Livi v Ayr

This should give us a good indication of how our defence is shaping up, Ayr will be a bit better than Falkirk and have just rattled 7 past Berwick, so their confidence will be high for having a pop at goal. McCall is no mug either, he's been around a while and will have them well  prepared for this game, I think he held some players back against Berwick for this game too.

Hopefully they wont like it up em playing on our plastic pitch, and the usual excuses come out after we cuff them on it.

Ayr got off to great start last season & you can’t argue with a 7-0 away win even if the opposition are one of the weakest sides in the competition. Hopefully they have used up their quota of goals...

Not so sure about Ayr's defence being better - they've been through a similar shakeup to us so could be still reorganising. The 7-nil victory will have given their confidence no end of a boost though

Just watched their highlights against Berwick, well they wont get the freedom to to the midfield like they did against Berwick, that's for sure. Doolan and Moffat up front are an experienced pair of strikers for them though, seems we're getting a Partick th play off connection in every game.



Wonder if Stewart will be starting this game, or if we're sticking with Sarkic, and if Devlin and Sibbald will be fit for it.

I'd stick with the same line up in attacking midfielders and striker anyway, Lawless, Pittman, Robinson and Dykes.



……………………………………………..Sarkic/Stewart



McMillan/Devlin...………...Pepe...………..Lithgow...……………..Lamie




Robinson...........Bartley...............Pittman...…...Jacobs...…….Lawless




……………………………………………..Dykes

Was just on the official site and decided to have a look at the ticket sales for the game. Currently they look bl00dy awful to be perfectly honest.

Section B1 has been selling well but B3 (my section) looks like a old firm supporters teeth i.e. all gaps and some fillings.

as far as I can tell the club have reserved the whole west stand and half of the south for home supporter - unless there's a sudden rush I suspect we'll all be fitted into the West Stand and then it'll be pretty empty.

I imagine there'll be a lot of people still on holiday but even so....

Incidentally whilst on the same system it looks like the club have sold 897 season tickets excluding hospitality (all B2) and complimentary visitors tickets (normally in the first few rows of section B3).

All in all not too bad I suppose. Still a few more weeks before the seasons starts so hopefully they can pick up a few more before then.

Durnford wrote:Was just on the official site and decided to have a look at the ticket sales for the game. Currently they look bl00dy awful to be perfectly honest.

Section B1 has been selling well but B3 (my section) looks like a old firm supporters teeth i.e. all gaps and some fillings.

as far as I can tell the club have reserved the whole west stand and half of the south for home supporter - unless there's a sudden rush I suspect we'll all be fitted into the West Stand and then it'll be pretty empty.

I imagine there'll be a lot of people still on holiday but even so....

Looks like Ayr are going to be placed into section A1 of the West Stand now - unfortunate for those who already have tickets there I suppose.

Obviously a step up from Saturday and i reckon wee Mcall will have them up for this.Our first home game of the season and as such i really hope our boys are up for this.We cant afford any slip ups and giving them any kind of advatage in the group if we want to progress in the competition.Will be interesting to see how Gary sets us up and if hes gonna play someone up front with an in form Dykes.Really cant wait to see another striker come in to help him,we surely cant go on with this for the duration.Anyway good luck Livi and get right intea them!!!

We won.... we didn’t deserve to win but we won.

I thought Ayr were a very decent footballing side. Decent passing plays & quick on the break.
They had the better of the opening 15 mins but then we seemed to get a grip of the game as Souda began to take centre stage capped with a fine goal. We probably deserved to be ahead at half time but Ayr came at us strongly in the second half helped by a decent early goal. For long spells they were 5he better side but our best piece of play in the second half saw Lamie nick the winner after very good interchanges between Erskine, Dykes & Tiffoney who supplied a great cross for the assist.

I thought the substitution of Souda was a mistake, he was our only bright spark but at least Tiffoney came on & took over in a similar fashion. I also thought taking Bartley off was the wrong thing to do but Keaghan also stepped in effectively. Erskine for Lawless was a good decision as the Sub was better than the man he replaced but it again surprised me as I’d have thought De Vita a more logical sub.

While the jury remains out for me on our prospects for the league campaign I was disappointed by the performances of Lawless (aside from his glorious pass to Souda to then cut in and score) & Pittman. The latter never stopped trying but nothing he tried worked.

Pepe reminds me of a young Marvin Andrews, he regularly gets sucked in & left trailing but he is dominant in the air. Needs to step back rather go charging in. If he develops like Marv did he’ll turn out ok.

We prob deserved to be 2 up at HT, and would've had the game won.

Agree Ayr started the better team but we took charge and bossed the first half. our goal was coming after 2 or 3 good attacks, and not sure our 2nd was offside, but 2-0 would've been deserved. Collum was guilty of keeping his cards in his pocket for a change, really cynical challenge to stop us breaking up the pitch got a talking to, then again a def yellow, bordering on a red got another talking to.

2nd half Ayr were a lot better and looked pretty slick passing it about, deserved goal from a good passage of play. Think they were like us v St Johnstone when we had Scougall & McNulty, good passing team but a bit lightweight to be really good enough against Premiership teams. In saying that I was dreading another pen shoot out after blowing a lead when we should've had the game won, thankfully Lamie got us the 3 points.

Hats off to Souda and Stewart. cracking goal for his opener and Stewart's handling was excellent.

I think 2-0 at HT would have flattered us but like you I was not convinced by the offside call & had it stood we would probably have had it won at HT. with it being only 1-0 I remember thinking that we would need a second goal & so it proved. And TBH once Ayr equalised I thought they looked more likely to get a second than us & they had enough chances.

On the plus side for us is that with the number of changes in the squad/team we will hopefully improve as they gel. Like Saturday I thought we looked like we could go up a gear, I just hope I’m right.

Not to mention the double chance Souda had in the first half when his header cannoned off the bar and then the resultant rebound was hoofed wide. The funny thing is had either of those gone in it would have meant that he was half the way through doubling his total career total of four goals since 2012.

If he can remain as hungry as he's been in the last couple of matches the goals will come.

Thought taking Souda off for Tiffoney was a mistake as Souda was still causing plenty of problems personally would probably have swapped out Crawford for Tiffoney and allowed Pittman to drop back.

Wasn't that impressed by either Crawford or Devlin; both were nowhere near their performance against Alloa and I wondered if it had something to do with playing against their old mates. Devlin in particular kept going on a walkabout and leaving the right wing totally exposed - something that never happened against Alloa. Also had a bit of a spat with Cece towards the end (funnily enough although Cece is French he certainly seems to have picked up the skill of swearing in English). Even funnier Devlin seemed to play a lot better after that.

Cece was looking a lot more settled than the previous couple of games but one thing I noticed about his playing style that will need to change for the Scottish game. For Halkett and Gallagher; they both did a lot of holding on to the opposition when going in to contest for a ball; on two separate occasions he was coming in to the back of the opposition player who knocked the ball to one side and ran past him. If he'd been holding on to the guys arm he wouldn't have been able to move away so quickly.

Incidentally anyone know what's happened to Lawson; I hadn't heard he was injured?

At least we saw Cece can shift when he wants to, put in a burst of pace to get back and get the ball last night, going to be an interesting season with him in defence, opposition fans all target him as a big donkey, but he shows promise at times, hopefully he'll get to grips with our game once he's settled in.

Our team showed a little misunderstanding in attack, you could see Ayr players had a more settled team and knew instinctively when each other would be, that'll come for us though, that's why I like these Betfred games. Mostly you can get away with the odd mistake with playing lower league teams, we wont once the league starts but by them we've played 4 competitive games.

So far I think Stewart looks the better keeper, and I think the addition of Savane will make us not too bad in defence, Souda is growing on me too, lots of energy and enthusiasm, and that was a cracking goal he scored.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I think 2-0 at HT would have flattered us but like you I was not convinced by the offside call & had it stood we would probably have had it won at HT. with it being only 1-0 I remember thinking that we would need a second goal & so it proved. And TBH once Ayr equalised I thought they looked more likely to get a second than us & they had enough chances.

On the plus side for us is that with the number of changes in the squad/team we will hopefully improve as they gel. Like Saturday I thought we looked like we could go up a gear, I just hope I’m right.

We'll agree to disagree on that then, could easily have been 3-0 up at HT and were in command putting pressure on their goal. In the end Ayr fans will feel hard done by but I think the scoreline is about right on the whole game, we just shaded it. Good to see other players on the scoresheet too, looking like it'll be the same as the last 2 seasons, and we'll be spreading the goals around.

The proverbial game of two halves. Ayr looked deid and buried at half time but came out in the second half, got a quick goal and looked revitalised. They played attractive passing football in contrast to our long ball efforts to Dykes who dutifully flicked on loads of high balls to a non existent striker. Speaking of strikers, I liked the look of Moffat - an experienced footballer who has scored goals at every club he's played at. He could almost be our Stephen Dobbie if we had him. But alas we will no doubt carry on as last season looking to everyone to chip in with goals. Sadly nae Halkett to score just when a goal is needed though.

Was a little concerned about the way the teams came out for the second half - saw the same thing at Falkirk.

Ayr were out early and look like they were raring to get going; our boys trudged out like they'd had one almighty b0ll0cking in the dressing room. I know its early days but Lithgow should really be geeing the team up at that stage. A game is 90- minutes (plus time added on) not forty-five.

orco wrote:The proverbial game of two halves. Ayr looked deid and buried at half time but came out in the second half, got a quick goal and looked revitalised. They played attractive passing football in contrast to our long ball efforts to Dykes who dutifully flicked on loads of high balls to a non existent striker. Speaking of strikers, I liked the look of Moffat - an experienced footballer who has scored goals at every club he's played at. He could almost be our Stephen Dobbie if we had him. But alas we will no doubt carry on as last season looking to everyone to chip in with goals. Sadly nae Halkett to score just when a goal is needed though.

We have Miller of course but really his legs have gone now so is most useful at set pieces where a sudden burst of speed isn't needed.

Thought Dykes pretty much looked dead on his feet towards the end of the match; it worried me when we kept pulling White back into defence, all those years ago, and then he needed to sprint up the field for an attack. I appreciate the extra height in defence is useful but it comes at a cost.

Durnford wrote:Was a little concerned about the way the teams came out for the second half - saw the same thing at Falkirk.

Ayr were out early and look like they were raring to get going; our boys trudged out like they'd had one almighty b0ll0cking in the dressing room. I know its early days but Lithgow should really be geeing the team up at that stage. A game is 90- minutes (plus time added on) not forty-five.

Think it was the opposite, Holt praised them up at HT and they came out thinking the game was already won.

orco wrote:The proverbial game of two halves. Ayr looked deid and buried at half time but came out in the second half, got a quick goal and looked revitalised. They played attractive passing football in contrast to our long ball efforts to Dykes who dutifully flicked on loads of high balls to a non existent striker. Speaking of strikers, I liked the look of Moffat - an experienced footballer who has scored goals at every club he's played at. He could almost be our Stephen Dobbie if we had him. But alas we will no doubt carry on as last season looking to everyone to chip in with goals. Sadly nae Halkett to score just when a goal is needed though.

Zak Rudden has been linked to us earlier in the pre season chat, and was at the game last night, wouldn't mind another Sevco loan striker. On the other hand, he might fancy another loan spell in the Championship, scored 12 goals for a shite Falkirk team, just think of what he could do playing for Ayr.

Thoughrally enjoyed last night.Agood old fashioned cup tie with both teams going for it.Not sure if id agree with Berties comment on us not deserving the victory.As others have said it could have been over as a contest in that first half with the amount of chances we had although fair dos to Ayr for their second have performance.In the boy Souda we seem to have unearthed a wee gem,Thought he was magnificent for the time he was on and he took a couple of hefty challenges ignored by Collum,welcome to scottish football Aymen.Felt sorry for Lyndon ploughing a lone furrow on his own sos frustrating that we know whats required to help him but the gaffers dont see it.Sorry for being critical but we need to get this sorted before the season starts proper to give us a chance of survival in this league.Zak Rudden could be the answer as Hardies off to the seaside in Blackpool,confirmed,Hes a goalscorer and i for one would welcome him with open arms.Almost forgot the jury is still out for me on Pepe Devlin and Barckly early doors though hopefull of improvement on all fronts.Anyway well done Livi,top of the league.

Yeah, watch these highlights and tell me we would've been flattered going in 2-0 up, bollocks we would.



That's a tight decision for offside on Dykes, whatever happened to giving the benefit of doubt to the striker ffs.
Actually 2nd half I didn't realise we had as many chances on their goal either, Dykes right through on goal, Lamie's goal, and a couple of other efforts we could've scored with.

No benefit of the doubt anymore but if you pause the video just after Pitts plays it to Dykes the latter is still onside.

Ayr had first half chances too before we took a grip so I still think 1-0 was about right at HT.
Highlights can easily give false impressions. The Falkirk highlights suggest Falkirk deserved a draw, they didn’t.

On some of Durnford’s points...

The wee spat between Pepe & Devlin was nothing, Devlin wanted the ball that went out of play, Pepe seemed to indicate another one on the sidelines. They kissed & made up after the winner which came at the end of the move started from that throw in.

I liked Devlin’s contribution, skinned the Ayr left back in the first half, gave no quarter in the tackle & delivers a decent cross. I had just praised him when he made two dodgy passes in a row though.

Crawford is better attacking than defending but also got stuck in.

Pepe charges up late and gets too close to the guy receiving the ball who then spins & leaves him trailing. He did seem to learn a bit from that though in the turn of speed reference LF made.

Bertie, you have to be on the wind up, Stewart had ONE save to make in the whole game, and made it, nothing he could do for their goals, but that was it, even Ayr fans said they were lucky only to be one goal behind in the first half. Souda hitting the post was closer than anything Ayr got all game (apart from their goal), and we had several other clear chances, which they didn't. We totally dominated them for the last half hour in the first half, and really wouldn't have been flattered going in 3-0 up let alone 2.

Liviforever wrote:Bertie, you have to be on the wind up, Stewart had ONE save to make in the whole game, and made it, nothing he could do for their goals, but that was it, even Ayr fans said they were lucky only to be one goal behind in the first half. Souda hitting the post was closer than anything Ayr got all game (apart from their goal), and we had several other clear chances, which they didn't. We totally dominated them for the last half hour in the first half, and really wouldn't have been flattered going in 3-0 up let alone 2.

Actually I thought Stewart could have done better with their goal but I suppose its all academic now.

When it comes to chances - going close, hitting the post, having a shot saved, missing a sitter or missing by a mile - they all have the same value, absolutely nothing. The only thing that counts is when it goes in the net. So whether we could have, should have, would have been 2 or 3 up is irrelevant.

I saw enough in the first 15 minutes to give me cause for concern that Ayr would score at some point during the 90 mins. Yes we dominated the next 30 mins but we only scored once & admittedly were robbed of a second which would probably have sealed the deal but it didn’t count.

In the second half we were second best for at least half an hour and Ayr scored & had other chances but thankfully missed them without troubling Stewart. We grabbed the winner with our best bit of play in the second half.

And technically Stewart had 2 saves to make & only saved 1 of them.