1. Alexander, 2. Boyle, 3. Deas, 4. McManus, 5. Watson, 6. Millar, 7. Little, 8. Sherry,
9. Robertson, 10. Fleming, 11. Bingham 12. McCormick, 14. Conway, 15. McPhee
1. Barnes, 2. Wilson, 3. Brittain, 4. Gow, 5. Jack, 6. King, 7. Harvey, 8. ,McKinnon
9. Flannery, 10. Millar 11 Grace. 12. Melvin, 14. Roberston, 15 .Wilkinson.
Dumbarton has never been a place that I have liked going to whether to watch the Lions play the Sons or their Clydebank tenants. The Dumbarton manager was quoted in the morning press as saying that the Boghead Bog could be their secret weapon.
Dumbarton were by far the better side in the first half and forced Neil Alexander to pull of two or three good saves while Livingston struggled to get going. A couple of Livingston players were clearly getting frustrated and this culminated in Jim Sherry crazily opening his mouth and receiving the Red Card for "offensive, insulting or abusive language" towards the referee Fleming from Glasgow.
Fleming was the same card happy idiot who refereed the game against Queen of the South at Palmertson earlier in the season who dismissed Craig Feroz. So the Livingston captain really should have known better.
The second half saw Frank Conway replace Ian Little and the big man made the difference and the Lions started to show their teeth. Livi still had to survive a penalty when Neil Alexander pulled down Mckinnon. The Scotland U21 keeper redeemed himself by diving to his right to save Flannery's strike from the spot.
Livingston began to dominate and deservedly took the lead when
John Millar forced home a Robertson corner. Livi should have increased their lead but Bingham and Conway both squandered good chances. Livingston were punished late on when Dumbarton made the extra man count late on when Flannery made up for his spot kick miss by scoring from a suspiciously offside position.The draw no means a Replay at Almondvale on Tuesday night (Dec 8th).
MoM:
Frank Conway: The Man of the Match award can only go to one man. Livingston looked impotent as an attacking force in the first half. The sending off of Jim Sherry forced a rethink and big Frank came on for the second half and ran the show.