Carey wonder strike puts St Johnstone into semi-final with win over Livingston

St Johnstone have defeated Livingston at Almondvale to book their place at Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The Perth side join Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen in the last four of the competition after a 1-0 win on Monday night.

They will now return to the national stadium for the first time since their 2021 Scottish Cup win that secured a historic cup double.

Graham Carey broke the deadlock in an otherwise cagey encounter in West Lothian when he struck after coming off the bench in the second half to produce one of the best goals you are likely to see in the competition this season.

St Johnstone had the first sight of goal in the opening stages when Stephen Duke-McKenna drove down the left hand side before crossing for Jason Holt whose effort was well saved by Jerome Prior.

Livi had their first attempt just two minutes later when a header from Andrew Shinnie was easily collected by Andy Fisher.

Adama Sidibeh had the ball in the net on the 20 minute mark but the St Johnstone forward’s goal was ruled out for offside.

Robbie Muirhead came close to giving the hosts a first-half lead when he collected the ball inside the box before flashing his shot just wide of the post.

Muirhead, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Saturday, came close again towards the end of the half when he rose highest to head towards goal, but once again failed to hit the target and it remained 0-0 going into the break.

Carey opened the scoring with just under 20 minutes remaining with a wonderful long-range strike that flew past Prior and into the Livi net.

The Irishman had only been on the park a matter of minutes when he tried his luck from range and found the top corner to make it 1-0 to St Johnstone.

The Saints had a few opportunities after that to put the game to bed in the closing stages as they turned the screw on the Championship side.

But Carey’s strike proved to be decisive and was enough to send Simo Valakari’s men into the draw for the next round.