Livingston proved too strong for Breedon Highland League champions Brechin City in Saturday’s Viaplay Cup tie at Glebe Park as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
David Martindale’s men grabbed the opening goal four minutes before half-time when a Michael McArthur pass was intercepted by Jason Holt who quickly played the ball forward to Joel Nouble who fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
City fell further behind seven minutes into the second half when they conceded a free-kick 20 yards from goal with Sean Kelly stepping up to flight a superb looping shot well beyond the reach of City keeper Lenny Wilson.
Kelly turned provider for Livi’s final goal three minutes from time when he delivered an inch-perfect cross into the box for Cristian Montano who headed strongly past Wilson.
✈️ The points were sealed with a flying header from the marauding Cristian Montaño, to put us top of Group C of the Viaplay Cup. pic.twitter.com/5Su0LgplsV
— Livingston Football Club (@LiviFCOfficial) July 16, 2023
Despite the defeat, Brechin manager Andy Kirk took a number of positives from his side’s performance.
“It’s hard for us to compete against a team like Livingston who have top quality players and are levels ahead of us,” he said.
“From our point of view, the day was all about concentration and discipline and keeping our shape and I thought the boys were great in that regard.
“We made a wee mistake which led to the first goal and when you do that against the top teams you inevitably get punished.
“Livi’s second goal came from us conceding a free-kick and the third goal came from a bit of a mistake with a misplaced pass from us but you have to admire the quality of the player to intercept and then take a couple of touches leading to the goal.
“There are a lot of things which we can learn from today’s defeat but there were also huge positives.
FULL TIME | Brechin City 0-3 Livingston
It’s the Premiership side who come away with the 3 points in the opening Viaplay Group C fixture this afternoon.
The result perhaps not a fair reflection of the game for a City side that limited the visitors to very few chances throughout pic.twitter.com/fLYoLgGPln
— Brechin City FC (@BrechinCityFC) July 15, 2023
“I thought that the players were excellent in terms of their effort and enthusiasm to cover distance and to work as a unit so that’s was very pleasing.
“Livi are a very good side and Davie has them playing really well and they moved the ball around very quickly which means that our players had to work really hard to try and close down opportunities.
“We will learn from our own performance but we can also learn from the way that Livingston played and our players will know that if they want to aspire to the top level that’s the standard they have to get to.”