Livingston

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David Martindale says “it is nice” to have his name linked with other jobs, but the Livingston boss refused to be drawn on reports suggesting he is a frontrunner for the St Johnstone vacancy.

The Perth side “parted company” with Steven MacLean on Sunday and the McDiarmid Park board are rumoured to be keen on Martindale.

“I’m not wanting to sit here and talk about St Johnstone, if I’m honest,” the Livingston manager said.

“I’ve got a game on Wednesday coming off the back of two poor results, so my focus is on Hearts at Tynecastle.”

On MacLean’s exit, Martindale said he was “disappointed” and “sad” to see the news of his St Johnstone departure.

“It’s horrible because it’s just become part of football,” he added. “There’s an acceptance that managers are losing their jobs after three to six months, 10 months, 12 months.

“It’s just the evolution of football. It’s not great. I think continuity builds success, but I don’t know what’s happening at other clubs.”

St Johnstone CEO Stan Harris could explore a move for Livingston manager David Martindale after sacking Steven MacLean. (Scottish Sun)

Former Heart of Midlothian manager Robbie Neilson and ex-Inverness boss Billy Dodds are set to be discussed by the Saints board in addition to Martindale. (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Monday's gossip.

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Were you at Livingston's 2-0 home defeat to Dundee or following from elsewhere?

Either way, we want your views on the match here.

Livingston manager David Martindale: "Probably got what they deserved.

"The sending off is a red card all day long if I’m honest. Really, really disappointed and I’ll deal with that internally.

"Then the game gets hard with 10 men, but we get done with two set-plays and I'm not putting that down to 10 men. Maybe how the ball got into the final third to concede the set-play but we’ve got to defend the set-plays better.

"We need to get some centre halves as quick as possible as, I don’t think there’s any getting away from it and I’ve got to take responsibility, we’re not defending out 18-yard box as well as we were at the start of the season.

"A couple of one-v-ones in it which are really poor from my point of view.

"To be sitting here with a centre half scoring two goals against you are home is really disappointing."

Kenny Crawford, BBC Sport Scotland at Tony Macaroni Arena

Not a huge amount of positives for Livingston to take from this match.

Christian Montano was one of their bright sparks before his dismissal. The Colombian had brought some rare joy with a good run and rising shot.

Davie Martindale will be eager to take something from Tynecastle on Wednesday after two defeats on the trot.

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Daniel Mackay was an effective attacking outlet for his side on an afternoon where they failed to rarely venture forward with real intent.

David Martindale makes two changes to the side that fell to a 3-1 defeat last time out against Killie.

Scott Pittman and Mo Sangare both drop to the bench with the latter recovering from a knock in time to be passed fit to feature in the matchday squad.

Cristian Montano and Steven Bradley both come into the starting line-up with defensive regular Ayo Obilieye still not fit enough to be included this afternoon.

Livingston: George, Penrice, Devlin, De Lucas, Montano, Holt, Kelly, Anderson, MacKay, Bradley, Nouble.

Substitutes: Hamilton, Pittman, Kelly, Brandon, Welch-Hayes, Sangare, Shinnie, Lloyd, Guthrie.

Dundee: Carson, Donnelly, Portales, Shaughnessy, Beck, McGhee, Boateng, Sylla, Cameron, McCowan, Rudden.

Substitutes: Legzdin, Kerr, Tiffoney, Bakayoko, Pineda, Lamie, Ashcroft, Robertson, Howley.

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Livingston defender Ayo Obileye is expected to return after missing last weekend's defeat at Kilmarnock through injury, while Mo Sangare has recovered from the knock that forced him off at Rugby Park. Michael Nottingham is close to a comeback following an Achilles problem.

Scott Tiffoney, Zach Robinson and Lyall Cameron return for Dundee but Josh Mulligan is set for a lay-off after hernia surgery.

Image source, SNS

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Steven Bradley insists he is ready to “kick on and find a bit of form” following a frustrating start to the season at Livingston.

The 21-year-old winger is determined to get more game-time after only making three substitute appearances this term.

"I came here in January and I played a lot but since the new season started I've not played as much as I would have liked,” said Bradley.

"I had a tough pre-season with injuries, and trying to get back in when the team was doing well was hard so I've just got to be patient.

"I feel like I'm ready to get back on the pitch and show the manager what I can do and hopefully stay in the team. It has been hard since the summer because of the injuries but I feel good now and I feel ready."

Bradley's confidence has been boosted by his late call-up to the Scotland Under-21 squad for this month's wins over Hungary and Malta.

"It came as a surprise," he added. "I was a late call-up after people dropped out but even just being in the mix and getting my first call-up to any Scotland squad was a good moment for me.

"It was a good experience, I knew a few of the boys and they were good with me and welcomed me in, I settled in well.

"It gives you a wee confidence boost to know that even when you're not playing you're still thought about and you're not at the back of everybody's mind. It's definitely an incentive to try and get my form going."

• Livingston have won their last four home league games against newly-promoted sides, including two against Dundee back in 2021-22. Their last such defeat came against Hearts in December 2021 (0-1).

• Dundee have lost their last three Scottish Premiership meetings with Livingston, as many defeats as in their previous 17 top-flight league games against them (W7 D7).

• Livingston won their last home league game against Motherwell 2-0, their first league victory on home soil this season. Indeed, they’ve now only lost one of their last nine league games at the Tony Macaroni Arena (W4 D4).

• Dundee’s last two league games have both ended goalless against Hibs and Ross County; the last side to record three successive goalless draws in the Scottish Premiership was Hibs in March 2022.

• No player has created more chances from open play in the Premiership this season than Dundee’s Luke McCowan (17 – level with James Tavernier). Indeed, of the five occasions a player has created at least five chances from open play in a game, McCowan accounts for two of them (5 against St Johnstone in September and 5 against Ross County last time out).

David Martindale's Livingston host Dundee in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

Would you make changes to the side that lost 3-1 at Kilmarnock last time out?

Pick your Livi team here.

Livingston manager David Martindale insists that the inconsistency of most teams in the Scottish Premiership shows the competitive nature of the league.

Just three points separate Hearts in fourth and Ross County in 11th, with no team other than the Old Firm able to win more than half their league games this season.

“There are two ways to look at it,” Martindale said. “We could look at it and say, ‘teams are struggling’, but I think it’s testament to the teams that are in the league.

“It’s more competitive so it’s more difficult for teams, including ourselves, to go out and string together that run, that momentum, that you need.

“Everybody probably outside the Old Firm at this point in time is more than capable of taking points off one another so it’s a really competitive environment.

“We’re a small league, there’s only 12 teams. Take the big two out of the league and everybody else is battling for points off one another.

“If you go to England there are maybe four teams fighting for the title out of 20 teams in the league, so percentage-wise it’s probably very similar.

“I think it is a really competitive league. I think you’ll see a lot of chopping and changing of league positions in the coming weeks and months and nobody’s going to know what’s going on until probably matchday 33 (when the league splits).

“I think sometimes we can look at these things as a negative but I genuinely see it as a positive.”

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Stuart Barrie, Livingston fan

It was always going to be a tough game at Killie in the so-called El Plastico. Derek McInnes' side have beaten the Old Firm already this season on their patch so it was more in hope than expectation we went to Ayrshire.

The hope didn’t last too long as we were behind quite quickly. We did pull one back from another expertly taken penalty from goal machine Sean Kelly but Killie quickly swatted us aside to notch another couple of goals.

I’ve seen a few Livi fans say it was a performance that was akin to our disastrous end of season run. Even manager David Martindale said we were bullied in the game. That’s got to be the worrying thing - for Livi to lose the physical battle this easily. Sure, other teams know what we’re about and up the ante playing us but that shouldn’t stop us playing with the intensity and application we are renowned for. 

Next up for Livi are Dundee, who are only three points behind us, so we really need put a bit of distance between us in the table. There’s a good rivalry between the two teams and a wee bit of history from when we relegated them so this will definitely be a game we will need to have the sleeves rolled up and the approach set to ‘get stuck in’.

Livingston boss David Martindale reckons Kyle Vassell’s storming performance at Rugby Park was reminiscent of Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes at his Lions peak.

Vassell’s double helped Killie triumph 3-1 for their first Premiership win since the opening day.

"I thought Vassell was really good for Kilmarnock,” said Martindale.

"There were flashes of big Lyndon Dykes when he played for us. He was winning aerial duels, he was roughing up centre-halves and linking play.

"I don't think we did any of that ourselves until we put Joel Nouble up top with Kurtis Guthrie. Kurtis got a couple of flicks and Joel got a couple of runs into their box.

"Their forward line managed the game better than us."

Martindale hopes Obileye and Mo Sangare - who went off during the second half at Rugby Park – won’t be out too long.

He added: "I think Ayo will be okay. We missed Ayo against a side who ask a lot of questions of your backline.

"Mo had an injury, I think it's his calf. He was away on international duty but only played 90 minutes."

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Were you at Rugby Park on Saturday or did you follow the match elsewhere?

Either way, want your views on the game – have your say here.

Livingston manager David Martindale: "I don't think we deserved anything from the game. Kyle Vassell was the best player on the park and bullied us at times.

"Their back three managed the game a lot better than our back three. I don't think we won enough aerial duels or second balls. At this level you have to do better than we did.

"We got ourselves back in the game, but then we lose the set-play just before half time which is really disappointing.

"It's going to be a difficult season. From fourth place down, the league will change constantly. We'll take the defeat on the chin and come back ready to go next Saturday."

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Nick McPheat, BBC Scotland

David Martindale will be disappointed his side could not build on an impressive win over Motherwell a fortnight ago, especially given their impressive form in this fixture.

Without Ayo Obileye in the centre of defence, the away side struggled with balls into the box, while at the other end their attacking play was non-existent for much of the game.