No pain, no gain says McNeil as Livi’s winless run goes on

LIVINGSTON keeper Andy McNeil insists the Lions are hurting from their recent poor form after Ayr United grabbed a 2-1 victory last night to make it three defeats on the bounce for John Hughes’ side.

It was a third success in four meetings against the West Lothian side this season for the visitors as a Mark Roberts penalty and Michael McGowan strike saw them come from behind after Keaghan Jacobs had given Livi a 12th-minute lead.

But McNeil reckons the immediate pain will be worth it for the benefits of the work that the squad are currently putting in.

He said: “I don’t think we played great. They’ve taken more of their chances and that makes it very disappointing.

“I think the thing is that this is a learning experience for a lot of people. That’s maybe not much of a consolation right now because we’ve not won games in the last three and it hurts a lot – but as time goes on we’ll get better and better at the way we’re trying to play.”

He added: “As we get better it will matter less what the conditions are like and who we’re playing against, and we’ll have a level of consistency that means the results will come more regularly.

“We’ve got two very winnable league games coming up to focus on.”

Livi took the lead early on when Marc McNulty fed Keaghan Jacobs eight yards out, and the midfielder coolly slotted underneath Kevin Cuthbert in the away goal. That was cancelled out eight minutes later as McNeil fouled Keigan Parker in the box and Roberts stepped up to dispatch the penalty.

Both McNulty and Bobby Barr missed good chances to get Livi’s second, and Ayr grabbed a winner in 66 minutes when McGowan steered Parker’s cross into the bottom corner.