Livingston 1-0 Motherwell: Taylor-Sinclair header sinks former club

Aaron Taylor-Sinclair scored for the second week in a row as Livingston beat Motherwell for a fifth consecutive home win in the Scottish Premiership.

The scoreline flatters Motherwell, who have their goalkeeper Mark Gillespie to thank for the game finishing just 1-0.

Stephen Robinson's side laboured and failed to create any kind of clearcut chance in the game until Peter Hartley hit a post in the final minute.

Motherwell's grip on third spot reduces to three points.

Livingston remain in fifth but are now just seven points behind the Lanarkshire side.

• Reaction & as it happened

Gillespie prevents embarrassing scoreline

Something had to give between Livingston, who had won their last five at home, and their visitors, who had won each of their last five on the road.

The early signs suggested it would be Motherwell's unbeaten run that would falter as they came under significant pressure.

Lyndon Dykes, in particular, looked in the mood to inflict some damage and he was the first of a succession of players to be frustrated by a defiant Gillespie, the keeper pushing away his low drive.

Gillespie's next stop was his best - acrobatically twisting his body in reaction to Dykes' volley from close range following good work from Ciaron Brown and Jon Guthrie in their opponents' territory.

Scott Pittman - twice - and Scott Robinson were also foiled by the Motherwell goalkeeper as the one-way traffic continued.

Motherwell could barely get out of their own half and when they did they failed to muster anything resembling a threat to Robbie McCrorie's goal.

Stephen Robinson made two changes at the break, altering his formation to a 3-5-2 in an effort to alter the balance of play, but it failed to turn the tide and eventually Livingston got the goal their pressure deserved.

Brown's long throw-in from the left was not dealt with by the Motherwell defence and found its way to Taylor-Sinclair at the back post. He headed goalwards and, though Gillespie almost kept it out, the ball bounced in off the underside of the bar. It was tough on the Motherwell keeper but entirely deserved otherwise.

Normal service was resumed shortly afterwards as Gillespie produced another wonderful reaction save to push Pittman's diving header away and keep his side in the game.

And the visitors almost snatched a point in injury time as they threatened for the first time but Peter Hartley's bouncing shot from outside the area came back off an upright.

A late let-off for Livingston, who record a fifth win in a row to move further clear of Hibernian in fifth.

Man of the match - Mark Gillespie

Strange as it may seem, the losing goalkeeper has to take the award. His heroics saved Motherwell from a trouncing and ultimately could have earned his side a point.

His contract is up in the summer and though Trevor Carson is a very able keeper, Robinson will surely be reluctant to lose a keeper of Gillespie's calibre.

'We were miles off it' - reaction

Livingston manager Gary Holt: "In my tenure here, the performances have been really good, but I think that today surpassed anything.

"When it came to quality I think we had that in abundance, and some of our play deserved more goals."

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "We didn't pass, we didn't play, but most of all we were outfought and outran. It can't keep going if we want to stay in third place."