In the first instalment of our new feature, Talk Livi's Euan Rankine shares his memories from arguably the club's turning point in recent years - their 3-2 win away against Dundee United in the 2017/18 Premiership play-off semi-final first leg.
Livi’s 2017/18 campaign had been an against-all-odds success heading into the Premiership play-offs.
On the back of winning the League One title, David Hopkin’s men had the third smallest budget in the Championship and were expected to be in a battle with Brechin City and Dumbarton to avoid relegation.
A remarkable campaign, though, saw them finish in second place and the opportunity of returning to the top flight for the first time in 12 years was on the cards.
Despite that success, plenty of the Livi fans travelled up to Dundee on a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday in despondent mood.
Rankine explains: “After an incredible league campaign, we headed to Tannadice for the first leg of the play-offs exactly two years to the day since we were relegated to League One which shows the success of that team.
“Just as I set off that night, we heard the news that top scorer Ryan Hardie would miss the play-offs through injury and my heart sank a bit.
“I actually fancied us to make the play-offs at the start of the season, but losing him before the biggest game of the season was a massive blow.”
Turns out, he needn’t have worried.
A frenetic and eventful start to the contest saw Raffaele de Vita open the scoring for the visitors on two minutes - only for United’s Thomas Mikkelsen to level things up barely 60 seconds later with a fine volley.
Anthony Ralston’s deflected shot just shy of the half hour mark would give the home side the lead and while United controlled much of the play, they were unable to add to their lead as the game entered the final 15 minutes.
Then, well, Livingston produced peak Livingston. Rankine takes up the story: “The Livi fans went wild when Rafa scored but they equalised shortly after and then took the lead.
“At that point you’re pretty happy and thinking ‘we’ll take that’ going into the second leg at the Spaghettihad. What followed though was a moment no Livi fan will ever forget.
“Josh Mullin muscled his way through to level the tie at 2-2 and three minutes later it was followed by a goal that epitomised that team.
“The Shaun Byrne press, Scott Pittman jinking past Bilel Mohsni to fire home and spark absolutely wild scenes in the away end.
“To top it off, we got to witness one of the most iconic meltdown in Scottish football history from Willo Flood.”
The Lions dug deep, as they always did, to produce a shock result and leave United rattled - best exemplified by skipper Flood’s red card and petulant reaction.
Livi would go on to claim a 1-1 draw in the home leg a few days later and book their place in the Premiership play-off final.
We all know what happened next, but they may never have got there if not for that remarkable turnaround at Tannadice.
As lifelong Livi fan Rankine says: “After all of the drama that unfolded that night, I started to genuinely believe that we could do the unthinkable - and most fans thought the same.”
