Livingston

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Livingston manager David Martindale: "I think you saw the good and bad of Livingston this season.

"We started the game really well, really aggressive in the press. We forced them into mistakes and scored two cracking goals. We make a chance we should do better with with big Tete [Yengi].

"Then you see the ugly side if I'm honest. It's been the downfall all season. They work two good goals, I'll give them two. We allow the cross in and drop our runners.

"But there's also two individual mistakes in there. You strip the game back and we've given them two goals.

"The chances we created in the game, I think we created the better ones when you take out our two individual errors.

"I promise you I'm not treating any game different. I'm coming in to win the next game. I don't get out my bed to get beat.

"These next five games, win, lose or draw I will approach every game the same and make sure I've got enough players behind me with the same mindset.

"Can we go an win the five games? I think we can. Is it a big ask? Of course it is, I'm not delusional. But we need to go and try to win games and we've been trying from match day one. But we've not been good enough."

Thomas Duncan, BBC Sport Scotland

This was a complete sickener for David Martindale and Livingston, who made the perfect start in their bid to close to six points of Ross County ahead of the Staggies' meeting with Rangers on Sunday.

But their defensive issues cost them dearly after they started ferociously and caught out sleepy Hearts.

Two of Hearts' goals were gifts, with Ayo Obileye completely missing a simple defensive header for the second, and Devlin's awful backpass causing the penalty.

The fact three of them were Hearts players getting a free strike on goal from around the six-yard box will infuriate Martindale. But it's no surprise given Livingston have the worst defensive record in the league.

The fiery Livi boss will fight until relegation is confirmed, but it looks a case of when rather than if. Their frustration was summed up by striker Tete Yengi, who was shown a second yellow card for some dissent and a furious reaction once replaced.

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It's just one change for a depleted Livingston after last week's goalless draw with Aberdeen.

Jason Holt comes into midfield as Steven Bradley drops to the bench.

James Penrice, Andrew Shinnie, Joel Nouble and Cristian Montano are all still missing so Livingston name just five substitutes.

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Hearts will have Lawrence Shankland and Beni Baningime back from illness and Calem Nieuwenhof hopes to recover from a hamstring injury in time. Finlay Pollock is back in training while Craig Halkett and Peter Haring (both knee) and Liam Boyce (hamstring) remain out.

Livingston boss David Martindale is unlikely to be able to fill the bench again with the likes of James Penrice (hip), Andrew Shinnie (groin), Joel Nouble (ankle) and Cristian Montano (hamstring) struggling.

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Jason Holt says the Livingston squad are fully aware that relegation from the top flight would result in job losses at the club.

David Martindale's side require an incredible comeback to beat the drop, trailing 11th-placed Ross County by nine points with six games to go.

“We know with the situation we are in, it is going to be extremely difficult, looking at the game so far this season," Holt said.

“But I have a a lot of belief in the squad, this is my fourth season here and that has been one of the biggest strengths in this squad, the fight in the team and that will continue.

“We know there is massive pressure, we all know the situation we find ourselves in, the prospect of potentially going down is not great, people lose jobs, we certainly don’t want that to happen so there is big pressure on us and expectation to keep the club in the league.

“It is extremely difficult to get that swing in points but while it is mathematically possible then the fight continues.”

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Why should Scottish football fans care about Czech side Viktoria Plzen drawing with Italian heavyweights Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League?

The result on Thursday night has serious consequences for the Premiership, with the Czech Republic now having leapfrogged Scotland in the coefficient standings.

Not only will the winners of the top flight no longer gain automatic qualification to the Champions League from 2025/26, but there's also a knock on effect for those finishing further down the table.

Here's everything you need to know.

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• Hearts lost their first two home games against Livingston in the Scottish top-flight back in 2001-02, but are unbeaten in 13 matches against them since (W7 D6).

• A home victory in September 2022 is Livingston's only win in their last 11 league games against Hearts. They have lost both league meetings between the sides this season.

• Hearts are unbeaten in eight home league games (W5 D3). This is their longest unbeaten home run in the Scottish Premiership since November 2021 (10).

• Livingston are winless in their last 14 away league games (D3 L11). Only from September 2018 to August 2019 (18) have they had a longer winless run on their travels in the top-flight.

• Only Dundee (26y 66d) have a younger average starting XI age than Hearts (26y 67d) in the Scottish Premiership this season, whilst Livingston have the oldest (28y 218d).

Livingston are away to Hearts on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership, looking to keep their faint survival hopes alive.

Who would you like to see start at Tynecastle? Choose your Livingston XI here.

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David Martindale says “the belief is still there” in his Livingston side as they aim to pull off a remarkable relegation escape.

The West Lothian club are currently nine points adrift at the foot of the Premiership with six games to play.

A positive result away to Hearts on Saturday, coupled with defeat for Ross County at home to Rangers on Sunday, would reduce the gap further heading into the post-split fixtures.

Martindale has refused to “put too much emphasis” on other teams' outcomes, instead only looking “at ourselves and what we can affect”.

"I have to put all my energy and positivity into how we go to Tynecastle," he adds. "How we affect that game and how we pick points up.

"That's where my main focus lies. We need to go out and win the next game of football.

"It's going to be a big ask to stay in the league but we can. But I don't want to sound delusional because I know how challenging this season has been for everyone."

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Livingston have announced a new "six-figure" sponsorship deal with local taxi hire firm Home of the Set Fare.

The deal will see Almondvale rebranded as the 'Home of the Set Fare Arena' for next season, after the previous deal with Tony Macaroni came to an end.

"This really is a fantastic bit of business for the club," chief executive Dave Black said. "I’m absolutely delighted to be able to announce Home of the Set Fare as our new stadium naming rights partner ahead of the 2024-25 season.

“The enthusiasm from their side was fantastic and after doing a tour of the stadium and seeing what we had to offer, we were able to get this signed off and start to make plans for the new season."

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

All the pundits tipped a goalless draw for Livingston's clash meeting with Aberdeen at the weekend, and for the first time this season we did not disappoint.

There was plenty of effort on show, but not the quality to match in a drab affair. The medical staff put in a shift too with quite a few injuries, which shows the application I suppose.

Frankly, it was a poor game between two poor teams. The only crumb of comfort for me is that we didn’t spend millions on our squad like Aberdeen have.

A concern for me was how light the bench looked. We barely filled it and had many first-team regulars in the stand. I’m hoping that's only a temporary thing and some of the players haven’t chucked it.

There is likely to be a mass exodus when we inevitably go down. We’re low on resources as it is and even against Championship teams our budget is low.

We can only hope the manager is scouring YouTube now and finding the next group of gems to mould into a Livi team that will fight its way back next season.

On today's episode of the Scottish Football Podcast, Liam McLeod is joined by Kenny Miller and Alan Stubbs.

They discuss Sunday's Old Firm thriller and look back on an action-packed Saturday in the Scottish Premiership.

Listen to the episode in full here.

The Sportscene team assess whether Richard Jensen should have been sent off for his high boot on Tete Yengi.

(Available to UK users only)

We asked for your thoughts after Livingston played out a goalless draw with Aberdeen.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Kev: What a borefest. Two poor teams lacking in skill and entertainment. If this was someone's introduction to the Scottish Premiership, it would certainly put them off ever attending again.

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• Aberdeen are undefeated in their last three games in the Scottish Premiership, their last joint-longest unbeaten streak was from 24 September 2023 to 8 October 2023.

• Livingston have failed to score in 17 of their 32 games, more often than any other team in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Aberdeen have failed to score in 14 of their 32 games, only Livingston (17) and Ross County (16) have failed to score more often in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Dan MacKay attempted just four passes in the first half.

David Martindale says Livingston benefitted from a bit of luck in their draw with Aberdeen, although he felt his side were "the better team".

Were you at the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday or following the match elsewhere?

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

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Livingston boss David Martindale: "First half was frustrating for both teams with the amount of stoppages. It was really difficult for anyone to get any control of the game.

"Second half, I felt we were the better team. We were a wee bit unlucky, but saying that we get lucky with the offside call [for Aberdeen’s disallowed goal].

"We're one point closer than where we were, that’s what I'm going to take from it and it’s a clean sheet for the players."