Livingston 2-0 Hamilton Academical: Hosts confirm Premiership status with win

Livingston confirmed their place in next season's Scottish Premiership with victory over struggling Hamilton.

The defeat leaves Accies just four points above second-bottom St Mirren, whom they host on Saturday.

Ryan Hardie galloped away to slot home the opening goal less than a minute into the second half, after Gary Holt's men had dominated the first.

And fit-again captain Craig Halkett powered in a header with 11 minutes remaining to seal the win.

Only 1,022 fans watched the contest, and the Accies supporters have now seen their side lose two games in a row, failing to score in both.

• Reaction & as it happened

Dominant hosts find ruthless touch

The tone for the direction of pressure in this match was set within 30 seconds, as Livingston won a throw-in and Alan Lithgow launched in one of his trademark missiles. From that moment, the hosts dominated, peppering the Hamilton penalty box with crosses and carving out shooting opportunities.

Declan Gallagher had a header disallowed before Hardie twice went close. The striker had a stinging shot turned off the line by Delphin Tshiembe, then Gary Woods had to react well to save his header. But the on-loan Rangers striker's persistence paid off early in the second half, as Scott Robinson's pass set up the 22-year-old to break the deadlock.

Hardie had a dormant start to 2019 in terms of goalscoring, but in the last week has sparked into life - a penalty in the defeat by Hibernian on Friday and a lethal finish to take his tally to seven for the season.

Robinson would have doubled his assist count a few minutes later had Scott Pittman not misjudged where to place his header at the back post, then Livingston were again denied a second goal when Alex Gogic bravely dived to head away Craig Sibbald's drive.

The boot of Sibbald would soon deliver again, though, and his cross from the left gave Halkett the chance to add a ruthless finish, as the Hearts-bound club captain directed his header beyond Woods for his sixth goal of the season.

Craig Halkett, right, scored his sixth goal of the season

Holt deserves plaudits - analysis

This win for Livingston ensured any slim, slim chance of them being dragged down into the relegation play-off position were extinguished once and for all. Holt has to be applauded for the way he has guaranteed his team the chance of a second season to consolidate in the Premiership.

He will have to work hard to replace his goalscorers next season, though, with Hardie likely to be back at Rangers and Halkett having signed a pre-contract to join Hearts.

Hamilton will look behind them and be thankful bottom side Dundee and St Mirren suffered defeats, but this was a great chance for Rice's men to increase the gap between them and the basement-dwelling pair. The visit of the Paisley side on Saturday is massive.

'These lads don't know when to stop' - reaction

Livingston manager Gary Holt: "We wanted to get 40 points, we've got 41, now how many can we get? These lads don't know when to stop. They want to keep achieving.

"I'm over the moon for the lads, the work they've put in to get to that mark with six games to go. On chances alone, we thoroughly deserved the win."

Hamilton Academical head coach Brian Rice: "We shot ourselves in the foot. We beat ourselves. We stood up to Livingston's physically but two lapses in concentration by our defenders cost us the match.

"We had a frank, open chat [in the dressing room after the match]. I'm getting plenty back from the players, but it's easy to talk about things, you've got to go on the pitch and turn the words into actions."