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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Callum Carson

Livingston captain Nicky Devlin happy to pass over penalty duties after double miss against Motherwell

Livingston skipper Nicky Devlin has sacked himself from spot-kick duty after missing two in their draw against Motherwell.

The captain was the Lions’ fifth penalty taker of the campaign after hitting a perfect 10 from 10 in a training competition but fluffed his lines twice and is already set to pass the baton to a team-mate.

Jason Holt, Sean Kelly, Esmael Goncalves and Jack Fitzwater have all tried their luck and failed this term while the Lions have missed their last five penalties - which have all been in the last five games.

The 29-year-old saw his first effort saved by former Livi keeper Liam Kelly before bundling home the rebound thanks to a handball.

The spot-kick was re-taken with Kelly ruled to have been off his line - only for Devlin to pick the same location and see the keeper parry the ball a second time.

The draw does take Livi back into the top-six but they rode their luck at times with the Well clattering the woodwork twice in the second-half.

Morgan Boyes nodded the hosts in front on 39 minutes only for Kevin van Veen to turn home his 12th of the season just three minutes later.

Devlin said: “When I bundled it in, it did hit my hand. For the second one, I thought I’d go the same way and that’s poor on my part for that.

“It kind of summed up the game to be honest. I didn’t really think about changing my mind because the ones I hit in training, I usually go that side. I felt that was the best way to go but unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

He added: “I’m not sure what the problem is. We’ve missed quite a few now which is causing us to drop points throughout the season.

“I don’t think I’ll be on the next one. I’m sure wee Bruce (Anderson) will be pushing his name forward for the next one but we need to start converting them.

“It wasn’t a case of being in the back of my mind that I’d missed the last one or anything like that because I hadn’t taken one before this season.

“It’s obviously costing us and I’ve cost us this time so we need to find someone who will score them.

“To be fair, we did a competition a few weeks ago at the club and I was the only person to score all 10 which was why I was on penalties but it’s different doing it in training and in a game.

“I’ve missed two so it’s now up to the manager who hits the next one.”

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