Livingston had numerous chances, but couldn't beat Benjamin Siegrist until Ryan Edwards' late own-goal moved Martindale's men move above United, who drop to sixth.

"The players should take massive pride in that," Martindale said. "We carried a large threat on the counter. We're probably disappointed we didn't do a little more in the opposition box, but we came away with a victory."

United had not won at Livingston in eight visits since February 2005 but make a splendid start in attempt number nine, with Liam Smith putting them in front with just two minutes gone.

Tony Watt did brilliantly to get to the bye-line and get a cross in, and Smith bravely got in front of his man at the back post to stab home from close range.

Watt then pulled up injured with what looked like a calf injury and, from then, Livingston took control. Opportunities came and went before they levelled with a superb goal of their own.

Bruce Anderson got onto a flick-on from Joel Nouble and skipped past his marker, before picking out the unmarked Pittman. He set himself up with a lovely first touch and fired past Benjamin Siegrist.

The sides then exchanged good chances. Ayo Obileye headed over from a corner, before the visitors swept forward and Ilmari Niskanen's timid header from Ian Harkes' cross was easily saved by Max Stryjek.

Livingston finished the half strongly, but couldn't truly test Siegrist. The lively Alan Forrest - linked with a summer move to Tannadice - and James Penrice both fired over the bar, before Nicky Devlin shot straight at the United keeper.

The second half started slowly, with very few moments of note until the contest sprung into life on the hour mark, with chances at both ends.

Nicky Clark could only fire into the side netting for the visitors after Marc McNulty played him in. Minutes later, Siegrist gifted a chance to Livingston as his clearance went straight to Forrest, before getting down well to save with his legs.

The Swiss was called back into action to deny Forrest again high away to his right as Livingston pushed hard for a winner.

McNulty had the best chance for United, but he headed over the bar after Kevin McDonald's volley sliced towards him, and the game looked like it would end level.

However, with time running out, Edwards stretched to meet Nicky Devlin's cross, and the United captain could only put the ball past his own keeper and into the net for the second time in five days, after his weekend own goal at Aberdeen.

The visitors pushed forward in the closing stages, but never looked like scoring again, and Martindale and co were left to celebrate another impressive win.

Man of the Match - Joel Nouble

The Livingston striker linked the play superbly, and was a thorn in United's side all evening

What did we learn?

All the talk in the build-up to this set of fixtures was about the race for Europe, with just three points separating fourth and ninth in the table.

Livingston have leapt to the front of that pack with just four games to go until the split - they were very impressive going forward, and on another night could have scored more against a fragile United side.

For United, it is now nine games since they won at Livingston, Stevie Crawford and James Grady netting in a top-flight win all the way back in February 2005.

What did they say?

Livingston manager David Martindale: "It's three points, two goals, and that's us up to fourth.

"It's going to be a difficult game against Celtic [on Sunday]. It's going to be a different game to previous occasions here. It's probably more of the same though - we'll let momentum take its course."

Dundee United manager Tam Courts: "Really disappointed. Like Saturday we became too passive and it's almost like we were trying to protect our lead, when the chance was there to potentially kill the game off.

"We're still in a healthy position in the league, but we need to capitalise on home advantage at the weekend and right a few wrongs after tonight."

What's next?

Dundee United host Hearts on Saturday (15:00 GMT), while Livingston face Celtic in Sunday's early kick-off (12:00 GMT).