Match Report - By Steven Mew

City’s Viaplay Cup campaign kicked off yesterday afternoon against Livingston, with clinical finishing from the Premiership outfit proving to be the difference at Glebe Park.

Despite defeat, City can take great credit for their showing and limited the David Martindale’s side to very few opportunities throughout.

For much of the game City were well organised and defended resolutely, but were left to rue individual mistakes leading to the goals.

There were two debutants amongst the starting 11 for City in the shape of Chris Mudie and Lewis Martin, whilst fellow summer signings Stuart Heenan, Spencer Moreland, Ewan White and Jamie McCabe started on the bench.

Following a quiet start to the game, Livi came close to opening the scoring just after the quarter hour mark when a ball was cut back to Nouble 8 yards out but his placed effort was cleared off the line by Thomson.

Nouble was causing some problems with his height and strength upfront for Livi, and he would threaten again on 28 minutes when he turned a defender before firing over the bar from the edge of the box.

Despite the visitors having much of the possession, City continued to battle away with a McHattie strike diverted just inches over the bar by Spark.

Five minutes later, a lofted ball forward from McHattie almost caught out visiting keeper Shamal George who had to backtrack quickly to gather.

Just as it looked City were going to go in level at the break, the Lions broke the deadlock on 41 minutes. Some slack play in midfield allowed Holt to break forward and his defence splitting pass found JOEL NOUBLE who provided a composed finish into the far corner.

A frustrating end to the opening 45 for City, but they came out fighting in the second period. McGrath provided a terrific cross to the back post for Mudie who caught it perfectly on the full volley however it was blocked for a corner.

Any hopes of City causing a cup shock were dampened after 53 minutes. The visitors were awarded a free kick 20 yards out for what appeared to be a soft foul by Patrick on Nouble. SEAN KELLY stepped up and curled a fine free kick over the wall and into the corner to double the advantage.

Much of the remainder of the second half went with little action of note, as City continued to keep the group favourites at bay. Spencer Moreland, Stuart Heenan and Ewan White all came on for their competitive City debuts, whilst Marc Scott and Michael Cruickshank were also introduced to the action.

With nine minutes remaining Tom Parkes, who had just come on as a substitute for Livi just seconds earlier, very nearly netted an own goal with his first touch. His wayward backpass caught the keeper out and rolled right across the face of goal, clipping the post on its way past.

The resulting corner was only cleared as far as Scott who smashed his volley over the bar as City looked to set up a grandstand finish.

It wasn’t to be for City however, as the Lions wrapped up the points with a 3rd goal four minutes from time. A slack pass from Martin gifted Livi possession and some quick play resulted in Kelly sending in a cross for the unmarked CHRISTIAN MONTANO to head home.

City kept plugging away late on with Scott winning a corner down the right hand side – the delivery was swung in by Moreland and met by Thomson but he couldn’t keep his header down.

It might have been defeat for City, but they can certainly hold their heads high at the way they applied themselves over the 90 minutes.

Next up for the City is a trip to the ZLX Stadium to face Hamilton Accies on Tuesday evening, with a 7:45pm kick off. It is sure to be another tough test for Andy Kirk’s men against a side that were relegated from the Championship last season.