Livi v Dumbarton

This will be a real test for us, Dumbarton may be a bit different from what we're used to in this division, they may be a bit more defensively set up than most of the teams we've faced in the Championship, which will give us a lot less space to get in behind them. We'll really need to be alert at the back and not get caught out pushing forward without covering ourselves for a counter attack, if they score first it will be murder trying to break them down.

Saying all that, I think this team has shown they've got a bit more grit and determination about them and I feel we'll get a narrow win, 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 is my reckoning. I'll leave my prediction for a couple of days though and prob put down 3-0.

Massive 3 points if we get them, would set us up nicely for the Utd game to finish the first quarter.

Agree with your preview with one small addition, they are dangerous late on in games where we have a narrow lead. At least twice in recent seasons they mugged us late on when we were 1 up & unable to finish them off. Like you said though, we seem to be a bit more streetwise now (Brechin & Saints results may suggest otherwise but I'm hoping we have learned from them already) so hopefully we can put this lot to the sword.

Unless I'm wrong, 8 of our last 10 meetings have had a goal after the 80 minute mark. 6 of those games had an influence on the result, all in Dumbarton's favour, 2 ending in a draw and 4 in a win. In 2 of those 4 Livingston were ahead going into the last 10 minutes and Dumbarton got a late equaliser and followed it up with a winner... Both of those games were at Almondvale.

Last 10 games at Almondvale has 5 with late goals, that's not counting a league cup game that we won after ET. Need to go back to 2011 for our last late goal against Dumbarton that meant something, Robbie Winters equaliser in the 2nd division. 2 home wins, 3 draws (1 was the LC game), 5 away wins.

All of that doesn't even include the 4-3 game where the score was still 2-1 with 10 to go.



Already seething and they haven't even scored their late equaliser/winner

So what's your prediction then LL, home win?

Reckon there should be a bonus point if you get the starting 11 right, Hoppy has made 5 changes in each of our last 2 games. Penrice did well playing in midfield, and Robinson has scored a few goals when he's had a game too, then Knox, Cadden, Keaghan, Longridge and Rafa have all featured recently too, plenty of options there. I think Pittman has been the only midfielder to start every game.

Would prefer McMillan coming in for the suspended Gallagher so Toddy can play up front with Mullen.

LL's Stato impersonation speaks highly of the fitness levels of Dumbarton & surely proves the point that there really isn't a lot of difference between PT & FT teams fitness levels. It also suggests that successive Dumbarton managers have good game management incorporated into their game plans.

Alternatively it shows the opposite is true of successive Livi managers, something Hoppy has certainly tried to correct since taking over, and shows that Livi have just not been fit enough in previous seasons, again something that Hoppy seems to have been improving.

So hopefully he has done enough because I would dearly love to see us give this shower a good hiding by 3 or 4 goals.

However, I predict another tight game & I'm going with all the twos.

Liv 2 Dum 2

FG 22 mins

Think we won just about every game where we had Ian Russell in the team. The season we were demoted well we lost more than we won so; but other than that I seem to recall we were scoring some goals but equally leaking them at the other end.

Irrespective of what's gone before our defence appears a lot more organised and controlled than pretty much any time over the past ten years.

The other big difference is of course the team's fitness; in some of the past years it would have been difficult to tell the difference between full and part time - this year, Brechin game aside, we've been fitter than any of the opposition.

I'm going for a 2-1 Livi win.

FG 35 mins

Just noticed we've not won a league game at home yet, 2 draws and a defeat, about time we put that right.

Some away form though, 7 wins, 2 draws*, and one defeat in all comps, *plus a penalty shoot out loss.

Not done my prediction yet so here goes, actually tempted to go for a draw after seeing our poor home form, but you know me, ever the optimist. 2-1 Livi, fg 8 mins.

Got a feeling we'll be talking about another late goal on Saturday night.

1-1, FG 35 mins.

Livingston 1. Dumbarton 1. FG 62 mins.

See quite a few of you have predicted a draw for tommorow.Fair do,s but i feel with Dundee utd and Dunfermline on the horizon after this we really should be looking to get our first home league win here.Yes it wont be easy and i recall not that long ago they were considered our bogey team but surely if we apply ourselves and play the way we have been recently i see no reason as to why we cant get a result here.Theve got a good manager who will set up to frustrate us but its up to us to break them down as weve done in our last two fixtures.Big Decs will be miss im sure but weve a good enough squad to call on if needed.This will be a test of our credentials albeit still early doors in the campaigne and im sure the Lions wont let us down.Do It Livi!!!

2-1 Livi. FG 39 mins.

I thought we were good value for our half time lead but the second half was poor from us until the last 10 minutes. Once Dumbarton equalised it was looking like deja vu all over again and I was convinced they would score again; but as I suggested in my earlier post we seem to be much more resilient and streetwise and we somehow clawed our way back into the game, got back in front and managed the game from there on.

Excellent win in the end that gives us a wee cushion in 4th and well in touch with the leaders.

That was some game.

All Livi first half and I thought we'd pay for not scoring a 2nd goal when we were do dominant. 2nd half Dumbarton came out strong and were on top hitting the bar before they eventually scored, like Bertie I thought they'd go on and win it after that, but we somehow dug in and got back in the lead. Def wouldn't have won this game a few seasons back but shows how far Hoppy has taken us the last 2 seasons, we're a much more resilient team nowadays.

Basically we Dumbartoned Dumbarton.

Well that second half took winning ugly to a new level.

Couldn't believe the contrast from the first half where we should have scored at least 3 goals and made it a comfortable game in the second. However give credit to Dumbarton, they fully deserved their equaliser and will feel a bit sore that they came away empty handed. They're certainly no pushovers as their other results have shown and on this display I don't see them battling to avoid play-offs.

However its early days and I'm just happy that Livi have gotten themselves into a position well away from the other end of the table as we approach the end of the first quarter.

Wee word about the ref... Rank.

Awarded fouls that weren't, corners that weren't & let Barr get away with fouling, grabbing, simulation & feigning injury. Failed to award fouls to us that were obvious, booked one of ours (Pittman I think) for nothing. Allowed Walsh to pick the ball up before he had blown the whistle for a foul & then gave the foul to them. He was inept.

But WE WON so GIRUY

Tough Tough game yesterday but a hard fought3 points for us that keeps the momentum going.Agree with Orcos points on P&B about Northcroft and Mackin.Northcroft is an absolute arse and i shuddered when i found out he was officiating this game and the standside linesman was no better.Some of their decisions were baffling between them and no wonder Hoppy was going of his nut at them.As for Mackin ,big Hartson needs to get a grip of him.Yes hes a young lad and will hopefully get better but as someone else said hes a luxury we cant afford at the moment.Thought the boy Penrice had a decent game and looks promising and the introduction of Keahgan near the end gave us a wee jolt that was required at the time when we were struggling a bit at the end.All in All weve got to be happy with our position coming towards the end of the first quarter and for that the plaudits must go to Hoppy and his team so well done lads and lets see if we can keep it going.!

In spite of the win I did not enjoy that game. I was angry at the management team for putting Mackin on instead of Carrick. Then I was angry at having to watch Mackin jogging up and down the pitch, as he does, with no clue as to where he should be and putting in quarter of the work rate of his fellow players. Finally I was angry at that excuse of a referee for his blatant bias and general incompetence.
Well done to the team though especially our stout defenders Lithgow and Halkett who not only worked their socks off at the back but popped up in the box with a goal each.

My heart sinks when I see Mackin coming on but nothing I can do about it so I try not to let it spoil my enjoyment of the game, esp when we win.

The amount of times the Dumbarton players threw themselves forward dropping to the ground to get a foul was getting beyond a joke, but the ref was giving them fouls every time so can see why they kept doing it, he was encouraging them to try it on.

Aye Mango was acting like a right arsehole with his off the ball fouls, pushing and elbowing players, mad challenges trying his best to clobber us, and constant moaning to the ref each time they got a foul trying to say we elbowed them so he'd book our players, what a w@nker. By the time the ref had a word with him to say it was his final warning he should've had 3 yellow cards, how he only got booked once, and stayed on the pitch, is further evidence of of how inept Northcroft was/is.Thought it was just Watson who was an arse but i've gone right off Barr now.

The game had gone a bit flat 2nd half but the ref ramped up the atmosphere with his dodgy decisions annoying the crowd, so I suppose he at least made the game a bit tasty and helped liven it up. Made our win all the more enjoyable too.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Wee word about the ref... Rank.

Awarded fouls that weren't, corners that weren't & let Barr get away with fouling, grabbing, simulation & feigning injury. Failed to award fouls to us that were obvious, booked one of ours (Pittman I think) for nothing. Allowed Walsh to pick the ball up before he had blown the whistle for a foul & then gave the foul to them. He was inept.

But WE WON so GIRUY

A Dumbarton fan on P&B said pre match that Northcroft had officiated 8 of their games last season, but they had never lost a game with him as the ref, can see why, he did his best for them not to lose this game too, unlucky though. Was thinking he maybe had them down on his coupon the amount of fouls he was giving them around our box.

Very lucky to win yesterday. With the amount of chances we pished away and the chances we allowed Dumbarton to have in the second half, we probably just deserved a point from that game. But, it's good to see us grinding out wins. Doesn't matter how we win them!

On a positive note, it's been a great first quarter but the fact we have room for improvement kinda makes it even better. We know we can do better than we have and yet we're doing better than expected. Would be a lot worse if we were scraping results knowing this is us at the top of our game. *Hope all that makes sense*

Really enjoying this season and I was a bit worried after the high of winning League One this would be a downer if we struggled down the bottom of the table. So far so good though, isn't a team in this league we can't beat.

Cadden's shoulder is going to be a long term recurring problem I think. That was a fairly light touch that put it out this time, although it was possibly worse than it looked as he was accelerating, so the combination of forces was greater than the force of the touch itself.

I remember Brian Robson going through a spell where his shoulder would pop out semi regularly. Didn't stop him going in hard mind you...something Cadden doesn't do, at least not often.

He was having a good game up front too, gutter for him. Though doesn't say much for Carrick's chances when a midfielder gets put in front of him as a striker, then Mackin comes on. Would've thought a more mobile player like Carrick would've been a like for like replacement for Cadden.

Don't think there is an op that can help him either, they'll just pop it back in. I thought at first he'd been hit in the throat the way he went down, bad patter from Dumbarton fans booing him as he was going off.