Rangers quick-fire double sends Livingston to opening day defeat

Two quick-fire second half goals condemned Livingston to an opening day defeat as they went down 2-1 at home to Rangers.

The hosts were remarkable for the opening 45 minutes and fully deserved their half-time lead, brought about by Joel Nouble's dinked effort over Jon McLaughlin on five minutes.

But the all-energy defensive stubbornness wasn't replicated after the break and there was an air of inevitability about it all when the Gers bagged two goals in the space of two minutes. Firstly, Scott Arfield glanced a header across goal from a Ryan Kent cross on 73 minutes before the skipper James Tavernier rifled a free-kick home from the edge of the box barely two minutes later to complete the turnaround.

Livingston boss David Martindale handed a debut to keeper Shamal George, while Nouble was given the nod in the lone striker's role.

And the 26-year-old got his afternoon off to the perfect start as he opened the scoring on five minutes. George's long free-kick was flicked on by skipper Nicky Devlin with the Englishman making the most of some static defending to delicately loft the ball over McLaughlin and into the far corner for his first goal in Livi colours.

The visitors, predictably, controlled much of the ball but they did precious little with it as they struggled to break down the organised hosts. Tom Lawrence tried his luck form 25 yards but fired over with perhaps their best opportunity in the opening half-hour.

Livi, on the contrary, looked a threat every time they were able to get into the opposition half with both Glen Kamara and Connor Goldson being booked for rash challenges on Nouble when the attacker looked to get in behind the Gers defence.

The Lions could have doubled their advantage just before the 30-minute