Livingston1 Rangers 1

Photo by Jeff Holmes Rangers failed to take full advantage of their game in hand over their Scottish Championship play-off rivals as they were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom club Livingston. After a first half which was sorely lacking in meaningful action, the first four minutes of the second period produced two goals. Livingston, who were looking for a fourth consecutive win, opened the scoring through Myles Hippolyte's free-kick but Marius Zaliukas soon levelled with a glancing header. Haris Vuckic hit the post for the visitors moments later but Rangers could not maintain the pressure as Livingston battled to a deserved point. The draw puts Rangers one point ahead of Hibernian in second place with three games left of the regular season, while Livingston cut their deficit on Alloa to two points. Rangers skipper Lee McCulloch returned from the two-match ban he received following his sending-off against Hearts. Darren McGregor moved to right-back while Robbie Crawford dropped to the bench. Stuart McCall's side had an early let-off when Hippolyte had a seventh-minute goal ruled out. Cammy Bell had dropped the ball into his path after coming for Jason Talbot's cross on the edge of the six-yard box but referee Greg Aitken ruled he had been fouled when Jordan White jumped with him. Rangers improved slightly after a scrappy start, which was punctuated by several fireworks being let off in the Rangers end, but it took 25 minutes for Vuckic to get the first effort on target. Darren Jamieson was comfortably down to hold his 25-yard drive. Vuckic was then fortunate to escape without at least a yellow card when he elbowed Talbot in the face 25 yards from his own goal after the Livingston captain had challenged McCulloch. Aitken saw the incident from little over five yards away but decided a free-kick was the only punishment necessary and Keaghan Jacobs wasted the set-piece. Rangers continued to edge territory and possession without making inroads, although Kenny Miller got a sight of goal after Nicky Law's corner broke to him 14 yards out but he could not keep his shot down. Hippolyte took just 90 seconds of the second half to open the scoring when he curled home from 25 yards into the roof of the net after McCulloch had fouled White. But Rangers were level two minutes later following another set-piece. Vuckic swung in a free-kick and Zaliukas back-headed it into the far corner from 12 yards. The flurry of action continued with McGregor having a powerful shot beaten away by Jamieson at his near post before Vuckic turned Miller's cutback off the inside of the post. The excitement tailed off but the second half remained highly competitive with Livingston giving as good as they got. Bell held an overhead kick from Kyle Jacobs before saving Scott Pittman's header seconds after the attacking midfielder went down under a Zaliukas challenge inside the box. And there was drama in injury-time when Vuckic went down over the trailing leg of Talbot inside the Livingston box, but Aitken booked the Slovenian for diving.