GARY HOLT praised Livingston’s resilience last night as his side clocked up their sixth successive home win by holding off a St Mirren side who had threatened to snatch a point in the latter stages of this meeting.

Having established a 2-0 lead, Livingston were in danger of being pegged back after Jon Obika had given St Mirren a lifeline. Indeed, it took a last-minute save from Livingston goalkeeper Robby McCrorie from Cammy MacPherson to prevent Jim Goodwin’s side from leaving with something to show for their evening.

By that point Livingston ought to have been out of sight given the chances they had created in the game.

“We were prepared to put our bodies on the line and put our heads in where it hurts tonight,” said Holt. “I think if we had played that game last season we would have drawn it 2-2 or even lost it 3-2 so it was pleasing to see that desire to make sure we did not lose the points.”

A controversial penalty had been the difference between the sides at the interval with Lyndon Dykes and referee David Munro inviting the fury of St Mirren. Dykes had been cute as he won the spot-kick that broke the deadlock after drawing the foul from Conor McCarthy.

Steven Lawless kept his concentration despite St Mirren’s protests as he netted from the subsequent penalty.

If that one was hard to stomach, it was the second that really infuriated Goodwin. There were less then 20 seconds on the clock when Dykes collected from Keaghan Jacobs and drilled a low effort into the back of the net.

“The two young centre-halves have been tremendous since they’ve come to the club in January,” said Goodwin. “Tonight there was just a bit of naivety. The second goal is horrendous from our point of view. It’s so, so bad.”