Livingston

More late heartbreak for Livingston.

What did you make of the performance in Perth and are you still carrying hope that the great escape can be pulled off?

Let us know.

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Livingston manager David Martindale told BBC Scotland: "I'd have taken a point before the game. We're a point closer to Ross County. We're a point closer to where we were a 3 o'clock today.

"Disappointing to lose the goal late on. I'm not going to say either side should have won the game, there wasn't much in it. It didn't go any different from how I expected it to go.

"I think their fighting spirit has always been there. I think you can tell they're doing everything they can to stay in the Premiership. They're all in there gutted."

Asked if he still believes if he can keep the side up if they're within touching distance at the split, he said: "100%. 100%. 100%. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that."

Sean McGill
BBC Sport Scotland

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This looked to be a season-defining week for Livingston as they faced three encounters with teams that could feasibly be hunted down in their efforts to pull off the great escape.

Highland heartbreak at Ross County was followed by defeat at home to Motherwell after taking the lead. With 10 games to go before today, it felt like their meeting at McDiarmid had an air of now or never.

And that's how they played for much of the 110 minutes or so in Perth. Charging around and defending with confidence had them on track for a huge win, especially considering Ross County's defeat in the capital.

Yet again, their backline couldn't hold on until the final whistle and the heads dropped lower than perhaps they ever have in this season of sucker punch after sucker punch.

They may yet stumble off the canvas, but as the clock ticks down, the knockout blow seems increasingly inevitable.

Despite the late equaliser, the Livingston defence still showed their strength for much of the afternoon.

Michael Nottingham appeared the most solid of the bunch, and always had his head up in the hope of pushing his side forward.

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David Martindale makes three changes to the Livingston side that fell to demoralising defeat against Motherwell on Wednesday.

Cristian Montano makes his first start since 20 January, drafted in alongside Michael Devlin and Andrew Shinnie.

Out go Jamie Brandon, Bruce Anderson and Joel Nouble.

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St Johnstone: Mitov, Keltjens, McGowan, Gordon, Robinson, Phillips, Sprangler, M. Smith, Jaiyesimi, Kimpioka.

Substitutes: Richards, Gallacher, Considine, May, Carey, Kucheriavyi, Sidibeh, K. Smith, C. Smith.

Livingston: George, Devlin, Nottingham, Obileye, Kelly, MacKay, Carson, Holt, Montano Shinnie, Yengi.

Substitutes: McGovern, Anderson, Stephen Kelly, Brandon, Bradley, Nouble, Sangare, Guthrie, Culbert.

St Johnstone remain without striker Adama Sidibeh, plus long-term absentees Ali Crawford, Drey Wright, Ross Sinclair and Cammy MacPherson.

Livingston manager David Martindale is likely to be selecting from the same squad he had at his disposal for the midweek defeat by Motherwell.

James Penrice, Shaun Donnellan and Scott Pittman are all set to remain on the sidelines along with goalkeeper Jack Hamilton.

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Sean Kelly hopes the "volatile" nature of the bottom six will give Livingston a chance of survival - after admitting they deserve to be at the foot of the table.

The Lions are currently seven points behind 11th-placed Ross County, having won just one of their last 20 Premiership matches.

“I think the size of the task speaks for itself, it’s pretty obvious for all to see. It’s obviously going to be difficult,” he said ahead of this weekend's trip to St Johnstone.

“We just need to take it a game it a time and look to close the gap as much as possible, especially going into the split because we know after the split, things can be quite volatile when you’re playing the teams round about you.

“We just need to get a bit closer before the split comes."

Livingston's 1-0 win over St Mirren last month was the side's last league points, and Kelly admitted Livingston's position at the foot of the table was earned.

“I think there are times this season when you can pick out certain moments and certain games when people might think ‘Livi have done alright’ but in the main, the league table doesn’t lie,” said the defender.

“Performances as a whole, over the course of a full game, have ultimately not been good enough.”

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We offered you the chance to submit questions to one of our Sportscene pundits.

Q: Would you get rid of VAR?

I don’t envisage Scotland making a drastic call about VAR while other nations still operate with it. We need to accept it’s here to stay.

Within football there has to be an element of human error, players make mistakes, but the fact we’ve seen a big increase in errors means there’s clear improvement required.

That goes beyond Scottish football, though, you see that all over the place. What we need to do here is continue to upskill the referees. Their performances need to improve and there needs to be more accountability.

These incorrect decisions are very costly for clubs. Recognising an error is okay, but you can’t be offering out apologies every week.

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We offered you the chance to submit questions to one of our Sportscene pundits.

Q: How do you see the relegation fight unfolding?

The beauty of the split means every game will have a purpose.

With Bojan Miovski, Aberdeen will have enough because they have the ability to score goals.

Motherwell come into that same category with the additions they’ve made and the form of Theo Bair and Blair Spittal.

I think Livingston will put up a fight but will ultimately go down automatically. That leaves Ross County and St Johnstone to fight it out to avoid the play-off.

Despite going in front after just three minutes against Motherwell on Wednesday night, it was another disappointment for David Martindale's Livingston as their task of staying in the top flight gets even tougher.

What should Marindale do with his team for Saturday's trip to face St Johnstone?

Pick your starting line-up here.

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland

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When you talk to David Martindale after a football match, one thing you can guarantee whether his team has won, lost or drawn, is unvarnished honesty.

“We’re really fragile at this point, aren’t we?”, he admitted after the damaging home defeat to Motherwell. It’s not a term any manager wants to be using to describe his team, particularly not when fighting against relegation.

The emotion was etched all over the manager in the aftermath of the game, one in which Livingston started well, got themselves in front then proceeded to shrink into their shells. “Passive” as Martindale described them.

They have fallen behind in recent matches against Partick Thistle and Ross County and there has been a reaction, but that was nowhere to be seen here. No late salvo, no kitchen sink thrown at Motherwell, just the slow descent of a team who looked powerless to halt the slide towards its inevitable fate.

You could say the same in a wider sense about Livi’s battle against the drop as they sit seven points adrift at the bottom with 10 games remaining, but Martindale is not one for standing back and just letting the chips fall where they may.

“We need to keep swinging, we need to keep fighting. We need to believe and we need our fortunes to change very quickly.”

If there is to be any hope of a remarkable escape, the catalyst has to come at St Johnstone on Saturday.

Livingston fans, have you got any questions for one of our Sportscene pundits after that disappointing defeat to Motherwell?

On the game or the season as a whole, send them over via this link.

Livingston manager David Martindale: "The start of the second half we lost an early goal and we are really fragile at that point.

"I think the game plan worked ok in the first half, we then had two or three half decent counters.

"In the second half we changed the shape slightly, didn’t stop a cross in the wide area, they get in, we don’t track the runner and they score. From that point onwards we looked really fragile and I have got to take responsibility for that.

"A second goal would have helped but I don’t think we posed enough of an attacking threat in the second half.

"We are even more adrift now, the hole we are in gets a wee bit bigger. I am not going to stop fighting, I will be here until matchday 38 and I will make sure my players do the same."

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Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland

Livingston’s battle against the drop is looking more and more like a lost cause. They made the perfect start here through Teti Yengi’s early opener, but aside from a couple of half-chances in the first-half, they disappeared into their shell.

They looked fairly comfortable in the opening half-hour when defending that lead, but they seemed powerless to change things up when the tide turned in Motherwell’s favour.

Seven points adrift of Ross County having played a game more and just 10 games to go, Livi really are staring down the barrel now.

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