Robbie Muirhead celebrates with his team-matesSNS

Livingston had gone 31 matches without a league win

At a glance

  • Livingston end record winless run with victory over St Mirren

  • Own goal from Gogic and a Pittman strike keep Livi's slender hopes of staying in Scottish Premiership alive

  • St Mirren remain just two points above relegation play-off spot

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Highlights: St Mirren 0-2 Livingston

25/04/2026

Watch on iPlayer

Livingston picked up just their second Scottish Premiership win of the season - and first since August - as they beat St Mirren to keep their extremely slim survival hopes alive.

The bottom side are now nine points behind 11th-placed Kilmarnock, who lost to Aberdeen, with four post-split games remaining.

It was an Alex Gogic own goal that started the celebrations as Livingston's 31-game winless league run - the longest in Scottish top-flight history within a single season - came to an end. The St Mirren defender put the ball into his own net from Robbie Muirhead's fizzed cross.

With 10 minutes left Livingston wrapped up the long-awaited victory with another goal on the counter-attack.

Cristian Montano broke free before squaring to Lewis Smith, who held up for Scott Pittman to pass the ball beyond St Mirren debutant goalkeeper Ross Sinclair.

Apart from that, Livingston only had two shots and it was goalkeeper Jerome Prior who ensured they were in a position to pick up all three points.

Prior made numerous saves in the first half, denying fierce efforts from Jonah Ayunga, Mikael Mandron, Richard King and Killian Phillips.

Analysis: Too little, too late? Or great escape?

A lot has changed since Livingston last enjoyed this winning feeling.

David Martindale was in the dugout and his side briefly went top. Russell Martin was still the Rangers manager. Hearts' title challenge was nothing but a fantasy from the most optimistic man in the Tynecastle Arms.

Now, 259 days later, Livingston have their second win of the season and have either prolonged their stay of execution, or started what would be one of the greatest miracles in Scottish football history.

It was well deserved in the end. While all the pre-match talk seemed to centre around St Mirren and their goalkeeping crisis, it was Prior who took the plaudits.

Five saves, a couple of crackers - one of which he could scarcely believe himself. But each one added to the feeling that maybe, just maybe, it was going to be Livingston's day.

Attacking stats from St Mirren v LivingstonOpta

As for St Mirren, it was a bit of a headscratcher. After a brave 90 minutes against Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final last weekend, they crumbled in extra time and it would have been no surprise to see a downhearted, tired display.

That wasn't the case - for the first 45 minutes. They had 17 shots throughout, in comparison with Livingston's four.

Declan John bombed forward on the left. Balls were hung up to the back post for Mandron, Ayunga and King to attack. It seemed like a matter of time, but they couldn't find a way past Prior.

At the back, debutant goalkeeper Sinclair - signed on an emergency loan from St Johnstone following injuries to Shamal George and Ryan Mullen - didn't have much to do at all.

But given the slightly perilous position they now find themselves in, it would be a surprise to see him usurped by 17-year-old Grant Tamosevicius.

The teenager signed a new contract after a solid deputising performance at Hampden last week, but as interim boss Craig McLeish said, the youngster needs protected and chucking him into a relegation scrap would be unfair.

What they said

St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish: "That was a sore one. We know we're in a fight, we know the situation we're in. It's fine margins in all of these games. You can't take anything for granted.

"We've got a choice now. We either stick together and keep fighting, or it goes the other way. We've lost a game, we've got four to save our season."

Livingston manager Marvin Bartley: "Hopefully the beginning of a miracle. It's one game at a time. We need to produce our best at both ends of the pitch and the players have managed to do that today.

"The players have given me everything every day, it's not just about the match on a Saturday. The wins have run away from us, but hopefully this win can give them a lift and belief as well."

Bartley on long-awaited win

What's next?

St Mirren host Dundee next Saturday (15:00 BST), while Livingston welcome Aberdeen on Friday night (19:45).

Player of the match

J. Prior
8.33
27 R. Sinclair
5.00
16 A. Campbell
3.00
9 M. Mandron
3.00
7 R. Idowu
2.86
20 J. Young
2.86
5 R. King
2.78
21 M. Freckleton
2.75
8 J. Devaney
2.71
10 C. McMenamin
2.71
3 S. Tanser
2.71
2 J. Richardson
2.67
13 A. Gogić
2.50
24 D. John
2.44
6 M. O'Hara
2.43
11 J. Ayunga
2.29
88 K. Phillips
2.13
Back to team tabs

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.