A match too far for Queens

 

Livingston climbed to third place in the Scottish Championship with a hard-fought win over 10-man Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.

Queen of the South 0 Livingston 3  HT: 0-1

Scorers: Queens - Jacobs sent off 77. Livi - penrice 32  Mullin 68  Byrne 81 - Attendance: 1328

James Penrice stabbed in Josh Mullin's deep cross to open the scoring midway through the first half.

Mullin thundered in a second soon after the break, before Kyle Jacobs was shown a second yellow card.

Livingston wrapped up all three points with nine minutes to play when Shaun Byrne found the net.

Both sides made changes with James McFadden and Jason Kerr back in the starting XI for Queens and Neil Alexander, Penrice and Rafa De Vita starting for Livi.

It was the visitors who had the better of a pretty poor first 45 minutes, with the teams cancelling each other out.

Dylan Mackin ought to have done better when he was through on goal after 16 minutes, but saw home goalkeeper Alan Martin get down to block his shot at the edge of the box.

Livingston did take the lead just after the half-hour mark, when Mullin's deep cross found Penrice, who prodded the ball into the net at the back post from two yards.

Right on half-time McFadden's cross found the left found Derek Lyle in the box and his header was well saved by Alexander to preserve his side's narrow advantage.

Alexander did well again right after the break with another terrific stop from Lyle, but the visitors all but sealed the game on 68 minutes when Mullin's long range free-kick beat everyone and crashed into the net via the crossbar for his third goal of the season.

Queens were reduced to 10 men when Jacobs received a second booking on 76 minutes, and five minutes later Livingston confirmed the win when Byrne drilled home from eight yards.

Queens looked tired and jaded after their gruelling cup ties with Montrose and will look to bounce back against Dumbarton on Tuesday night.

Jacobs sees red

Anguish for manager

Alexander makes crucial save from Lyle

Images courtesy of www.qosfc.com