Yahoo Sport 
Livingston keep Scottish Premiership champions Celtic scoreless to end losing steak
Livingston 2 Celtic 0
Livingston lived up to their leonine nickname with their first ever victory over Celtic as they also became the first domestic or European team to keep a clean sheet in 20 games against the Scottish champions this season. To add to the magnitude of their accomplishment, Livingston came into the contest on a run of four successive defeats but in the knowledge that they had form in making life difficult for fancied opponents at home.
They demonstrated as much last season by holding Celtic to a goalless draw and beating Rangers at the Tony Macaroni Stadium. On this occasion, Gary Holt’s players had demonstrated their capacity for awkwardness by disrupting the champions’ fluency and rhythm before the first half flashpoint occurred in the 26th minute when Ryan Christie and Scott Robinson contested a ball on the halfway line.
Christie felled his opponent with a studs-up challenge into Robinson’s shin and, even before the Livingston player hit the ground, Willie Collum had the red card on display. Celtic’s response to the reduction in numbers was to increase their efforts proportionately and half-time arrived with the sides still level.
The situation was transformed within three minutes of the restart when Robinson, having shaken off the ill-effects of Christie’s lunge, gathered possession from Robbie Crawford and struck a powerful and precise finish beyond Fraser Forster. Neil Lennon’s response was to replace James Forrest with Vakoun Bayo, who linked with Odsonne Edouard in a physically imposing attacking double act, which rolled the home team back upon their own lines and seemingly in imminent risk of damage.
Instead, the height of Celtic’s endeavour came with a driven cross-cum-shot by Mohamed Elyounouss, beaten out by Matija Sarkic – who had replaced Ross Stewart, Livi’s regular goalkeeper- and booted clear of the danger zone. The response of the yellow-shirted ranks was to surge to the other end of the field, where Forster had to parry a Robinson shot but was left exposed in the next Livingston thrust, which saw Lyndon Dykes delicately place a loft over the keeper and into the net.
It was a merited reward for Dykes, who had made himself a persistent nuisance to the Celtic central defenders, Christopher Jullien and Kris Ajer, while still finding time for running skirmishes with Scott Brown, who was replaced by Olivier Ntcham for the final quarter hour. During that spell, Livingston frequently looked ragged, but they did not crumple – although Keghan Jacobs was lucky, on his 300rd appearance, only to be cautioned for a reckless challenge on Ajer - and they greatly deserved the salutes of their euphoric and incredulous supporters.
“Today we executed in the right areas in the final third really well,” Holt said, once the clamour had subsided. “We were better against 11 men - I really did think that.
“When they went down to 10 men, we got a wee bit disjointed, but at half-time, I told them to be patient but not slow, and it certainly bore fruit. It was a good advert for Scottish football. The battles were great.
“Ryan Christie was sent-off but it was a bit dangerous, not malicious. The rub of the green fell on our side today with the goals we scored. I’m delighted for the back line. I’ve questioned them, had a go at them, asked them who wants to be hurt for us, and I thought they stood toe-to-toe and defended the box brilliantly.”
Lennon, meanwhile, was phlegmatic about the afternoon’s events and the loss of points for the second successive weekend. “I’ve no complaints with the red card - it’s totally unlike Ryan Christie – and at half-time I thought we were okay,” he said.
“We gave away a bad goal, too passive, lost the ball in a bad area, but we didn’t press Robbie Crawford before he played the through ball and there’s no excuse for that. At 1-0 we were forcing the issue and looking okay, and the second goal is really poor.
“I don’t think that’s down to being down to 10 men, we should deal with that, it’s a straight long ball over the top. We have to, at times, roll our sleeves up and do the nuts and bolts of the game more.
“I’m not going to whip them for that performance but I didn’t think we were anywhere near as ruthless as we could have been. It’s our first defeat. We have to accept it, look where we went wrong and can’t be too emotional about it.
“We were too emotional in the game. It’s a learning curve for some of the new ones that not everyone is going to let you play the way you want to play and that you have to earn the right.
“With 11 men, it’s difficult enough. With 10, it became more difficult. The game just got away from us.”
Match details
Livingston: (4-4-2): Sarkic; Devlin, Lamie, Guthrie, McMillan; Lawless (Odoffin 81), Bartley, Jacobs, Crawford; Robinson (Lawson 75), Dykes (Miller 87). Subs (unused): Stewart (g), Sibbald, Pepe, Souda. Booked: Lamie, Jacobs.
Celtic: (4-2-3-1): Forster; Bauer, Jullien, Ajer, Bolingoli (Hayes 76); Brown (Nthcam 73), McGregor; Forrest (Bayo 53), Christie, Elyounoussi; Edouard. Subs (unused): Gordon (g), Bitton, Sinclair, Elhamed. Sent off: Christie. Booked: Jullien, Ajer.
Referee: Willie Collum.
