Morton SPFL Trust Trophy hoodoo continues as Livingston win

It was a familiar story for Ton as strikes from Reece McAlear and Stevie May earned David Martindale's men their place in the last four and sent Ton crashing out of the quarter final stage for the third consecutive year under Dougie Imrie, despite Austin Samuels' late strike.

All of the first half action would come inside the opening ten minutes as neither side looked like taking a grip of the game. A drop of the shoulder from Michael Garrity saw him breeze past Daniel Finlayson and wedge the ball towards the far post; Morgan Boyes rose highest and forced Pitaluga into a comfortable hold.

Moments later Broadfoot would find himself in a similar position, meeting Moffat's low cross, but he was only able to shovel over from close range.

Ton struggled to make an impact up front in the first half (Image: Gary Bradley)

However the half time team talks would change just shy of the interval as the hosts got their noses in front just three minutes before the break.

Michael Nottingham's long ball forward should've been dealt with by Kirk Broadfoot, who instead let the ball bounce and land for Andy Winter on the edge of the box.

McAlear opened the scoring before the interval (Image: Gary Bradley)

He set off a neat combination between himself, Sole and Reece McAlear, who stepped onto the ball and found the back of the net with a low drive from 20 yards.

Imrie's men almost had the perfect response though; Stuparevic did well to bait McGowan and flicked the ball over his head to run in on goal, however his powerful effort was easily blocked by Pitaluga.

Ton looked to try and force the initiative after the break and were denied by the reflexes of Pitaluga once more.

Alex King received an inside and he only had one thing on his mind; he cut in onto his left foot and tried to find the bottom left corner - but the Livi stopper was on hand to palm the effort wide.

Ton were still in the tie but had Ryan Mullen to thank for keeping Livi's lead at just one. He did well to palm over Stevie May's close range effort with little over 10 to play.

But the former St Johnstone hero would get his goal with 87 minutes on the clock, capitalising on a Morgan Boyes error.

Smith dispossessed the former Livi man with ease before slipping in his teammate, who ran down on goal and fired home from 18 yards to put the home side in easy street.

Austin Samuels made a late impact off the bench, getting on the end of a Jordan Davies cross to brilliantly volley home and reduce the arrears, but it was all in vain as Ton were left to wait for yet another year in their hunt for SPFL Trust Trophy glory.

Livingston (4-2-3-1) Pitaluga, Nottingham, Finlayson, McGowan, Clarke(Lawal,56), McAleer, Green(Smith, 56), Sole(Smith,56), Kelly, Winter(May,77), Muirhead(Yengi,65)

Subs not used: Prior, Korboa, Brandon, Shinnie, Clark,

Bookings: Muirhead(62)

Scorer: McAlear(42) May(87) McAlear(90+5)

Morton(4-2-3-1) Mullen, Blues, Baird, Broadfoot, Boyes, King(Gillespie,70), Wilson, Garrity(McGinn,46), Lyall(Shaw,63), Moffat(Samuels,70), Stuparevic(Davies,63)

Subs not used: Murdoch O'Boy

Bookings: Blues(79)

Scorer: Samuels(90+4)

MoTM: Ryan Mullen

ATT:

Ref: Chris Graham