IRN BRU Scottish Football League
Division Three
Saturday 15th August 2009
Livingston 2 Montrose 0

In a week of ‘will they won't they’ worthy of an American teen melodrama, Montrose finally got the nod that Livingston wanted a date on Saturday afternoon at 3.00pm but the end of the date would be non-committal for Livingston. However, Livingston did have a soundtrack of, Still Standing by Elton John & The Only Way Is Up by Yazz, blasting through the tannoy while they were getting ready for the match.
After more than 24 hours of torrential rain, the pitch conditions would eventually leave a mark on the game, as both sets of players at times struggled at times with the conditions.
Montrose took to the pitch in the all-new blue home kit, lining up 4-4-2, with one change to the line-up that started the previous match, with Aaron Sinclair replacing the injured Gordon Pope, with Herd taking Sinclair’s place on the bench.
In the third minute of the match, Hegarty took full advantage of the conditions, executing an exquisite sliding tackle to remove the ball from Livingston’s’ Halliday’s feet. From the throw-in, Crighton then conceded a corner after good work down the right by One. From the corner Livingston’s number 6 snatched at a shot seeing it go over the bar.
Moments later Montrose were on the counter as they cleared the ball, culminating in Voigt latching onto a through ball from Nicol, seeing his shot win a corner after being parried by the Livingston keeper in the wet conditions.
Fleming took the corner from the left, with the ball cleared to Hegarty outside the box whose shot found no Montrose takers.
Montrose were then caught flat-footed by a run down the left by the dangerous Halliday, whose cross was met by the man-mountain that is One who shot wide past Coutts in the Montrose goal.
In the 9th minute Maitland was fouled by Livingston’s Watson. Hegarty stepped up to take the free-kick and after the ball bobbled in the box was cleared back out to Hegarty who shot wide without threatening the Livingston keeper.
Minutes later as Livingston attacked Campbell then conceded a free-kick 25yards from the Montrose goal, with Livingston winning a corner from McParland’s deflected shot off Maitland.
The corner was cleared only as far as the busy McParland, who shot wide. Nicol was then fouled on the 14th minute and from the free-kick taken by Hegarty, Tweed narrowly missed the ball at the back post.
In the 18th minute, following a period of sustained pressure (coupled with a downpour) Montrose conceded the opening goal having failed to heed the previous work down the left by ANDREW HALLIDAY who cut in from the left with a one-two with Armand One before dispatching a fine finish to the dismay of the Montrose defence.
After a period of back and forth in the middle of the field as both teams sought to get the ball down on the deck and assert midfield superiority, the game suddenly erupted into life in the 29th minute, as a ball from the left foot of Sinclair found Hegarty making a late run into the box. His header went wide at the near post, and he would then waste a good free-kick moments later.
In the 34th minute the match then took a turn for the worse, already 1-0 down they would soon be faced with playing the rest of the game with 10 men, as Sean Crighton was sent off by referee Hilland, who deemed Crighton’s slide tackle on Halliday late and dangerous. Given the conditions and the fact Livingston players had committed similar tackles elsewhere in the game (before and after the sending off), this decision was very harsh when a yellow card would have sufficed and been sensible.
From the resulting free-kick McParland’s shot was blocked by the assembled wall, and moment’s later Livingston’s right back Talbot was yellow-carded for a clattering tackle on Campbell, a tackle not too dissimilar that had resulted in the dismissal of Crighton minutes earlier.
The sending off forced Montrose to shuffle the pack, as Campbell moved to a more accustomed central of defence role with Hegarty dropping into the right-back berth with Voigt filling in on the right hand side of midfield.
From the free-kick Sinclair received the ball from manager Tweed, and proceeded to play a long ball into the feet of Nicol, who was then deemed offside by the linesman, despite being played on by the Livingston left-back.
The first-half ended on a positive for Montrose as Fleming released a thunderous 20yard drive testing the keeper just moments before the referee blew up for the interval.
With no changes at half-time, the game kicked-off with apparently no change in possession and play as Livingston went on the attack again, with One, Halliday & McParland all having opportunities.
arning of theses chances were again not heeded as HALLIDAY got his second of the afternoon and second of the game for Livingston as a long ball over the top caught out the Montrose defence who were static, as McParland coasted in behind to cross for the on running Halliday who shot low into the corner of the net.
This forced Montrose’s hand as Nick Gray replaced the ineffectual but tireless Nicol and the impact was immediate as Gray ran down the right-hand side but eventually came to nothing. He was then involved again with Sinclair supplying the ball as Gray was then pushed off the ball with relative ease.
Tweed was booked in the 61st minute for a 50:50 tussle with One, and from the free-kick the troublesome McParland shot high and wide.
In the 67th minute a Sinclair free-kick found Tweed who won a corner, the corner from Fleming found Maitland at the back-post who missed the header.
Montrose were then on the attack again as a ball from Sinclair found captain Davidson whose 20 yard shot went over the bar, then young Gray was caught offside after a good through ball from Maitland.
Montrose then made a second substitution, with Jordan Leyden coming on for the tiring and out of position Voigt, and Gray moved to the right as Montrose sought to expose the Livingston defence to Leyden’s pace.
In the 80th minute Hegarty tried a speculative 50 yard shot, which went well wide, but with the wind behind him it, was well worth a go. Montrose kept pushing forward with Fleming going down the left and winning a corner which was then fluffed by Hegarty, as his corner was poorly struck.
This was the last chance for Montrose as the game petered out.
The 10-men demonstrated a good effort and willingness to play for each other but with little to show for it at the final whistle. The players worked hard but a lack of pressure and absence of a target man & finisher showed, as the opposition defence were rarely put under any real threat by the Montrose attack, with set pieces unusually poor from Montrose.