Motherwell confirmed that Livingston will be playing their football in the Championship after a meek capitulation from David Martindale’s at Fir Park.
Coupled with the result in Dingwall, it means that Livingston are formally relegated after a six-year stint in top flight.
They will feel sore about this one given the way things got away from them in the opening stages of this game but, in truth, it was an inevitable confirmation of their exit from the top flight after what will have felt like a long season.
VAR was at the centre of controversy as Motherwell took the lead in this one as Theo Bair netted his 14th goal of the season from the spot after there had been a harsh handball call with Micky Devlin judged to have ben the guilty party. It was tough on Livingston but Bair was calm as he kept his composure to open the scoring with Martindale furious on the sidelines.
The officials did little to quell his sense of frustration as Scott Pittmann thought he had headed Livingston onto level terms from Daniel MacKay’s cross only for the ‘goal’ to be chopped off for a foul on the build-up on Paul McGinn. Again, it seemed harsh on Livingston with the visiting bench making their feelings known.
Bair might have added a second for Motherwell when he got on the end of Georgie Gent’s cross but his effort was straight into the hands of Livvy keeper Shamal George.
There was little, however, they could do about Motherwell’s second that cam deep into added time and on the cusp of the half-time whistle. Sam Nicholson let fly from 25-yards with his rifled effort coming off the underside of the bar before crossing the line.
Martindale introduced Tete Yengi as they looked to force themselves back into the game but, like their predicament, it was too little, too late.
Motherwell had no sympathy for their predicament. Gent, who had a fine afternoon, turned the ball into the box for Bair to head into the net for the striker’s third of the afternoon. A fourth quickly followed as Dan Casey bundled Blair Spittal’s corner into the net.
Joel Nouble pulled one back for Livingston immediately after as he headed a late consolation but it was little more than a statistical footnote on a dispiriting afternoon for Livingston.
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