Scottish side Livingston say they’ve pulled off a coup by landing former Gillingham striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

The 29-year-old had his loan spell at Gillingham cut short by former Gills boss Ady Pennock and his only football since then has been with Thai professional side PTT Rayong.

Emmanuel-Thomas scored some special goals for the Gills following his arrival under Justin Edinburgh, hitting seven in 23 league starts, but failed to sparkle under Pennock.

The front-man burst onto the scene at Gillingham, scoring on his debut against Southend United in the league then hitting a brace against the same team in the EFL Cup days later.

Two goals at Shrewsbury came at the end of a great first month at the club. He scored a last minute winner against Northampton Town and a late goal against Rochdale, but that strike was his last for the club. The goals dried up and Edinburgh was sacked midway through the season .

Emmanuel-Thomas was taken off after an hour in Pennock’s first game in charge. He only started two more games for the Gills before being sent back to QPR with two and a half months left of his deal.

The former Arsenal trainee, who excelled during his time at Bristol City, will now hope to get his career back on track in Scotland’s Premiership.

Their club’s head of football David Martindale said: “I certainly believe it’s a bit of a coup to get a player that has played the amount of games Jay has played at a very good level – with over 150 games in the English Championship alone. He’s still only 29 and has a good number of years left playing top level football.

“He has come in and shown a great attitude and integrated into the group very well. He has shown a tremendous desire to get back playing at the top level and we are very excited at what Jay can bring to the table.”

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