Livingston

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David Martindale has defended Derek Adams' rant about the standard of Scottish football, saying the Ross County boss is "educated enough" on the subject.

The former Morecombe manager slated the level of football being played in the Premiership after his side's 1-0 defeat to Dundee on Saturday, saying: "I've left a team down in League Two that's miles better than this team. Miles. That's saying something. We had the bottom budget in League Two, and they were 100 times better than this."

“Derek’s managed down south quite a bit, he’s now managing back up in Scotland so I think he’s entitled to his own opinion,” said Martindale. “It’s more of an educated opinion than what I can give you because I’ve not done what Derek’s done so he’s probably well within his rights to say it.

“He’s maybe articulated it wrong, I don’t know, I’ve not watched it back, but he’s educated enough in terms of his CV to have an opinion on the subject.

“I had a conversation with someone else who has managed down south at that level and in Scotland and it wasn’t Derek Adams. And privately that was the information, the consensus I was kind of getting from them.

“But I go back to recruitment. What markets can you recruit from? Me personally, I’m recruiting from National League, National League North, National League South.”

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David Martindale will believe Livingston can get out of the situation they're in.

But the fact of the matter is, they aren't winning games and they aren't scoring goals. There's only so long that trend can continue if they have any hope of staying in the top-flight.

There's only so long they can go on just looking to draw or to keep a clean sheet. Something has to change.

They had a huge opportunity to win on Saturday, but Bruce Anderson missed a penalty and passed up a huge opportunity to give them what would have been a morale-boosting win.

I'm not sure if they'll have the funds to go and freshen up in January, but it's something Martindale will certainly be hoping to do.

The fact that they're not cut adrift gives them a bit of hope, but for me, it would have to be a monumental turnaround for them to have a chance for survival.

James McFadden was speaking to BBC Scotland's Sean McGill

• Livingston have failed to score in their last seven games in the Scottish Premiership, their longest run of games without scoring a goal in the competition.

• Kilmarnock attempted 24 crosses in this match, higher than their season average of 23.6 in the Scottish Premiership.

• Bruce Anderson attempted four shots in this game, the highest total for a Livingston player in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Kyle Vassell has attempted five shots, the first time he has attempted at least five shots in a match in the Scottish Premiership since facing Dundee on 23 September 2023.

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We asked for your views after Livingston missed a late penalty in their goalless draw with Kilmarnock...

Neil: I would like to see some of our more creative players getting a game though, Stephen Kelly, Anderson and Bradley. We are not getting results anyway so it couldn't be any worse. If we go down, let's go down punching, or roaring!

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Were you there as Livi halted the losing run, but made it seven games without a goal?

We want to hear your thoughts on the performance, and whether your side can get out of the basement battle with their Premiership status in tact.

Let us know.

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Livingston manager David Martindale told BBC Scotland: "There was nothing at all in the game. If I take the penalty out the game, you're probably looking at 0-0 and thinking that's a true reflection of the game.

"We've had a free shot and not hit the target from the penalty, that's disappointing. We're all behind wee Brucey [Anderson].

"When you're going through period of adversity, everything goes against you."

"In normal circumstances, you've got your point and a clean sheet and you're dusting yourself down and moving on, but it doesn't feel like that at this point in time.

"It's just about every one of sticking together and getting the club to where it needs to be. Now the preparation goes to the Aberdeen game."

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Sean McGill, BBC Sport Scotland

Put simply, neither side were good enough in the context of their respective ambitions this season.

Kilmarnock harbour European hopes after backing up their first away win of the season at Pittodrie with a rousing victory over the champions.

If they want to pack their suitcases and head on their travels next summer, failing to pick off the division's confidence-devoid bottom club won't do much for their continental chances.

And for Livingston, if they're to pick themselves off the floor, they have to take golden chances on the sparse occasions they're offered.

In truth though, if Anderson had stuck away his spot-kick, it would have been three points that papered over the cracks of another turgid performance that made it seven games without a goal.

The draw does stop the rot somewhat, but it's still clear that Martindale has significant work to do if his side are to avoid the drop as the teams around them pick up points.

Brought in with the task of adding more attacking threat, Joel Nouble was the only player Kilmarnock players seemed to fear.

He didn't get anywhere near his rampaging and skilful best, but Livingston look a more capable team when the forward is in from the off.

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Looking to break their seven-game losing streak, David Martindale makes just one change to the Livingston side that lost out to Hibs last weekend.

Joel Nouble comes in to add attacking impetus, as Jamie Brandon drops to the bench.

• Follow our live coverage

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Livingston: George, Devlin, Obileye, Nottingham, Sean Kelly, Shinnie, Holt, Penrice, Pittman, Nouble, Guthrie.

Substitutes: Hamilton, Montano, Parkes, Anderson, Stephen Kelly, Brandon, Welch-Hayes, Bradley, Sangare.

Kilmarnock: Dennis, Mayo, Deas, Findlay, Ndaba, Armstrong, Watson, Lyons, Polworth, Watkins, Vassell.

Substitutes: O'Hara, Sanders, Davies, McKenzie, Magennis, Murray, Warnock, Mackay-Steven, Dallas.

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Clubs will be asked to vote on an SPFL resolution proposing a ban on artificial surfaces in the top flight before the start of next season. (Daily Mail, print edition)

Read the rest of Saturday's Scottish gossip.

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Livingston are trying to get wide man Cristian Montano back to fitness following a hamstring injury.

Kilmarnock have Kyle Magennis back in the squad after a long-term hamstring injury, while David Watson returns from suspension.

But fellow midfielder Liam Donnelly is a doubt with a tight hamstring, while Innes Cameron remains out.

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Seven defeats on the bounce. No goals scored in their past six games. Twelve goals shipped since early October.

The stats are damning for one of the Premiership's traditionally resilient clubs, Livingston.

And the outlook looks challenging. Buoyed by a win over Celtic, Kilmarnock visit West Lothian on Saturday then Livi face Aberdeen and Rodgers' men on the road.

In previous seasons, manager David Martindale has been defiant about his team's hopes. This term, the tone has been somewhat more cautious. Livingston are in a relegation scrap and Martindale is not pretending otherwise.

It's a five-point gap to St Johnstone in second bottom going into this weekend. Martindale's men need points quickly to avoid being cut further adrift.

Read the rest of the Premiership picks here.

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David Martindale has heaped praise on Kilmarnock and their manager Derek McInnes, but insists his side can beat them on Saturday in order to end their recent woes.

Livi sit bottom of the Scottish Premiership, five points behind St Johnstone, and have lost their last seven games.

“I think Derek’s done an unbelievable job,” said the Livi boss. “He’s spent his budget very well. He’s had two or three windows to get his identity in the team.

“I’ve said ever since he was at Aberdeen and even after he left Aberdeen, he’s one of the best managers in the Premiership and I think he’s again shown that with his Kilmarnock team.

“Against Derek, you always get a difficult game of football. He knows the league inside out and he always has his team extremely well-drilled.

“He went through a period of adversity last year and he kept Kilmarnock in the Premiership and now look what he’s doing this year. Two wins over Celtic and one over Rangers, that shows you the skill-set of the manager.

“I don’t care who’s coming here, we’re going out to win,” Martindale added. “I’m sitting here lauding the achievements of Kilmarnock but we’ve been there in previous seasons.

“Our job on Saturday is to take three points and I think we’re more than capable of doing that but I’m under no illusions how hard that’s going to be.”

• Livingston have won five of their last six home league games against Kilmarnock (L1), including each of their last three in succession.

• Kilmarnock have won both of their last two league games against Livingston, having lost five in a row to them before this.

• Livingston have lost each of their last seven league games. The last side to lose eight in a row in the Scottish Premiership was St Johnstone in January 2022.

• Kilmarnock have won both of their last two league games. Only once since their return to the top-flight in 2022 have they won three in a row, doing so in May/August this year, while Killie could win successive away Scottish Premiership matches for the first time since October 2020 – the second of which was at Livingston.

• Only Luis Palma (6) has more Scottish Premiership assists this season than Kilmarnock’s Daniel Armstrong (5). Armstrong has scored (3) or assisted (5) 44% of Killie’s league goals this season, with only Lawrence Shankland for Hearts (47%) being involved in a higher share of a side’s Scottish Premiership goals in 2023-24.

Livingston need a change in fortunes after seven defeats in a row when they host Kilmarnock on Saturday.

What changes would you make if you were the manager? Tell us here.

Stuart Barrie, Livingston fan

We’re bottom of the league, not scored in 686 minutes but if we’re going to go down, we need to go down fighting - just like we did against Hibs.

Once again, I believe there wasn’t much between us and our opponents. This time the players seemed motivated and we even had some actual shots on goal.

The first 15 minutes was all Livingston and we took the game to Hibs. They had pace on the break but we largely coped with their attacks, so it was a tad annoying when they scored.

Hibs keeper David Marshall made a few cracking saves and VAR should have been kinder to us, with two strong penalty claims denied. Even though VAR came out in our favour to chop off an offside Hibs ‘goal’ I still don’t like it. It’s not our plastic pitch that’s ruining football, it’s VAR!

Every player showed they were up for the fight in this game, none more so than James Penrice. I thought Andrew Shinnie and Kurtis Guthrie had a good game too.

We were more solid at the back with Ayo Obileye making a welcome return, so there are positives to take.

I think the key thing for us is to get the first goal and give us something to build on. We’ve just not got the confidence to fight our way back into games at the moment.

If we play like we did against Hibs, we may not win them all, but at least we can hold our heads up high.

Euan Rankine from the Talk Livi podcast wants Livingston manager David Martindale to let players “off the leash” in order for them to be creative and engineer opportunities in games.

Despite a tough start to Livingston’s league campaign, Rankine believes that they have the players that could get Livi “out of this mess”.

“I always thought this season was going to be our toughest, you look at the budget cuts, which the manager has spoken a lot about in the media, and we do have the lowest budget in the division,” said Bell on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.

“So, every season is going to be a challenge for us, but I always thought this year was going to be the toughest, given how we finished last year.

“There were bad traits just setting in at the tail end of last year and it's lingering back into the side in this kind of recent run of form.

“Unless the manager changes his approach in terms of trying to go and win games of football and in terms of trying to cause teams problems instead of always thinking about how to be compact and stop teams from playing and stop teams creating chances, I can't see us getting out of it if I'm totally honest.

“It pains me to say that because I do think we've got the players at our disposal that could get us out of this mess if the manager lets them off the leash a little bit and allows them to be a bit more creative and allows them to create opportunities in games.

“At this moment in time, I just feel like he's stuck in a rut, of a way of thinking and I can't see us getting out of it.”

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