Livingston 2-2 Hearts: Jam Tarts title grip loosens in Lothian | OneFootball

Livingston and Hearts played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in West Lothian this afternoon, with Hearts returning to top of the league whilst simultaneously being frustrated they haven’t taken all three points.

Stevie May opened the scoring for Livingston, before Lawrence Shankland levelled the scores before half-time. Hearts took the lead through Cláudio Braga early in the second period, but defensive errors proved costly when Lewis Smith equalised for Livi on the hour mark.

The final moments of the match saw Hearts midfielder Marc Leonard sent off for a cynical foul on Robbie Muirhead.

As It Happened

Livingston flew out of the traps, taking the lead through May after just five minutes, when the Scottish midfielder fired home from the edge of the box. The hosts almost doubled their lead minutes later, but Mohammad Sylla saw his shot blocked in the middle of the box.

Both Shankland and Braga looked to level for Hearts, but neither player could find the back of the net. Stephen Kingsley was next in line to try and find an equaliser, but his shot flew high and wide of the target. Livingston midfielder Lewis Smith picked up the first yellow card of the afternoon in the 22nd minute, following a foul on Alexandros Kyziridis.

Hearts got their equaliser before the half-hour mark, through Shankland, with the 30-year-old forward heading home from inside the area. Shankland almost netted again minutes later, but his sweetly struck volley went wide of the post. Former Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield was shown a yellow card in the 34th minute, after bringing down Kyziridis in the Livingston half. Braga tested Jérome Prior shortly before the break, with the Frenchman reacting quickly to deny Hearts a half-time lead. Oisin McEntee was shown Hearts’ first yellow card of the day on the stroke of half-time for a foul on May.

The visitors took an early lead in the second half, when Braga headed home from close range after a scramble in the penalty box. They nearly doubled their advantage straight away as well, but Prior was on hand to deny Islam Chesnokov. Smith popped up with a chaotic equaliser for the home side just shy of the hour mark, capitalising on a catalogue of defensive errors and smashing the ball home into a virtually empty net.

Livingston made their first changes in the 65th minute, when Arfield and May were withdrawn in favour of Emmanuel Danso and Scott Pitman. Pitman won a free-kick almost instantly after coming on, which saw Cristian Montaño head over the bar. More changes followed for both teams, Chesnokov and Kinsgley were replaced by Sabah Kerjota for Hearts, whilst Joel Nubble and Cameron Kerr were replaced by Muirhead and Ryan McGowan for Livingston.

The hosts’ final change of the match saw Babacar Fati withdrawn for Samson Lawal, before Muirhead headed wide from inside the box. Hearts’ final substitutions came in the 89th minute, when Beni Baningime and Blair Spittal were introduced in favour of Cameron Devlin and Kyziridis.

Livingston broke through Muirhead deep into injury time, but the Scottish forward was cynically fouled by Marc Leonard on the halfway line, who was subsequently sent off following a VAR review by Kevin Clancy, confirming two dropped points for the league leaders.