Livingston on Friday performed a dramatic U-turn by agreeing to play Saturday's Irn-Bru Third Division match with Montrose.

The West Lothian club had previously said they would not fulfil a Third Division fixture until they had exhausted the appeals process over their relegation from the First Division. Livi refused to turn out for last weekend's opening match of the season at East Stirlingshire, believing it would prejudice their appeal to their fellow Scottish Football League clubs.

They lost that verdict on Thursday by 16 votes to 10 but now intend to take their case to the Scottish Football Association. In a bid to prevent fixture chaos, the club have agreed to fulfil their Third Division fixtures in the meantime.

However, should they succeed in securing First Division football, the results of all their Third Division matches and those of Airdrie and Cowdenbeath in the First and Second Divisions, respectively, would become null and void.

The latter two clubs were promoted as a result of Livi's relegation, which was their punishment for breaching the league's insolvency rules. Voiding all three clubs' results would likely still produce the fixture chaos the SFL are so desperate to avoid.

Should Livi take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the saga could drag on for months.

Chairman Gordon McDougall, who took up his post yesterday following the Livingston 5 consortium's successful takeover of the club, said on www.bbc.co.uk: "We have decided to play in Division Three of the SFL until determination of all appeals processes open to us are exhausted.

"The new board have discussed the matter at length and have taken the decision to cooperate fully with the member clubs and the SFL.

"Although we intend to pursue our appeal through all the channels open to us, the time constraint in so doing are not conducive to the better interests of the game.

"The fact that the game of football and the fans of several clubs are the ones being affected by this lengthy uncertainty has led us to make this decision."