Livingston were hauled back from the brink of extinction after the Scottish Football League gave the thumbs-up to a deal which will allow the debt-ridden club to survive.

The Irn-Bru First Division side looked doomed after chairman Angelo Massone refused to walk away for the £25,000 offered to him by interim manager Donald McGruther, of administrator Mazars.

McGruther, appointed by the Court of Session of Friday after West Lothian Council took legal action to reclaim a £330,000 debt, was on the brink of liquidating Livingston.

But following a three-hour meeting with the SFL's management committee on Thursday afternoon, a rescue package led by former Cowdenbeath owner Gordon McDougall and ex-Dumbarton chairman Neil Rankine was given the green light.