Falkirk v Livi

Last night saw Keaghan and Rafa getting knocks that had them substituted so they may not play in this game.

Will Toddy be in defence again or will Hoppy put McMillan in there, as well as Toddy has done in defence I think him and Mullen up front are our best pairing in attack. We've plenty options in midfield though, and Hoppy brought in 5 changes last night to rotate the team, so we should be fresh enough there.

Expecting another hard game here, Falkirk are having a bad time of it but they wont be easy, it took us to ET before we beat them the last time was played them. Still think we'll win though (bet that surprised ye), and for Houstie to moan how we don't play football like a proper team (Falkirk), and just lumped balls up to our big striker (Mullen). Tempted to say the same as the ICT result but I think it could be a bit tighter, 2-1 Livi, fg 18 mins.

Might just be optimism as the game draws nearer but I've got a wee growing feeling in my gut telling me we're going to win this by several goals.

I believe Falkirk will get back on track eventually & in previous years you could guarantee it would happen against us. Winning this would be a huge result & be an indication of how far we have come.

That said, the biggest indication of how this game will go is possibly the 90 mins that ended all square. I suspect this will be the same.

1-1

FG 32 mins

This will be the game that kick starts Falkirk's season: Falkirk 4. Livingston 1. FG 15 mins.

LC, I get the feeling you aren't taking this predictor comp seriously.

1-1, FG 29 mins.

Hopefully the lads will have gotten tuesdays dissapointment out of their systems by now.I reckon tommorow is probably last chance saloon for Houston and on that assumption will make them that wee bit edgier in their play.Depending what team Hoppy puts out i feel we have players that can damage them throughout the team.Hopefully big Decs will be back for us and would be good to see Rafa in there as well although reckon he may be a doubt,Did very well against them the last time.Wouldnt be to dissapointed with a point here but bugger it lets be greedy and go for the three and incidently order that taxi for Houston.Do it Livi!!!

Troy wrote:Hopefully the lads will have gotten tuesdays dissapointment out of their systems by now.I reckon tommorow is probably last chance saloon for Houston and on that assumption will make them that wee bit edgier in their play.Depending what team Hoppy puts out i feel we have players that can damage them throughout the team.Hopefully big Decs will be back for us and would be good to see Rafa in there as well although reckon he may be a doubt,Did very well against them the last time.Wouldnt be to dissapointed with a point here but bugger it lets be greedy and go for the three and incidently order that taxi for Houston.Do it Livi!!!

Can I give you a like, good post Troy.

Cheers L/F.Not sure about the several goals scenario but share in your optomism about todays game for the first time in many a visit to Falkirk.Time will tell but i feel we are worth at least a point here although a wee dodgy pen in the last minute for us would do just fine aswell.LOL.T.

Fantastic result for the Lions today at a difficult venue to get points from.Houstons position in doubt after this according to their fans after this.Its early doors but were in the playoffs positions already and long may it continue. Big Decs only blight on anotherwise succsesfull afternoon for the Lions.Well done Hoppy and the lads.Cant wait for next week.

Excellent result, and up we go into the top 4.

Hopefully QoS don't beat St Mirren tomorrow, and we stay 4th.


First half was forgettable, both keepers could've got out a sun lounger and put their feet up for most of it, although I didn't see why our goal was chopped off, looked good to me.

I wasn't really looking forward to the 2nd half but thankfully we got a wee break when Penrice pounced on a short pass back and squared to Mullen for our opening goal. Hardly had time to enjoy being a goal up when Mullin fired in another one from a free kick that was rolled on for him to hit.

Dec took a card for the team with a cynical foul to stop Falkirk breaking on us and then caught their player with an outstretched leg for his red card, bit harsh getting a straight red for it though, their player milked it by doing a swan dive accentuating the foul, a 2nd yellow and then a red would've been fairer. It was in injury time though so didn't really trouble us much but we'll miss him against Dundee Utd which is a bummer.

Anyway, great 3 points and we're not looking like going away, reckon we'll be in and about the top 4 all season now. Well done Hoppy and the players, keep it going lads.

Terrific win; as I mentioned earlier in the season we needed to sort out the fact we weren't winning; we have sorted it & we are showing we are a decent side. In my earlier comment I mentioned that this was the type of game in previous years where we'd have blown it & the result would kick start Falkirk's season; so this is a big indication of how far we have come in the last couple of seasons.

For Dec got a straight red maybe we can appeal it?

Yeah i'd appeal it, we'd surely win, and if we did then the 2nd yellow and red that it should've been prob wouldn't be able to happen either. No idea how that would go right enough, if they'd say well it is just a red for a 2nd yellow or because the straight red was the wrong decision he'd get off with everything and not have to serve a suspension. Either way it would be worth it to have him for the Utd game.

Our back 3 were immense, have to say though, Lithgow is the most improved player by a considerable distance this season, he's been a real surprise.

If Mullen had looked up when he got onto a couple of balls down the wing he'd have seen Pittman and Mullin (I think) bursting a gut getting themselves in the box and could've hit it across the 6 yard box for them and we'd have got another 2 goals. Pittman had a great chance just before Mullin's goal too.

We've been pretty clinical with our shots to goals in our last 3 games though so something it working. Dunno if Hartson has been coaching midfielders too and working on our set pieces because we've really improved on them too, and have started getting goals from free kicks.

Goals: https://vimeo.com/235187455

Still not seeing what was wrong with that disallowed goal, great ball in from Mullin. Falkirk player got away with barging our defender in the back knocking him to the ground in the 2nd half and almost scored yet the ref is giving a foul against Longridge for an arm, what a joke Aitken is.

Fantastic bit of play by Penrice for our first official goal, not just getting in and nicking the ball but having presence of mind to cut it back to Mullen for a tap in.

Lovely set piece for the 2nd too, well worked to get the wall to break for Mullin to have space to get his shot through.

As usual with Livi games the referee has to figure as a talking point. The disallowed goal was ridiculous in itself. Heck even the Falkirk fans on P&B are admitting that. But the killer was the straight red for Gallagher in the 90th minute for a free kick tackle that was at most a 2nd yellow. Yet the clown produces a red. Again the Falkirk fans agreed. That affects the next two games if we don't appeal. What have these guys got against us? Or, more likely, are they just incompetents?

Re the game itself, it wasn't vintage stuff but we were away from home playing in the atmosphere of a hostile crowd yet produced the goods. What impresses me most about this team is the work rate and team spirit. There are no stars but they all do the job and play for each other. People talk about Lithgow improving this season yet I was mightily impressed with both him and Crighton as soon as they came to us last season. They are the type of no nonsense centre backs we have missed since Marvin Andrews and I was disappointed Crighton moved on.

Falkirk have the makings of a good team yet they looked very short in confidence and little they tried came off. It's what happens when you are down there trying to move up.

Finally it is such a relief to have a goalkeeper like Alexander as the final barrier stopping other teams. Our defence is good but the knowledge that he is there to mop up does my blood pressure no end of good.

Well done the team today. Up to the heady heights of 4th in the league. Who knows how we would have felt if Dunfermline hadn't got that dodgy penalty and Danny hadn't missed ours in the first game of the season. We'd have been joint top on points. Wow!

And ahead by a couple if we hadn't thrown away a 2 goal lead at Brechin

Disallowed goal... There is an arm across the defenders shoulders but it's very harsh to disallow it.

The defending by Falkirk for all three "goals" is rank and shows why they are struggling.

The foul in our favour for the second goal is a bit on the harsh side but it makes a change for us to get the benefit so who cares?

Hostile crowd and atmosphere Orco?

It was like being in a library for most of the game and only got hostile after we scored, but the target of their hostility was Houston and his players.

Yeah Bertie you can see Longridge puts his arm across, but ffs a foul, really? If you'd seen what their players were getting away with, the one i mentioned in my post above was verging on assault, and even Alexander was going nuts at the ref about it. You only need to look at defenders during a set piece to see actual bear hugs and headlocks being ignored by the ref. Or the standard tactic of a player standing in front of the keeper to stop him coming for the ball. Then another player standing in front of that player to stop him blocking the keeper...............
Jacko didn't impede the lad, there was just no effort from their player to challenge for the ball.

Anyway for once it made no difference to the result, we still won.

Yeah you can see there are good players in their team, they pass it about well, but the final ball was shocking, their confidence is shot, until Houston goes they're knackered. Not that i'm bothered, he can stay in chare all season and they'll be involved in a bottom 2 scrap like Rovers were last season. And a guaranteed 12 points for us playing them too.

By hostile I mean the roar that goes up every time their player is challenged often influencing referees.
Agree though that Falkirk fans were giving Houston grief as the game went on.

I decided to sit in the area with only the stairs between Livi and Falkirk fans. The antics of one guy was almost worth the entry fee. He used every swearword he could think of and continually shouted that they were lazy b*stards. I was beginning to fear for his blood pressure.

I love the fitba' especially when we win.

Swearing at a football match,surely you jest Orco.Seriously though the bile being spewed on their on forums make yesterday look like a kiddies tea party.The insistance of their board to stand by a man who has obviously lost the plot will only be detrimental to their asspirations for the season.Their fans have every right to vent their feelings towards him within reason of course,but its verging on embarresing to a club thats done so well in recent years.Think weve surprised a few teams this season so far and long may it continue.I said on Friday,taxi for Houston.The meters still running!.

Yeah they dived quite a few times trying for pens and fouls around the box, thankfully Aitken wasn't a complete useless clown and he just waved them to get up, although as it was going on so often he should've started booking them for diving.

LF you need to read whole sentences before you disagree with me... I never said Jacko fouled the lad, I said it was harsh to disallow it.

Can see why the ref has given the foul for the disallowed goal. I mean he's wrong, but I can see why he would have thought it was a foul, maybe the angle he was at made it look worse. Would have been fantastic if we had been done out of a good result by a ref twice in the same week.

Usual pessimism had me thinking this would be the day Falkirk got their act together, judging by the Twitter feeds it sounds like they threatened early on. Gladly proven wrong, and I'll continue to be pessimistic as long as we're doing this well. So next week against Dumbarton, they're usually a bit of a bogey team for us. Away win

Bertie Bassett wrote:LF you need to read whole sentences before you disagree with me... I never said Jacko fouled the lad, I said it was harsh to disallow it.

Wasn't arguing with you about it Bertie, for once.

Falkirk seem to be under some Houston influence of believing they are some Barcelona esque team and Livi don't belong on the same pitch as them, their post match comments are box office.

LiviLion wrote:Can see why the ref has given the foul for the disallowed goal. I mean he's wrong, but I can see why he would have thought it was a foul, maybe the angle he was at made it look worse. Would have been fantastic if we had been done out of a good result by a ref twice in the same week.

Usual pessimism had me thinking this would be the day Falkirk got their act together, judging by the Twitter feeds it sounds like they threatened early on. Gladly proven wrong, and I'll continue to be pessimistic as long as we're doing this well. So next week against Dumbarton, they're usually a bit of a bogey team for us. Away win

Nope, they didn't, it was a pretty dire first half from both teams and our disallowed goal kinda came out of the blue. They had a chance late on but that was about it from both of us.

2nd half we blew them away in the first 10 mins, scored, then Mullen put Pittman through and he hit the keeper with a 1 on 1, then Mullin scored our 2nd. After that we had 2 great chances to put a ball across their 6 yard box where we were 2 on 1 but Danny didn't look up to see Pittman and Mullin in the box. It settled down after that and Falkirk only came into it late on after we'd taken off both Toddy and Mullen replacing them with McMillan and Cadden to see out the game. Their best chance came after knocking our player to the ground and getting in on goal but they hit the bar, and I think they also hit the post later too, but they really didn't deserve anything from the game. They looked like a team with little confidence and nothing really came off for them, when they got into our final 3rd it all went to pieces.

That's Houston and his assistant been sacked. Hopefully they're not sniffing about for Hopkin.

Didn't think I'd say that a year ago tbh