ANY First Division club which can go on an unbeaten run from August until March is entitled to think that promotion is a given. St Johnstone, however, appear hell bent on proving that it ain't necessarily so.
This was their first reverse since Clyde beat them 3-2 at McDiarmid Park 23=2 0 games ago but Derek McInnes' side may yet find that they have missed the boat.
While setting that club record for an unbeaten league sequence of 22 games, the Perth si
de seem to have seemingly forgotten how to kill off the opposition. Unfortunately for McInnes, the numbers aren't adding up. They have now dropped 23 points in their last 15 outings and their lead at the top of the table is now down to one point, albeit with a game in hand over nearest challengers Partick Thistle.
At least the victory meant that Livingston's fans were able to properly celebrate the fifth anniversary of the West Lothian club's memorable CIS Insurance Cup triumph against Hibernian, a reminder of better days which may never return.
Indeed, as things stand, the extent of their financial problems suggest that Livingston's next visit to the national stadium is more likely to be against Queen's Park on league business than it will be to collect a trophy.
Two survivors from that afternoon at Hampden were in action yesterday. Goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie is the only remaining medal winner still at Almondvale while his former deputy, Alan Main, was between the sticks for the visitors.
The swirling wind and gluepot pitch were hardly conducive to free-flowing football and when Kevin Rutkiewicz collected the first caution of the afternoon for a deliberate handball midway through the first half it was the first incident of note.
Fortunately, the game received the injection of quality it required when Livingston took the lead 12 minutes from the interval.
Chris Malone's punt upfield was helped on by Raffaele De Vita and Leigh Griffiths expertly spun his marker, Stuart McCaffrey, to send a shot arcing over the helpless Main from just inside the penalty area.
McCaffrey was cautioned for dissent immediately afterwards, although it
was unclear what he had to complain about. Joe Hamill then shaved the outside of Main's left-hand post with a drive from distance.
As for McKenzie, he could have taken a note out of Ben Foster's book and watched re-runs of the 2-0 win over Hibs on his iPod for all he was asked to do during a disappointing opening 45 minutes for the league leaders.
Unsurprisingly, Derek Holmes came on for the ineffective Graham Barrett for the second half and the target man's looping header from a Gary Irvine cross landed on top of McKenzie's net in the 50th minute.
The latter was finally called into action on the hour mark when he fell on a shot from Kevin Moon as Saints finally began to display the purpose expected of candidates for promotion to the SPL.
However, as they pressed for an equaliser Livingston were able to catch them on the counter attack and Main did well to beat away a fierce angled drive from Griffiths. They were caught out again when Kevin Rutkiewicz completely misjudged a kick-out from McKenzie. That allowed substitute Armand One to burst through but Main bailed out his captain by pushing the striker's low drive behind for a corner.
Holmes should have equalised nine minutes from time but headed wastefully over instead after being picked out by Liam Craig's inviting delivery.
It was St Johnstone's afternoon in microcosm.
The full article contains 606 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
