Whitburn 2-0 Livingston XI

Whitburn 2-0 Livingston XI

Pre-Season Friendly

Friday 14th July 2023

A wet night in Whitburn for this one (the glamour) and it was a case of experience triumphing over youth as the hosts were 2-0 winners against a Livingston XI.

In a game where there were no linesman; thus the referee was left to his own devices, two of the biggest moments came inside the opening five minutes.

The first was when Livingston’s ‘keeper endured a nightmare moment that bore all the hallmarks of Paul Robinson’s infamous howler for England against Croatia back in the day, as he misjudged a back-pass that trickled over his foot and into the net - not a moment he’ll want to remember!

Livingston then responded in the best possible way as straight from kick-off they went down the other end and won a penalty, but just as you thought they might be about to get back on level terms, the home ‘keeper guessed correctly and dived low to his right to palm away the kick by the No.9.

With rain lashing down, the confidence of the Livingston’s ‘keeper was done the world of good in his next involvement as he used his feet well this time to get out of a tricky situation under pressure, and he then proved his value by keeping out a powerful effort which was straight down his throat - and had he not blocked it then it would have been 2-0 for sure.

Unfortunately, the visiting ‘keeper later had to be substituted when he parried a free-kick and then hurt his elbow (I think) in attempting to smother the rebound at the feet of a Whitburn striker, but in the meantime Livingston will feel they ought to have equalised. They played some nice stuff at times and created some openings as one effort was cleared off the line, another was blocked on the line, and despite lots of effort and endeavour they couldn’t quite get a goal they perhaps merited.

Whitburn led 2-0 at half-time as not long before the interval, Ross Crawford used all his strength and experience to hold off a defender and drill the ball into the bottom corner - and in the second half, amidst gloomy-looking grey skies and (slightly) lighter rain there wasn’t too much in the way of goalmouth action as Whitburn comfortably held on.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get Livingston’s team-sheet so I can’t name names, etc, other than Max Williamson - who I remember from this reserve game at Ayr United last season and who came on as a second half substitute (one of only two Livingston players to don a base-layer under their match shirt in this game too).

Overall though, a good night.

Whitburn’s ground is old but well looked after and worth a visit, plus there’s a nice little social club just outside the entrance. A shame about the weather (albeit I’m used to it by now) and if there’s one thing I learned from making this trip it’s that the ‘X’ in the X18 bus from Edinburgh to Whitburn definitely doesn’t stand for express!

Enjoy the photos!