Eli Just was the ‘Well hero with an added time beauty to sink Livingston. Before that the teams were level with a penalty goal apiece.
There were three changes to the visitors’ line up as Liam Gordon, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Stephen O’Donnell joined the starting eleven. Callum Slattery was welcomed on to the bench after a long recuperation and he was to deliver the winning assist.
Motherwell started with a sparkling twenty minutes as they pinned Livingston deep into defence. Passes zipped along the artificial surface and much of the play was inside the home area. All that was missing was any real threat on the Livi goal. It seemed that the only way Motherwell would score would be to dribble the ball into the net.
Inevitably the home side got their chances with breaks and just before the half hour they were presented with a penalty following Gordon’s careless challenge on Bokila. The striker slammed the spot kick high into Ward’s net.
Livingston had the best of the remaining portion of the first half and Ward earned his wages with stops from May and Muirhead. Another save was needed just before the break.
Livingston were gracious enough to repay the penalty favour when Tait offered a hand to Ibrahim Said’s shot. Stamatelopoulos fired to beat Prior and level the game.
The game opened up as both sides felt they had the winning of the game. Motherwell still were shot shy although Slattery will regret his high miss with the goal gaping.
It seemed that the winner had arrived when Just got the best of a goal line scramble at the end of normal time but a VAR intervention ended the celebration. Thankfully, Just was not to be beaten and three minutes into added time he collected from Slattery of the left of the box. After a touch he unleashed a powerful shot beyond Prior and the game was won.
It was probably Motherwell’s least impressive showing of the season but the outcome was a valuable three points.
Livingston 1 Motherwell 2
Attendance
Team: Ward, O’Donnell , Welsh, Gordon (McGinn 60) , Longelo (Koutroumbis 88), Watt, Said (Charles-Cook 82), Fadinger, Just, Maswanhise (Slattery 60), Stamatelopoulos (Hendry 82)
Saturday 25 October 2025
