Livingston clinch third spot

The Livingston chairman Dominic Keane watched his team beat Hearts to finish third in the Premier League in their first season…

The Livingston chairman Dominic Keane watched his team beat Hearts to finish third in the Premier League in their first season in that division.

Keane's Livingston took pride of place on the last day just as they have done so often in a remarkable season.

Goals from Francisco Quino, David Bingham and Barry Wilson gave them a 3-2 away victory over Hearts, for whom a Javier Sanchez Broto own-goal and a late Stevie Fulton penalty counted.

"This is the best time of my career. It's been a fantastic end to a fantastic season," admitted manager Jim Leishman. "We have shown great character and to finish best of the rest outside of the Old Firm is marvellous."

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That win, coupled with Aberdeen's home defeat to a Shaun Maloney goal for Celtic, left Livingston in third place behind Celtic and Rangers.

Maloney provided the inspiration in a poor game with a brilliant free-kick in the 71st minute to win the game for Celtic.

Afterwards, Celtic manager Martin O'Neill insisted he will not be showing skipper Tom Boyd and Morten Wieghorst the door during the summer.

Both players could have played their last games for the club with their contracts set to expire soon.

But the Parkhead boss has hinted both will be offered new deals but admitted the decision to accept them was up to the players themselves.

O'Neill said: "I will sit down and discuss it with them soon.

"I'm quite sure that Tommy will have a number of options and may want to play more regular football elsewhere.

"It's something that he will look at but I'm in no hurry to throw him out and the same is true of Morten.

"Morten is improving and he's been doing well. He's essentially a midfield player but he's slotted in at the back for us reasonably comfortably in the matches."

Aberdeen defender Kevin McNaughton has been dealt another blow to his international career.

The 21-year-old has been ruled out of the Far East tour with Scotland after contracting a virus.

McNaughton was not selected for the game against France in Paris in March as national boss Berti Vogts claimed the youngster had appeared nervous.

But the Pittodrie defender turned in an impressive display against Nigeria last month to secure his place for the trip to South Korea and Hong Kong.

However, Dons manager Ebbe Skovdahl has revealed that the player must now rest on doctor's orders instead of making the long journey to South East Asia.

Skovdahl said: "I have told the SFA that McNaughton cannot go to Korea with the national team.

"He has picked up a virus which demands that he rests and stays calm over the next four weeks.

"The doctor told me will definitely be OK for the pre-season but he hasn't been in for the past few days.

"He's feeling very tired but it's not something that is life-threatening. It gives him problems when he's having to work physically so this is for him to have some rest.

"I haven't spoken to him but he will get his chances late on I'm sure about that."

Rangers, meanwhile, drew 1-1 with Dunfermline at East End Park where Craig Moore gave the visitors the lead before Stevie Crawford equalised late on.

Elswhere there were victories for Hibs for whom Derek Townsley scored against St Johnstone and beleagured Motherwell where Stuart Elliott scored twice with Fabian Caballero getting Dundee's goal.

Kilmarnock and Dundee United drew at Rugby Park.

Now all that remains of the season in Scotland is Wednesday's Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park and the three-match tour of Korea and Hong Kong for the national team.