Livi v Celtic Youngsters

So... Like it or not our next match is against the best Under 20 side in the country.

Not sure what the rules are in terms of how many overage players they can use; there could be a decent turn out from hoops fans as they don't have a game with the internationals being played.

I think this could be a very difficult game especially on the back of a bad loss to QP.

Really not sure how this one will go... In theory our experienced players should be enough to get us victory; complacency on the other hand could be our undoing.

I am falling back on my natural reluctance to expect too much...

Liv 2 CelU20 2 fg 23 mins

With the Under 20's winning on pens

From what I've seen from Hoppy so far I doubt we'll field a weaker side. If we'd won against QP i'd have been hoping we'd leave out players, but maybe after the QP lacklustre display our players need this game to get them ready for the Alloa one.

Would still like to see some of the fringe players being started, the likes of Watt and Mullin getting 90 mins would do them good and they're both deserving a start anyway. Imo Mullin has been better than Cadden in the last few games, but is being left on the bench for a 2nd half sub appearance, and Watt looks good every time he comes on too.

4-1 Livi, fg 18 mins.

Would love to see us skelping them about 6-0 just to get the confidence up for the Alloa game.

*Edited to change time of fg a bit further away than minute from BB's.

I'll be watching this one on TV, can't be arsed watching a U20s game, even if the QP result will probably have us up for it a bit more.

3-1 Livi, FG 10 mins.

Anyone else thinking we could try Crighton at RB and Halkett as a CB in this game, Crighton puts some fantastic balls into the box from the wing.

I don't think he would have the "engine" to do it all game but he has hit two of the best crosses we have fired in this season

Anyone else struggling to get excited about this game?

Suppose getting through to the next round and a step closer to the final would be good but can't really get into this cup till you get to the final.

Really just want to get this game out the way so we can move onto the Alloa game, who'd have thought an Alloa game would get me all excited and bursting to play them.

Struggling to get excited about it but I'll be there.

I didn't realise that Kelly is away with the Scotland u21's; mainly because he hasn't struck me as being good enough for that level. As a result it looks like Maley is making his senior debut at the age of 34!

Tempted to amend my forecast to a defeat in 90 mins but here's hoping he is one that has gotten away until now. Frankly, despite my reluctance to forecast a positive result, if we don't win this match, much of the early season optimism and goodwill will evaporate.

Celtic are the only SPFL team we've never beaten, if we win this game does it count as us beating Celtic?

The OS are advertising for server staff, they are expecting a big Celtic crowd.

Good chance for us to bounce back from last week's defeat pretty quickly. Can go both ways for us though, mentally, would be a bit of a minter if we were put out at this stage by this sort of team. My only concern is Maley in goals to be honest, a guy making his senior debut at 34 years old will probably go down as some sort of pub quiz question*. That said, I think we will have enough to see it through - 2-0 Livi, FG 67 mins.

*Until Martindale brings himself on for 10 minutes in the final league game of the season. Cue the scenes.

He needs to be registered as a player if he wants to do that.

Maley is my major concern; hopefully he is up to the task; its not as if Broxburn have been setting the junior world on fire any time recently. Losing DJ may come back to haunt us.

That said, why is this game on if our normal first choice goalie is on international duty???

2-1 Celtic. FG 10 mins.

For what its worth i cant wait to see the back of this game and then we can give our full attention rto the matters in hand next week against the Wasps.Having said that ,the club are being a wee bit opptomistic in there hopes for a big crowd tommorow imo.It will be tougher than a lot of people think.Some of their youngsters will no doubt be out to impress Mr Rogers who will probably be in the stand to check out his young yins.Could be in for a long night with this possibly going the distance with pens to decide the outcome.Nevertheless il be there to cheer the lads on .Cmon Livi Do it!!!

Bertie Bassett wrote:That said, why is this game on if our normal first choice goalie is on international duty???

Think you need to have a certain amount of players unavailable to be able to postpone a game. Just need Knox and Mullen to get called up and we should be fine.

Not putting out a weakened team anyway, apart from the forced change of keeper we've got the same set of players, but with Mullin starting and Cadden on the bench.


Livi subs - Quinn, Sinclair, Watt, Neill, Cadden, Carrick & Allan. #livilive


 Livingston FC @LiviFCOfficial  
Livi XI - Maley, Miller, Lithgow, Longridge, Halkett, Mullin, Byrne, Pittman, Buchanan, Crighton & Mullen


Better win this then or it's gonna be embarrassing.

Hopefully means we stick 10 past them and never see this silly idea of U20s in the cup again.

Had the game wrapped up in under 20 minutes and then proceeded to take the piss for the rest of the game. Well done Livingston, hopefully we've contributed towards this clusterfuck of a tournament format being consigned to history.

Thought we looked a very consistent attacking threat with three at the back, would like to see that more. Suits everyone all round I think.

Easy win and a hattrick for Buchanan, was that how Longridge went off injured, heard his 3rd goal went in off Longridge's chookies. Hope he's ok for the Alloa game.

How did Maley get on, looks like we'll be without Kelly again for the next round, it's another international weekend.

Liviforever wrote:Easy win and a hattrick for Buchanan, was that how Longridge went off injured, heard his 3rd goal went in off Longridge's chookies. Hope he's ok for the Alloa game.

How did Maley get on, looks like we'll be without Kelly again for the next round, it's another international weekend.

Looked like a hamstring or a knee that Jackson went off with...hoping it was just a precaution taking him off as the game was over by then. Males did his job well. Organised his defence and made a few good stops. Maybe could have been a little quicker across his line for their goal but a pretty decent performance albeit not greatly tested.

Cheers Hooch.

Actually quite an enjoyable game in the end; shame our players tired in the second half which allowed the Colts to come back into the game.

My only beef would be why bring on Lewis Allen when we already had Dale Carrick and Nicky Cadden on the bench? Giving our guys the chance to shine against such poor opposition etc. and to build up their confidence and fitness or help to develop an average loan player who is only with us for four more months.

Also bringing a loanee on ahead of Carrick cant have done much for his confidence either; remember this is the guy that continued to play for half an hour with one or more broken bones in his hand rather than come off.

Carrick also played in an U20's game against Airdrie midweek, as did Watt, though thought Watt would've been given a game at the weekend too.

I see the Development league starts today and Livi are registered for it this season, that'll give our fringe players a competitive game to keep their fitness up as well now, we've been playing bounce games against Armadale, Airdrie etc to do that.

Have to hold my hands up here.Isaid on Friday that i thought that this game could possibly go the distance and probably be resolved by penalties.Absolutly delighted to have been proved wrong.The proffesionalism shown by the players has to be applauded as a lot of people myself included had this down as a potential banana skin.Also pleasing to see that our bench has that extra wee bit of quality that we can call on if required.Agree with L/F about the involvement in the Developement League.This can surely only help us in the long run by keeping the squad on their toes and be ready to come in when needed.Once again well done Livi long may it continue.Thoughts on the Alloa game later in the week.Too early just now.

I'm just glad my pessimism was unfounded; we gave their lads a good seeing to.

That said kudos to them for scoring a belter of a goal themselves.

Also they were much more in the game second half as our half time team talk technique of putting the players to sleep worked a treat again.

Interesting experiment going 3 at the back for most of the game but with Longridge dropping deeper when called upon.

Allan has shown nothing so far to merit getting in ahead of Carrick or anyone else for that matter. He is supposed to be an alternative to the normal style but we tend to play higher balls to our wee guys than we do to him so its a pointless exercise to bring him on.

Now its off to Belfast for the next round...one thing's for certain; I'll no' be there!