Saints and Livingston brightened up a dreich December day by sharing six goals in a festive thriller.
Livi took the lead early on as Aymen Souda took advantage of Ryan Flynn's error to bend the ball into the net from the edge of the box. The Buddies were level when Jon Obika teed up Junior Morias to score, but Livi retook the lead just before the break when Jon Guthrie headed home Craig Sibbald's free-kick.
The goals continued in the second half and Souda seemed to have killed things off when he prodded the ball past Vaclv Hladky, but Jon Obika had other ideas – halving the deficit by diverting Tony Andreu's shot home before seeing another shot loop over Matija Sarkic thanks to a huge deflection.
Injury to Paul McGinn meant youngster Scott Glover was handed his debut at the heart of the Saints defence. He almost had a horror start, the strong wind taking his attempt to Ricki Lamie's hoof up the park spinning over Hladky but the keeper recovered in time to spare everyone's blushes.
The Buddies had looked the better side in the opening quarter of an hour so it was a huge blow when Livingston took the lead with their first real attack. A mistake from Flynn was pounced on by Souda and he ran to the edge of the box before curling a low shot round Hladky into the bottom corner.
The wind continued to cause problems, Sibbald's attempt to deliver a free-kick into the box almost ending up in the net. Hladky then did well to turn away a Dykes header before Cammy MacPherson tried to draw Saints level from long range, however his effort was easily caught by Sarkic. Another chance came when a free-kick was only cleared as far as Ilkay Durmus at the edge of the box but his shot looked to be going wide even before hitting a team-mate.
The winger was rather closer with his next shot, his fancy footwork gaining him the space he needed to let rip but it was straight at Sarkic, although the goalie needed two attempts at gathering the ball. An equaliser looked to be on the way and it duly arrived shortly after Saints had survived a bit of pinball in their own box. Obika won the ball from Lamie and forced his way past the Livi defence before unselfishly squaring for Morias to slot home from close range.
The Livi players felt they should have had a penalty shortly after play resumed, feeling Lyndon Dykes' shot had been blocked by the arm of Sean McLoughlin. The makeshift Saints defence was unsurprisingly looking fragile, an inability to clear their lines letting Souda get away a shot that spun out for a throw. Durmus then looked to have played Morias in for his second but the offside flag was up long before the ball ended up in the net.
The Buddies seemed to be finishing the opening 45 minutes on top but found themselves back behind in the dying seconds of the half. As Sibbald lifted a free-kick into the box, the Saints defence appeared to be waiting for an offside flag that never came, allowing Guthrie all the time and space he needed to head past Hladky.
Souda tried to double his side's advantage in the opening moments of the second half, his shot deflected behind for a corner. The Buddies then lost Kyle McAllister to injury, Tony Andreu taking his place and before he could make an impact, Livi got their third as they once again took advantage of slack defending. A long free-kick from Sarkic was flicked on by Dykes and Souda brought the ball under control before poking past Hladky.
Game over? It probably would have been had Guthrie been able to get his head on Steve Lawson's wicked cross. Instead, Saints set about getting themselves back into things and when the ball fell to Andreu at a corner, his shot was diverted past Sarkic to reduce the deficit. It was the same player who scored the equaliser with less than 20 minutes to go, Andreu racing on to a mis-placed shot to pull it back for Obika whose shot took a huge deflection that spun it over Sarkic and over the line to the delight of the home crowd.
Obika fancied a hat-trick, the Livi defence stopping him getting on the end of a knock-down from sub Cody Cooke, who had replaced Glover just before the equaliser. The roles were reversed a few minutes later as Obika looked to have sent Cooke through on goal, however he was well offside. The visitors looked to be on the ropes but thought they'd won themselves a penalty when Steven Lawless went flying under a Calum Waters challenge, however ref Nick Walsh booked the Livi man for simulation instead. The former Partick Thistle almost had the last laugh in stoppage time when the ball broke to him at the edge of the box but he rattled his shot well over.
Full-Time: St Mirren 3-3 Livingston
St Mirren: Hladky, Flynn, Glover (Cooke 73), McLoughlin, Waters, McAllister (Andreu 51), Magennis (c), MacPherson, Durmus, Morias, (Mullen 89) Obika
Subs Not Used: Lyness, S.McGinn, Djorkaeff, Jamieson
Livingston: Sarkic, Taylor-Sinclair (Lithgow 46), Sibbald (Jacobs 66), Lamie, Guthrie, Bartley, Pittman, Lawson, Lawless, Souda (Robinson 78), Dykes
Subs Not Used: Stewart, McMillan, Odoffin, Erskine
#SMFCMOM - Jon Obika
Referee: Nick Walsh
Assistant Referee: Kylie Cockburn
Assistant Referee: Stuart Hodge
Fourth Official: Colin Steven
Attendance: 4,344
Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography
