had a fantastic save from a cross from St Johnstone's left-hand side.
"I think we defended well as a unit today which is pleasing and the boys can take a lot of pride from their performance."
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "Right from the start we didn't do things properly and the first three or four minutes the players did everything that we asked them not to do.
"When you go 1-0 down you're chasing the game, but when you concede goals like we have today then you're not going to win football matches.
"I've been here for 18 months and we've set high standards and one of our strengths is that we do the basics well, defend well and work hard as a team, but today we made far too many individual errors and we've given Livingston
three of the simplest goals they'll score all season.
"It's not like us, we've been really good, but today there were a couple of players who didn't perform to the level that I would have liked."
St Johnstone travel to Celtic in the Premiership next Saturday, while Livingston go to Dingwall on the same day to take on Ross County.
