Moment David Martindale swarmed by Livingston fans as he celebrates dramatic comeback with punters during pitch invasion

LIVINGSTON have returned to the Premiership at the first attempt after a dramatic play-off final win over Ross County.

And their travelling fans couldn’t contain their delight as they clinched the game late on in Dingwall.

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Ross County had led 2-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate after 25 minutes, and seemed set for a third straight year of Premiership survival via winning the play-off.

But some sensational Livingston goals saw them turn it around for a 5-3 aggregate victory, sparking wild celebrations in the away end.

Tete Yengi sealed the deal in the final minute, and there was an explosion of relief and joy from the visiting fans.

That led to them storming the pitch and embracing their heroes, with some supporters even letting off flares.

The goal came so late that there wasn’t even time to restart the game – which probably made things easier for match officials, as scores of Livi fans were still on the pitch.

The final whistle saw even more of the travelling support take to the pitch, with many punters approaching boss David Martindale to celebrate with him.

Stewards eventually got the breach under control, allowing on-field interviews to take place.

That didn’t stop some young Livi fans from taking the opportunity to play around in one of the goals at the Global Energy Stadium.

A dramatic late County penalty in Thursday night’s first leg had seen the sides come into tonight level at 1-1.

Individual mistakes at the back from Livingston allowed Joshua Nisbett and Ronan Hale to make it 2-0 on the night and seemingly end the tie.

But a terrific solo effort from Lewis Smith halved Livi’s deficit going into half-time.

An almighty scramble led to Danny Wilson netting the equaliser just before the hour mark, and Robbie Muirhead scored a sublime curler just four minutes later to turn the game on its head.

And Yengi broke free to fire in a late fourth and kickstart the Livingston promotion party.

Reflecting on the season, Martindale said: “We had adversity but we stuck together.

“It makes the good times even sweeter.

“In six years in the Premiership, a sense of entitlement came over us, but now it’s a sense of reality.

“I don’t want to be the manager I’ve been in previous years, I want to go with our style, our identity and recruit for a certain style of play.”

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