Aberdeen 1-2 Livingston: Visitors win despite David Martindale absence
- Published
Livingston celebrate Nicky Devlin's opening goal
Livingston overcame the illness-enforced absence of manager David Martindale to earn an impressive Scottish Premiership win at Aberdeen.
Nicky Devlin's effort and Jason Holt's penalty were enough for Livingston, who were without Martindale after he was hospitalised with kidney stones.
Aberdeen - who are now just five points above the relegation play-off place - were already two down when Ross McCrorie was sent off, with Lewis Ferguson's penalty coming too late for the hosts to salvage a point.
Jim Goodwin's side have only won one of their last 14 league games and look to be in a three-way fight with St Mirren and St Johnstone to avoid finishing 11th.
Assistant Marvin Bartley was in charge for the club's first bottom-six fixture, albeit the former midfielder was confined to the stand as he himself is serving a touchline ban.
Bartley said he had spoken to Martindale - who is recovering well after being taken to hospital on Friday night with severe abdominal pain - on the phone a few times throughout the day.
"We spoke about the first 15 minutes and sitting in deep and not doing anything silly," the assistant manager said.
"The boys executed the game plan perfectly, we got the goal and it might have looked against the run of play but that was the plan to sit off the game. I think from there we went from strength to strength."
The opening 40 minutes were devoid of anything noteworthy bar a sprinkling of Aberdeen chances, but the last five minutes of the half were action-packed.
Max Stryjek comfortably caught a McCrorie header from a corner before the goalkeeper charged out with the ball and caught Vicente Besuijen in the face with the ball and his forearm.
Aberdeen were left perplexed as Besuijen was booked for arguing, along with Stryjek, but no penalty was awarded.
Moments later, Livingston broke the deadlock against the run of play. Odin Bailey met a Joel Nouble cross with his head but, although Joe Lewis pulled off an impressive save, Devlin reacted quickest at the back post to complete a smart finish.
Aberdeen were on top for most of the first half despite their lack of clear chances and continued this trend into the second 45.
Besuijen's attempt was well struck before left-back Jack MacKenzie's shot was saved by Stryjek as the home side huffed and puffed in their attempts to get back into the game.
Jonny Hayes' dipping effort crept narrowly over, but Goodwin's side were unable to level before Livingston extended their lead. Jack McMillan was tripped by Funso Ojo and Holt side-footed the spot-kick high into the net for his first of the season.
Aberdeen were left dismayed once again as a second yellow card was flashed at McCrorie for a lunging tackle on Holt and a late Ferguson spot-kick, after he was dragged down in the box, was too little, too late for the home side.
Man of the match - Jason Holt
A commanding midfield performance, especially when his side had their backs to the wall, with his penalty a real touch of class
What did we learn?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Christian Ramirez starting on the bench seems an odd decision after the glut of chances Aberdeen passed up.
Every time they ventured forward they looked threatening, but toothless when it mattered, and in need of their talisman to get on the end of multiple searching balls.
Livingston manager Martindale has always been adamant that his side's main objective to stay in the league and avoiding the automatic drop - as this result means they have done - is a key step towards that goal.
They are now 10 points clear of St Johnstone in 11th with four games to go, and are within touching distance of playing Premiership football next season.
What they said
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin: "I thought we were the better team and key moments have cost us. We started well and we played the majority of the opening period in the Livingston half and had one or two half-decent chances.
"We have to not feel sorry for ourselves, dust ourselves down and put it right next weekend."
Livingston assistant manager Marvin Bartley: "I think the performance for 60 minutes was fantastic. We controlled the ball.
"I thought the boys were absolutely fantastic, we had to dig in at the end and showed a bit of resilience and that's what football's about, it's not always going to go your way."
What's next?
Aberdeen host Dundee next Saturday, while Livingston are at home to Hibernian (both 15:00 BST).