OPPO: Livingston
VENUE: Hampden
RESULT: 0-2 (Lilley 50, McAllister 52)
TEAM:  Andersson, Smith (McManus, 63 ), Murdock, Doumbe, Edge, Scott Brown, Caldwell, Reid (Dobbie, 70 ), Kevin Thomson, O'Connor, Riordan  
Subs not used: Whittaker, Nicol, Alistair Brown
MAN IN BLACK: Willie Young
ATTENDANCE: 45500

WILLIAMSON’S COMMENTS

"I thought we started off as the better team, and looked the more promising side in the first half, but if you don’t take your chances it’s very difficult. Livingston took their chances and I’ve got to wish them the very best. I’m disappointed with the manner we conceded the goals, but this is not the moment to point the finger at anyone, in cup finals there’s always going to be a loser."

"I couldn’t ask for any more from the guys. We were very positive in our formation from the start, and we ended with five strikers up front. If we could have got a goal we could have gone on to do something, because I thought Livingston were gone, they looked dead on their feet and a few of their players were going down with cramp. But as I said, we couldn’t get that breakthrough."

EVENING NEWS

"Hibs left with 'what if' as Lions lift silverware"

CUP finals can be won or lost through a stroke of magic or a fatal mistake. But more often than not what decides the destination of the trophy is which side takes its chances.

And the fact the CIS Cup is today nestling in the boardroom at Almondvale, Livingston’s first major trophy, rather than Easter Road is down simply to the fact that Davie Hay’s side took the opportunities which came their way while Hibs did not.

It would, of course, be unfair to burden one individual, particularly one as young as 18, with the thought that he might have changed the entire destiny of the match at a stroke, but Hibs fans will today be looking back at the early second-half chance which fell to Scott Brown and wonder: "What if."

THE SCOTSMAN

"A sad end that wasn't in Williamson's script "

THE path to the final was supposed to be a route to glory. After beating both halves of the Old Firm, Hibernian - or so many people presumed - virtually had their name on the CIS Insurance Cup. Never mind that Livingston had already defeated them twice this season, this was a different game, in a knockout competition rather than in the league, and at a different arena.

Adding to the feeling that the side from Easter Road were favourites, almost 40,000 Hibs supporters had bought tickets for the game. Surely they were there to acclaim the lifting of silverware at the end, to give the TV cameras the pictures they needed of a nearly-full Hampden with a victorious, non-Old-Firm support?

But it was not to be. As the second half resumed with the game still goalless, the script remained intact. Then, two goals in two minutes from Livingston deflated the green-and-white dream. Hibs kept on trying all right, and pressed right to the end, but they could not even get the single goal which might give their fans hope. After the joy of beating Celtic in the last eight, and the exhilaration of knocking out Rangers in the semi-final penalty shoot-out, this was a comedown on a massive scale.

THE HERALD

This was a magnificent football story at Hampden Park. Livingston, the club of just nine years of age, and currently in administration, won the CIS Insurance Cup despite being the underdogs in almost every sense against Hibs. Livi rammed a sock in the craw of Hibs' vast support in Glasgow with two rapier strikes early in the second half which dumbfounded their opponents.

Their 2-0 win made a proud day for Dominic Keane, the former Livingston chairman and motivating force behind the club since 1998, whose football future in West Lothian is now in the lap of the gods. Keane has endured an undignified two months since his club was invaded by administrators but this win might go some way to making up for it.

BBC NEWS ONLINE

Marvin Andrews' t-shirt suggested Livingston had a helping hand as they completed a fairytale CIS Cup campaign.
"With God, everything's possible" was emblazoned across the highly-religious defender's chest after a 2-0 win over Hibernian in Livi's first major final.

Captain Stuart Lovell, providing a more down-to-earth explanation, said: "We had a great 10-minute spell, scored two goals and that was it.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE

"Second half agony for Hibees"

Hibs were rattled – and second later found themselves two goals down. A quick ball out of defence found McAllister in acres of space with more than a suspicion of offside. The Livi man was not worried much about that however as he advanced on goal and sent the ball well out of reach of Andersson and into the net. Just seven minutes of the half had gone and Hibs were facing a momentous task to get back into the game and rekindle the dream.

McNamee drifted into the Hibs area in the 56th minute and almost added to the agony for Hibs, his final effort drifting over the bar. Riordan tried to get Hibs moving again on the left, but his ball into the area was mopped up by Andrews with O’Connor waiting in vain for any slip up from the giant defender. A free kick on the wide right 8 yards out gave Thomson a chance to put pressure onto the Livi goal – his cross though found Brown stretching to connect to no avail. A Riordan cross then found Smith at the back post, but the Hibs skipper could not divert his volley towards goal and the chance on the hour mark was gone.