Cowdenbeath skipper John Armstrong led from the front in this crucial win for his team in their bid to avoid the Championship relegation play-offs.
The centre-back scored twice, and defended superbly, as the Blue Brazil moved to within four points of Alloa Athletic with two games to play.
The former Hearts defender said: “I don’t often score doubles, but that was only the icing on the cake, the win was the important thing for me.
“To give ourselves any chance of avoiding the play-offs we have to win all of our last three games and look for help from other sides, but with Alloa still having to play Dundee and Falkirk, we have to ensure we get the wins we need.
“That is one down and two to go, but we know that there will be no gifts on offer from Raith Rovers, at Kirkcaldy, this Saturday.
“We played well against Livi and scored some good goals but now we have to do it all again this coming weekend.”
Armstrong put Cowdenbeath ahead in time added on at the break with a powerful header from Rory McKeown’s corner-kick.
Four minutes after the break Cowden top scorer Kane Hemmings made it 2-0, with Livi claiming the striker was off-side. Referee George Salmond waved play on, and the marksman made no mistake.
Fifteen minutes later Hemmings broke through again and finished in style.
With 18 minutes left, striker Greg Stewart beat two defenders and sent over a lovely cross which Armstrong headed home to complete the scoring.
Hemmings said: “We knew we needed to beat Livingston and we turned on a good performance and while I scored twice I maybe should have scored more.”
Cowden boss Jimmy Nicholl said: “It took us a bit of time to get a grip of the match, but once we scored the opener they had to come out at us and we were able to use the extra space to good advantage.
“It was a wholehearted performance but we need the same type of show against Raith and Queen of the South and the same type of finishing.”
Livi went into the game still in the race for a promotion play-off place so their boss, John McGlynn, was bitterly disappointed with the performance.
“I felt we were unlucky to be behind at half-time but losing the second goal so early after the interval gave Cowdenbeath confidence and we never really recovered.”