Livingston 1 Queen’s Park 1

The Spiders came into the game making three changes from the midweek win at Cappielow against Morton with Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia coming in for Ryan Duncan, Seb Drozd replacing Jack Turner, and Liam McLeish making way for Jack Thomson who had his first start since Aberdeen away in the Premier Sports Cup.

Early on Queen’s keeper Calum Ferrie was forced into a good save as Stevie May’s volley resulted in a Livi corner, which was headed away.

Drozd got the break of the ball on 13 minutes, but his strike didn’t trouble the Lions’ goal. Queen’s kept the pressure on down the left side, with MacGregor’s cross blocked for a corner, and Kerr’s resulting header fell wide of the target.

Hickey-Fugaccia, then latched onto a poor touch from Shinnie and drove towards the home goal, however his shot went by the left-hand post.

Livingston looked to keep the ball and build something for themselves, with a half chance created, as Muirhead, Clarke, and Yengi worked the ball down the side but the cross was cleared by the Queen’s defence.

Livi looked to counter swiftly as the Lions won a corner when Muirhead drove at the defence, however the resulting corner was headed away.

Drozd did well to find Hickey-Fugaccia with a long ball and the youngster cut in and had Queen’s first shot on target. Unfortunately for the Spiders his drive was comfortably saved by Livi keeper Prior.

Fieldson ran forward on 27 minutes as the Spiders looked to have a man over, he squared it to Hickey-Fugaccia, but his right-footed shot went well over the bar.

Former Spider Danny Wilson had to be replaced after 32 minutes and was replaced by Michael Nottingham. Livingston got the ball in the box from the resulting free kick and Yengi forced Ferrie to a good save low to his left.

Stevie May carved out a golden chance for Livingston on 37 minutes, as he outmuscled Tizzard and ran clear on goal however his effort across goal failed to hit the target.

May looked to be the orchestrator for Livingston as his tenacious running led to a good spell of possession for the home side resulting in a shot at goal from Kelly, which Ferrie gathered.

A mixture of good fortune and skill from Drozd at the byline won Queen’s Park a corner in the closing stages of the half, however the pressure came to nothing and the half ended goalless.

Half-time: Livingston 0-0 Queen’s Park

The game then burst into life as the first goal was scored by the hosts after 50 minutes. A ball in from the Livingston left-hand side made for a simple tap-in for the ever-lively STEVIE MAY to put Livingston ahead. That seemed to spark the home side into life as they kept the pressure on. A cross found the head of Yengi, his effort hit the crossbar, and his rebound was blocked well by Kerr, denying a certain second.

A neat ball through by Livingston saw a race to the ball between Muirhead and Ferrie and the advancing goalkeeper rushed to the feet of the attacker, his clearance up the park found Thomson who did well to play through SEB DROZD who ran in behind and cooly slotted past the keeper, as Queen’s drew level on 59 minutes.

Roddy MacGregor was dismissed after 63 minutes for a high challenge on Jamie Brandon, after which Livingston looked to press home the man advantage.

The Spiders made a double change to combat the loss of MacGregor as Seb Drozd and Rocco Hickey-Fuggacia made way for Louis Longridge and Ryan Duncan.

Dane Murray had the ball in the net as substitute Duncan put a free kick into the box however, the centre-back was flagged for offside.

Livingston created a chance as May rushed down the line to place a cross into the box with Yengi waiting in the middle. Thankfully for Queen’s his attempt on goal went well over the bar – his blushes were somewhat spared as the flag was raised for offside.

Jack Thomson’s first start in over two months came to an end after 74 minutes as he was replaced by Jack Turner.

Some individual skill from Livi’s Liam Sole on 75 minutes spelled danger as the winger created a yard of space but his low effort only hit the side netting.

Some strong sustained pressure from the hosts resulted in Zak Rudden working back well to make a big clearance and offer some respite to the visiting defence.

The home fans got restless as the game seemed to slip away from them, as the Spiders stayed disciplined in their shape, the resulting frustration was evident as Shinnie was booked for a strong tackle on Welsh on the 86th minute.

Dane Murray intercepted a pass and played it onto Duncan who chopped back onto his right and played a cross over to Rudden, but the forward couldn’t keep his effort down and blazed over.

Livingston kept pushing and won a corner that was swung in and won by Nottingham, however his header was kept out well by Ferrie.

The full time whistle blew and Queen’s headed home for West Lothian with a hard earned point.

Full-time: Livingston 1-1 Queen’s Park

Livingston: Jérôme Prior; Matthew Clarke, Ryan McGowan, Scott Pittman, Tete Yengi, (Smith ‘88) Stephen Kelly, Jamie Brandon ©, Stevie May (Winter 88), Andy Shinnie, (McAlear ’87) Robbie Muirhead, (Sole ’61) Danny Wilson. (Nottingham ‘32)
Unused subs: Pitagula (GK), Green, Finlayson, Lawal.

Queen’s Park: Calum Ferrie ©, Sean Welsh, Jack Thomson, (Turner ’74) Roddy MacGregor, (Sent off ’61) Will Tizzard, Zak Rudden, Seb Drozd (Duncan ’69) Dane Murray, Cammy Kerr, Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, (Longridge ’69) Henry Fieldson.
Unused subs: Willis (GK) Mauchin, Scott, McLeish, Hinds, Evans

Referee: Duncan Nicolson