Victory saw us bounce back from midweek disappointment at Celtic whilst condemning Livi to their seventh successive defeat.
They had started the better of the two teams, however by the time the interval came around we were deserving of the lead thanks to Boyle’s effort.
In the second half both teams went for it with Dylan Vente having an effort chalked off by VAR, Ayo Obileye survived a red card call before a dramatic finale had both sets of supporters with their hearts in their mouths.
In the third minute of additional time, Mohammed Sangare went clean through and his shot appeared to have been saved by David Marshall. A VAR review showed it had struck the arm of Paul Hanlon - not the goalkeeper - and would likely have resulted in a late penalty kick only for a further review to show the striker had gone too early and was offside by the smallest of margins.
A draw would maybe have been a fair result given Livingston’s efforts however they couldn’t find a way past Marshall and the victory allows us to leapfrog Hearts in the cinch Premiership table.
Nick Montgomery made four changes from midweek with Hanlon, Vente, Rory Whittaker and Jordan Obita restored to the starting XI.
Rocky Bushiri, Lewis Stevenson and Josh Campbell dropped to the bench, whilst Lewis Miller missed out completely due to a slight knock.
Hosts Livingston won a five-goal thriller at Easter Road when the sides last met, however they have won just once since and went into the contest on the back of six straight defeats, sitting bottom of the cinch Premiership.
Despite their miserable run of form they started brightly, taking the game to us and had an early chance when the ball broke to Obileye on the edge of our box. The defender took too long to get it under control and dragged his shot wide of goal.
Torrential rain battered the artificial surface at a bitterly cold Tony Macaroni Stadium and it is fair to say the home side overcame the elements better than ourselves early on.
Livi had a lot of possession, were moving the ball around quickly and had another chance soon after when Sean Kelly’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide.
The first sign of attacking intent from us came after 17 minutes when Jair was put through on goal only for a heavy touch to allow Shamal George to save. The offside flag was also aloft.
Two minutes later and Obita’s threaded ball found Vente’s run in behind; the striker got to the byline before attempting to find Elie Youan with his cutback only for James Penrice to read the danger and clear.
The deadlock was broken on 28 minutes when Joe Newell’s switch of play found Youan on the left; the Frenchman drove inside and his pass - intended for Jair - fortuitously broke off Obileye into the path of Boyle who calmly passed it into the far corner of the net.
It was Boyle’s seventh goal of the season and his 75th for the Club in 301 appearances.
Two minutes after the restart and some individual brilliance from Jair almost created a second goal when he beat two men inside the Livi box before his powerful strike from a tight angle was punched away at his near post by George.
On the cusp of half-time we had a glorious chance to increase our lead when Jair opened the Livi defence with a threaded pass to Vente who struck a left foot shot on the turn that flashed just wide of George’s far post.
Three minutes into the second half and we had the ball in the net after Vente nodded in from close range at the back post. A VAR review adjudged the striker to be offside and it was a huge let off for goalkeeper George and defender Obileye after they left a bouncing ball inside the box to each other and Vente pounced.
Obileye was again fortunate soon after when we countered and the defender wiped out Boyle as he broke clear. He appeared to be the last man however was only shown a yellow card.
Having survived a couple of scares, the home side forced David Marshall into his first save of note on the hour when Sean Kelly’s effort was pushed away by the diving goalkeeper and, as Scott Pittman looked to capitalise on the rebound, Obita got back to make a timely block.
Five minutes later and Marshall was again called into action, this time to make himself big and block a close-range effort from Bruce Anderson as Livi cranked up the pressure.
Momentum was with the home side and to try and counter it Dylan Levitt was replaced by Jimmy Jeggo for the last 20 minutes.
Livingston remained on the front foot and substitute Stephen Kelly went close with a rising effort from the edge of the box after Newell had been caught in possession.
With 12 minutes remaining, we had a good chance on the counterattack when Youan broke down the right - only for his low cross to fall just beyond Boyle in the middle.
Five minutes of additional time were signalled and in the third of those we had a huge let off after Sangare went clean through and his net bound shot was blocked by the arm of Hanlon. Fortuitously for us, the Livingston sub was marginally offside in the build up and the decision went in our favour.
Livi pushed us hard until the end however we stood strong to their pressure and held on to claim three valuable points that move us fourth in the cinch Premiership this evening.
Livingston: George, Brandon (Anderson 56‘), Devlin, Nottingham, Obileye (St Kelly 73’), Penrice, Se Kelly, Holt, Pittman, Guthrie (Sangare 80’), Shinnie (Parkes 73’). Substitutes not used: Hamilton, Welch-Hayes, Nouble, Lloyd, Lawal.
Hibernian: Marshall, Whittaker (Campbell 78’), Fish, Hanlon, Obita, Levitt (Jeggo 69’), Newell, Boyle, Vente (Doidge 86’), Youan, Jair. Substitutes not used: Wollacott, Stevenson, Harbottle, Delferriere, Rocky, Molotnikov.
Referee: Grant Irvine.
Attendance: 3,463.