Livingston

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Livingston have signed Maidestone United midfielder Liam Sole on a two-year pre-contract.

The West Lothian club - who look likely to be relegated to the Scottish Championship - have the option to extend the 24-year-old's contract by a further year.

Sole made 36 appearances for the sixth-tier side this term, starting in all five rounds of their magical FA Cup run, including the victory over Championship outfit Ipswich Town.

He will join Livingston in June, with Maidestone's season already over.

Motherwell forward Jack Vale begins a two-match ban following his red card at Aberdeen. Harry Paton (ankle), Jon Obika (hamstring) and Adam Devine (knee) are working towards comebacks while Adam Montgomery (hamstring) and Callum Slattery (knee) are out for the season.

Livingston are set to welcome back Andrew Shinnie from injury and Tete Yengi following suspension. Goalkeeper Jack Hamilton is out with a groin problem, joining James Penrice (hip), Joel Nouble (ankle), Cristian Montano (hamstring) and Shaun Donnellan on the sidelines.

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Livingston have announced the seven-day emergency loan signing of Rangers goalkeeper Kieran Wright.

With Jack Hamilton injured, the club moved to sign a back-up to Shamal George for this weekend's match against Motherwell.

Wright's most recent loan spell was with Dumbarton in 2022.

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Livingston manager David Martindale has revealed the club have three players signed up on pre-contracts for next season.

With the West Lothian side nine points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership with four games remaining, relegation seems inevitable.

However, Martindale says his unnamed new signings were keen to join, regardless of Livingston's division next season.

"We've got three on pre-contracts," he said. "They will be announced in the coming weeks but those three have committed to us before the outcome on Saturday.

“That was probably done three or four weeks ago so they boys are coming here with the right intentions. If we are playing in the Premiership, fine, but if we are in the Championship they are coming with the right intentions to get us back to the Premiership.

“The three we have tied up are the right character. That’s really what I want. Boys who are committed to the football club.”

Martindale is gearing up for a large rebuild in the summer, but says he has a core group of players he can rely on.

“We have 10 or 12 boys that are in contract," he said. "So there is a good nucleus starting point there.

“There is going to be a big turnover this summer. That’s plainly obvious.”

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland

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Livingston manager David Martindale has been talking to the media before his side's Scottish Premiership trip to Motherwell on Saturday.

Here are the key points from his press conference:

• Martindale is hoping to bring in an emergency loan goalkeeper on Friday with current back-up Jack Hamilton injured.

• Wants his players to believe they can stay up and focus on what they can control. "We can only affect what we can affect and that's the Motherwell game".

• Expects a "big turnover" this summer, and admits it’s been “challenging” attracting players given the circumstances at the club.

• Despite that, the club have agreed pre-contract deals with three players who have "the right character" for next season.

• Martindale says VAR is not value for money and if he was to have a vote he would get rid of it.

• Andrew Shinnie should be available for selection having trained this week.

We asked who has impressed you enough to be Livi's player of the season and you provided a mixed bag of answers.

Here is what you had to say:

Neil: Slim pickings for player of the year this season for obvious reasons, however I think James Penrice and Jason Holt have both been standouts. James is a local boy and will be a loss when he leaves for Hearts in the summer. Ex-Jambo Jason Holt has been Mr Reliable this season in midfield and I'm sure other Premiership teams will be showing interest.

Fraser: Aphele Teto has looked great in a Livi shirt this season. Shame we’ve only been able to see him wear one on the clubs shop website. What a poorly planned signing that was as he can’t even play for us.

Kieran: So much quality in the squad, just utilised wrongly. Dan MacKay and Tete Yengi have been the standouts of the season in my opinion.

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• Motherwell have only lost one of their last 13 league meetings with Livingston (W8 D4), going down 2-0 in October this season.

• Livingston are winless in their last 15 top-flight visits to Motherwell (D3 L12) since a 5-1 victory in October 2002.

• Motherwell have failed to win any of their last four home league matches (D2 L2). In fact, since winning their first two home league matches of the season back in August, the Steelmen have won just two of their last 15 at Fir Park (D6 L7).

• Livingston have lost 12 of their last 13 Scottish Premiership matches on the road (D1) and are winless in 15 away from home (D3 L12), their longest winless run on their travels since August 2019 (run of 18).

• Motherwell goalkeeper Liam Kelly has completed 317 long passes in the Scottish Premiership this season, at least 43 more than any other player. In fact, of goalkeepers to have completed 100+ long passes this season, only David Marshall (43.2%) and Jack Butland (40.7%) have a better accuracy than Kelly (37.8% - 317 of 838 completed).

Can Livingston maintain momentum from last weekend's victory over Ross County when they travel to Fir Park on Saturday?

Put yourself in David Martindale's shoes and pick your starting line-up here.

It's been a disappointing season for David Martindale's side, whose time in the top flight is hanging by a thread.

But has anyone impressed you in a Livi shirt this term?

Give us your thoughts here.

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Twenty-six decisions since the start of the Premiership season have been deemed incorrect by the Scottish FA's VAR independent review panel.

The tally, based on incidents requested by the panel or submitted for consideration, is a rise of 10 since February's last meeting of the group.

Not among the incidents included was one where Hibernian claimed the Scottish FA agreed an error had been made.

The governing body later disputed that assertion, made after Hibs were not awarded a penalty after Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin handled in February's 2-2 draw.

The 10 incorrect decisions shared with Premiership clubs on Wednesday were:

Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen (6/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to Rangers' Dujon Sterling. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

St Mirren 2-0 Dundee (7/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to St Mirren's James Bolton. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

Ross County 1-1 St Mirren (27/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty awarded against Ross County for handball.

Hearts 1-1 Hibernian (28/2/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty decision, which led to Hearts' equaliser, should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded.

Kilmarnock 1-2 Rangers (28/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty decision, which led to Kilmarnock opening the scoring, overturned - no handball offense against Rangers.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty decision should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded to Celtic.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): On-field decision correct, no penalty to Hearts. Handball should not have been awarded for spot-kick that led to opening goal.

Motherwell 0-1 Aberdeen (16/04/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty to Motherwell should have been awarded for handball.

Hibernian 1-2 St Johnstone (6/4/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty should have been awarded to Hibs for foul by St Johnstone goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov.

St Mirren 1-2 Hearts (6/4/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty should have been awarded to St Mirren for a foul on Conor McMenamin by Aidan Denholm.

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

Who saw this win coming? Not me.

I was prepared for the final curtain to be closed on our Premiership survival last Saturday so the three points against Ross County were a bit surprising to say the least.

I reckon other Livi fans thought the drop was inevitable as well as it was very subdued walking to the game and mingling with other supporters.

It was the same in the stadium. To be fair it wasn’t long before we had something to cheer as Livi fired themselves into the game quickly.

There was shades of Livi of old with loads of tenacity, tackling, running and we played some really good football too. Every single player from Shamal George to wee Bruce Anderson did their jobs effectively with loads of effort.

Jamie Brandon is revelling in his centre midfield role, Anderson will get the plaudits for the excellently-taken goal but I was most pleased for Mikey Devlin. We got to see the player we thought we were getting this season. He defended well and played the captain's role cajoling the players around him excellently.

Some optimistic Livi are reaching for the calculators to work out if we can get to safety. It is possible, its just not probable. We need to keep this performance level up and other results to go our way. We’ve left it too late however.

Most Livi fans accepted long ago we’re going down so anything like this again is a real bonus and means we can actually enjoy our football team again.

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

It's not often Livingston players have been named in my team of the week this term.

But after keeping their faint survival hopes alive with victory over Ross County on Saturday, the West Lothian side deserve recognition.

Mikey Devlin was a colossus at the back as Livi kept their second clean sheet in three games, while Sean Kelly was influential in midfield and kept his cool to fire home from the spot.

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Bruce Anderson says Livingston have been unlucky this season but insists they will keep fighting as relegation looms.

The striker, who is set to exit this summer, was on the scoresheet in Saturday's 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Ross County that kept Livi's slender survival hopes alive.

“Its been a difficult season and a lot has gone on," Anderson said.

"Luck has been a big part and there have been a lot of games when we haven’t had any luck. We have four games left to give it a go and try and enjoy it.

“I think there has always got to be [belief] until you are mathematically down. The manager has driven that into us that we have to keep going until the last day.

"We just want to win as many games as possible and see where that takes us."

Watch all the action from West Lothian as Livingston bagged their first win since February. (Available to UK users only).

We asked for your thoughts after Livingston's 2-0 victory over Ross County, here's a taste of what you had to say.

Del: Great performance.

Jennifer: Best display this season, everyone contributed, everyone was solid. We actually came out the stadium feeling proud of them.

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• Bruce Anderson has scored six goals this season (one in this game), more than any other Livingston player in the Scottish Premiership.

• Ross County have failed to score in 17 of their 34 games, no team has failed to do so more often in the Premiership this season.

• Livingston have beaten Ross County for the first time in the Premiership since 18 March 2023, a run of four games without a win.

Livingston manager David Martindale: "To a man, the players that started the game, the players that went on the park did themselves proud. The back four defended the box incredibly well. That was probably the difference in the game.

"As long as I'm at this club, we'll never not fight. We'll always fight. I know the probability of staying in the Premiership is very slim but it's not going to change by motivation, my passion, my emotions coming into work on Monday morning. I'm coming into work on Monday trying to win that game on Saturday and then we'll see where it takes us."

Were you at Livingston's 2-0 in over Ross County or following the match from home? Either way, we want your views on the game – have your say here.

Livingston's top-flight status remains under severe threat but this performance was much more reminiscent of the side that was promoted in 2018 and proceeded to hold their own under Gary Holt and Martindale.

Their defence was resolute, their forwards a nuisance to the opposition, and their overall battling qualities ensured just a fourth league victory of the campaign.

In contrast, County looked very unlike the team that beat Rangers for the first time in their history just 13 days previously. Gone was the attacking intent and determination that served them so well that day.

The silver lining for interim boss Don Cowie is that St Johnstone, the most likely rival in the race to avoid the relegation play-off place, also lost.

Livingston goalkeeper Shamal George made good saves at key stages to secure a clean sheet.

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