5pm

Our good recent home record came to an abrupt end this afternoon when Livingston won 2-1 at Fir Park.  To be honest, we really only have ourselves to blame as we missed several clear-cut opportunities while conceding two sloppy goals at the back.

The management team made only one change to our regular starting eleven, with Stephen Pearson replacing the suspended Keith Lasley.

The early exchanges were fairly even, although as the half went on we gradually began to take a grip of proceedings and Stuart Elliott missed a great chance, although to be fair the Livvy 'keeper pulled off a good save.  We finally got the goal we just about deserved after 38 mins, when a break forward by Elliott saw him eventually play a poor pass when we had a three against one situation.  The danger appeared to be over, but the ball landed at the feet of Yan Soloy who tried a speculative effort from around 25 yards.  It should have been a comfortable save for the Livvy 'keeper, but in true Stevie Woods style he allowed the ball to go underneath his body and into the net.  After the goal we pushed forward and had a couple of half-chances to increase our lead, but then in the last minute of the half we conceded a scrappy equaliser when the defence failed to clear a corner kick and the ball was prodded home from close range by Andrews.

Losing a goal right on the stroke of half-time might have been expected to knock the stuffing out of us, but we started the second half in confident fashion and dominated play for long periods.  We opened up the visitor's defence on several occassions, and James McFadden missed a sitter midway through the half when he had only the goalkeeper to beat.  A further good opportunity was spurned by Stevie Nicholas, who looked a bit out of his depth when he came on as a substitute for Soloy, and the 'Well fans began to fear that we would be made to pay for all these missed opportunities.  As it turned out, that's exactly what happened after 70 mins when Livvy broke upfield and a cut-back was slotted home by the unmarked Quino, with what was possibly the visitors only real chance of the second half.  'Well pushed for an equaliser but Livvy got everyone behind the ball and held out for an underserved win.

Defeat this afternoon was hard to take because we certainly didn't play all that badly, but in all honesty it didn't really matter too much as St Johnstone lost again and now seem certainties for relegation.  My main complaint is that it was obvious after around 5 mins that humping high balls up the park was not going to work as Marvin Andrews would win everything in the air, yet we persisted with this tactic for virtually the entire 90 mins.  Perhaps the main positive we can take from this game was the performance of Eric Deloumeaux who was once again outstanding at the back.  Here's hoping we can keep hold of him.

1.30am

Just in after a night at the Electric to discover that we have signed Gordon Strachan's son, Gavin, on loan from Coventry City for a month.  He's an attacking midfielder who has previously spent a period on loan with Dundee, but apart from that I don't know much about him.  Details are available from the Official Coventry City website.

Time for a new Fans' Poll....

Stevie Woods seems to be Eric Black's No 1.  Do YOU rate him???

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