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The match wasn’t he best early on, in fact, it was probably one of the poorest displays from the Lions this season, and for a while, the match had a 0-0 draw written all over it. Lee Makel had the first chance of the match for Livi, but his 20 yard effort spun wide of Speroni’s goal.
Dundee looked dangerous on the break, but it was Spaniard David Fernandez who nearly caught the Dundee goalie out, when he shot from a tight angle, but his effort just cleared the bar and landed on the top of the net. A decent effort, but one that was never going to test Speroni.
Jamie McAllister was next to have a pop at the Dundee goal, and the wing-back nearly scored a carbon copy of last weeks goal against Motherwell, but McAllister saw his effort just go over Speroni’s goal.
The Lions were huffing and puffing, looking for a way to get past the Dark Blues defence, but Fernandez and Lilley were very quiet during the first 45 minutes, and the lack of service to them meant that the both sides went in level at half time.
Livingston had a glorious chance to score in the 50th minute, but Marvin Andrews, who was 33-1 to score the first goal, tamely headed the ball into the hands of Dundee goalkeeper Speroni. A decent chance, but Marvin once again failed to deliver.
Steve Lovell was booked for Dundee after a foul on Rubio on the 51st minute, the Dundee man was cautioned for persistent fouling, and to be truthful, he was lucky he wasn’t booked before now.
In the 60th minute, Steven Milne picked the ball up 20 yards from goal, on the right hand side, and the Dundee man made no mistake, calmly slotting the ball past McKenzie
The Livingston bench were as asleep as their player when the failed to act on an injury to Jamie McAllister. The defender was injured for a good four to five minutes, but despite frantic pleas from the Livi defenders, McAllister was forced to toil on with what turned out to be an injury that would see the defender taking no more part in the game.
Two minutes later, Stuart Lovell found himself unmarked in the Dundee box, but the unfit Australian didn’t have the confidence to hit the ball first time, and he hesitated, passed the ball to Burton O’Brien, but the midfielder fired the ball well over Speroni’s bar.
Despite Livingston having some chances to level the match, Dundee were growing in confidence, and Livingston were in danger of losing a break away goal.
With ten minutes to go, the Lions upped the pace, and Fernando Pasquinelli nearly scored an unlikely leveller. Fernando was crowded out in the box by the Dundee defenders, but he managed to find a yard of space, but his shot once again was fired straight at Speroni.
With 5 minutes to go, the inactive David Fernandez was replaced by Colin McMenamin.
Livingston tried their best to get into the match, but their frustration was starting to grow. Dorado went in for a challenge on Barrett, and the two players seemed to tangle, but the Livi player struck out at Barrett on the deck, he seemed to kick him, but unbelievably the referee showed leniency and showed Dorado and Barrett both a yellow card. A lucky escape for Dorado, the Livi defender should have been shown the red card.
The referee blew the full time whistle after 3 minutes of injury time, and the Livi players and supporters are still wondering how we managed to lose this match.
DUNDEE - Speroni, McDonald, Hutchinson, Mair, Mackay, Brady, Smith, Fotheringham, Lovell, Robb, Milne
SUBS - McCafferty, Kneissl, Hernandez Santos, Barrett, Jablonski
LIVINGSTON - McKenzie, Rubio, Andrews, Dorado, McNamee, Lovell, Makel, O'Brien, McAllister, Lilley, Fernandez
SUBS - Main, Pasquinelli, McMenamin, McLaughlin, Brittain
Referee: K Toner