Livi v Morton

I'd have confidence of a win if this was away from home but a draw wouldn't surprise me here. Could do with a win though to keep the 6 points gap over Utd, as I think they'll beat Dumbarton again, and we would probably go 8 or 9 points ahead of the Pars with them having a difficult game against Falkirk.

Hopefully Miller will start with Hardie too and we get a first half goal, if we do then I think we'll win by the odd goal in two. 2-0 Livi, fg 22 mins.

I think we have finally hit the skids & Morton will know they need the points to maintain their play off challenge as well as wanting to finally beat us. They will not fiddle with their team & will play their strongest available side.

Liv 0 Morton 2
FG 27 mins

The significance of this match makes it at least the biggest home game so far this season. This team don't let a poor game hang on them for too long and I'm feeling confident about this one despite us not having won at home against Morton for ten years.

Usual back three; midfield of De Vita, Pittman, Byrne, Jacobs and Cadden; Hardie and Miller up front. Would like to see Thompson start but Jacobs has the experience to hopefully stay tight on Harkins and not give him any time with the ball.

Livingston 2. Morton 1. FG 38 mins.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I think we have finally hit the skids & Morton will know they need the points to maintain their play off challenge as well as wanting to finally beat us. They will not fiddle with their team & will play their strongest available side.

Liv 0 Morton 2
FG 27 mins

So you're predicting a fairly toothless Morton side will manage something that no other side has managed since 28th October and that is score more than one goal at the vale?

LiviCub wrote:The significance of this match makes it at least the biggest home game so far this season. This team don't let a poor game hang on them for too long and I'm feeling confident about this one despite us not having won at home against Morton for ten years.

Usual back three; midfield of De Vita, Pittman, Byrne, Jacobs and Cadden; Hardie and Miller up front. Would like to see Thompson start but Jacobs has the experience to hopefully stay tight on Harkins and not give him any time with the ball.

Livingston 2. Morton 1. FG 38 mins.

I've yet to see anything from Thompson that indicates he's worthy of a start. Surely Robinson Jacobs and Frizzell are far better.

Unfortunately he's no Penrice in my book

Durnford wrote:

LiviCub wrote:The significance of this match makes it at least the biggest home game so far this season. This team don't let a poor game hang on them for too long and I'm feeling confident about this one despite us not having won at home against Morton for ten years.

Usual back three; midfield of De Vita, Pittman, Byrne, Jacobs and Cadden; Hardie and Miller up front. Would like to see Thompson start but Jacobs has the experience to hopefully stay tight on Harkins and not give him any time with the ball.

Livingston 2. Morton 1. FG 38 mins.

I've yet to see anything from Thompson that indicates he's worthy of a start. Surely Robinson Jacobs and Frizzell are far better.

Unfortunately he's no Penrice in my book

I thought he was really impressive in the Falkirk game, I don't think I've seen a better cross this season than his for Hardie's header in that game. He's done fairly well in the midfield with Pittman and Byrne in the other games he's appeared in and is always looking to dribble forward with the ball and look for a pass to the strikers. At this moment though I think Jacobs will start so he can take Harkins out of the game.

Agreed LC, Harkins ran the show for Morton in our last game, Keaghan would def sort that out.

Can't see how losing 1 game in the last 12 could be hitting the skids though, Bertie get a hold of yourself man.

Yeah Durnford impressive stats for our home league form, 1 defeat in our last 13 home games, and we've only conceded 6 goals in our last 11 too, AND, only 3 in our last 6 home game. We've had a few draws in those games right enough but one thing we haven't been guilty of is conceding many goals at home in that run of games.

Thought Harkins really quietened down after he got booked for diving in the last game. Prior to that he'd been holding on to Hardie and Miller and not even getting a speaking to from the referee. If he were to get booked early on it would change the whole complexion of the game.

Last time Morton's best chances occurred when we'd been pressing up for a goal so we need to be particularly careful of that.

That being said a draw wouldnt be the worst result in the world but I'm going for a 2 - nil Livi win with first goal after 15 minutes.

Yep.Harkin absolutely strolled through the game the last time they were here.He does have a naughty side to him though which doesnt do him any favours.Hopefully Hoppy will have someone on him to disrupt their game.Agree weve got to start with two up front for this one and get tore right in aboot them.All ears will be on us tommorew from Glebe Park,lets make the Maureens wait a tad longer before they wrap it up.Having said that we have our own agenda to look after and i couldnt give a toss whats happening up at Brechin.Cmon Livi.One final push and we,re almost there.Do it!!!
t

Durnford wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:I think we have finally hit the skids & Morton will know they need the points to maintain their play off challenge as well as wanting to finally beat us. They will not fiddle with their team & will play their strongest available side.

Liv 0 Morton 2
FG 27 mins

So you're predicting a fairly toothless Morton side will manage something that no other side has managed since 28th October and that is score more than one goal at the vale?

Wigan beat Man City.... Strange results happen in football.

Besides, LF is strolling to the prediction league title... My only chance of catching him is to predict something he won't... At the same time hoping that I don't catch him.

1-1, FG 52 mins.

After the first goal I thought I was going to be proven correct in my prediction... We were second best until we scored then dominated until we went ahead & then they came back into it. I thought we lost shape with the substitution of Hardie & Cadden was having a nightmare when he came on. His poor play led to the corner that brought the equaliser.

All 5 goals from set pieces, defending suspect for each one. Entertaining afternoon but one of our worst displays until Jacko scored. Until then it was panning out as I had suggested with Morton looking more up for it. In the end a very important win when you consider the other results.

Don't know what formation we were meant to be playing but Longridge wasn't going down the wing so we were playing one sided and far too narrow, the left hand side was begging for us to play balls down. Apart from getting our equaliser I thought Jacko was pretty poor.

2nd half subs were also a bit strange, Keaghan coming on was fine, but Cadden for Hardie changed the game in Morton's favour, before that substitution we looked comfortable enough and more likely than them to get another goal too. Really thought Longridge would've been going off, esp after being booked, at that point I thought we'd be lucky to hold on for the draw.

Frizzell coming on was a game changer though and put the momentum back in our favour, and although all our goals came from set pieces we fully deserved the winner, Halkett hitting the post and Gaston having to make a few good saves whereas Alexander had little to do from shots on target.

Really like the look of Frizzell, quite small but strong and direct and gave us the energy and drive we needed to get the win. Cracking game from Lithgow too, the long throw for our first and two good headers for our 2nd and 3rd, think he should've been our MoTM.

Some game though, put us through the ringer watching it, and excellent 3 points to keep us 6 clear of the Pars. Couldn't believe Dumbarton kept scoring against Utd either, that more or less makes sure Utd aren't going to catch us.

https://vimeo.com/263715538?ref=fb-share

What do Livi have to do to get a penalty these days? Two games in a row now. If those were not penalties then why were our players not booked for diving?
We shouldn't have needed that second Lithgow goal and we could have had a point at Dunfermline on Tuesday night! Grr!
It's a conspiracy ah tell 'ee

Got to be honest here.was a wee bit nearvy on my seat when i saw Hardie being subbed.Heard afterwards he took a wee knock and it was precautionary to take him off.Neednt have worried though.The desire and hunger shown by this group shows no abounds resulting in that bullet header from big Lithgow to seal the points.We are in a great position at this particular moment but im not getting carried away until weve actually done it.Oh and Mortons day just got worse with their team coach getting bogged down for hours after the game.Probably didnt want to go home to face the music.Yeh it was some game but in the end think we just about deserved the win so a very well done to Hoppy and the lads once again

It's a wonder Miller lasted the full game then if Hardie got a sore one, Lee was getting an elbow into the back of his neck every time he went up for a high ball, Morton players were going in leading with their elbows all game on him. That one the ref finally saw and gave a yellow card for was a bloody red card all day long too. Not a fan of refs booking players for nearly every tackle they do but there has to be a balance, that boy yesterday was letting everything go for most of the day and it took a full on assault before even giving a yellow.

Ref was as inept as his colleagues. Thompson would have had the opportunity to shoot or cross/pass if he stayed on his feet so absolutely no reason to go down & the very fact that the ball went in the direction he played it & the space he would have been in, tells you that he had to have been illegally impeded by Harkins or he dived, so if it wasn't a penalty the ref has to book him for simulation, so the ref gets it wrong either way. Inept. But then why should we be surprised? Most dictionaries should have a photo of SPFL & SFA headquarters as their definitions of inept.

Troy, sorry but one of my pet hates is when people use "just about" to mean "just". Let me explain;

If I say "I am just home" - that means I am home and it happened a few moments ago.
If I say "I am just about home" - that means I am not home yet but will be shortly.

So when you say we "just about deserved to win" you are actually saying we didn't actually deserve to win but nearly deserved to win.

Commentators use it quite a lot... When the ball trickles into the net they say the scorer "just about forces it over the line" but they actually mean that he "just managed to force it over the line" - if he just about forced it in, then he didn't actually force it in but nearly did.
Or the keeper just about did enough to save it... That actually means it was a goal but they are describing a save & they should have said the keeper just saved it or just managed to save it.

Just about = almost = nearly = didn't quite manage it

Yesterday we just did enough to win & in my opinion it was close but over the 90 minutes we just deserved it.

Sorry if ive upset you with your pet hates and all Bertie.Im not surprised that Liviforever gets the hump with you on such a regular basis,sorry but im not biting.Will try in future to refrain from that perticular saying in any future posts.Only put down my thoughts at the time of posting without thinking that someone would come back at me about my phraseology.Anyways im just about to go to bed oops sorry Bertie,wee slip of the tongue.Lol T.

Yeah that just about nonsense they spout gets on my wick too. He just about got his fingers to it when he actually did, or he just about scored when he bloody well just put the ball in the net, clowns.

Their latest is AT IT, meaning a player is really up for it and on form. At it means when a player is pretending he doesn't know he's done something, aye he's at it, so what the heck are they gibbering about with their at it nonsense/

Give and go annoys me too, it was always called a one-two, when you passed the ball then got it back, what's all this give and go pish!!

I could be here all night with the crap commentators spout that is annoying.

Thanks for agreeing LF... Go stick that in yer pipe & smoke it Troy

Doesn't upset me Troy, just wish folk would utilise basic English. It's cause I'm old.
No slip of the tongue there Troy, unless you were already in bed when you posted then that was the correct way to use it - I like a quick learner, well done.

Give & go is an Americanism that has crept in to usage here. It's how Ice Hockey commentators have described it for years & as MLS has grown their commentators have come by it naturally. Don't understand why our commentators have started using it though.

Yeah, "At it" - I agree, it should be "up for it" - to be fair "He's at it" meaning "He's conning you" may well be a Scottish colloquialism but it just sounds wrong the way they use it.

I think I may well give up watching the EPL football on the telly if they start calling it soccer. That would be the final straw with their Americanism influence.

You're prob right about 'he's at it' being a Scottish colloquialism, just sounds weird the way they are using it though, and it is only quite recent that I've noticed them coming out with it.

The English tend to use was instead of were though, we was all over them, we was robbed, so maybe in their minds how they're saying 'at it' sounds sensible.

Jeezo I thought this was a fitba' forum not "First Aid In English".
The purpose of language is communication so as long as you know what a person means that person has communicated.
There are certain expressions I am not fond of but I would not publicly criticise anyone for using them.
We English speakers often get too hung up on the niceties of the language and it's grammar.

Liviforever wrote:I think I may well give up watching the EPL football on the telly if they start calling it soccer. That would be the final straw with their Americanism influence.

You're prob right about 'he's at it' being a Scottish colloquialism, just sounds weird the way they are using it though, and it is only quite recent that I've noticed them coming out with it.

The English tend to use was instead of were though, we was all over them, we was robbed, so maybe in their minds how they're saying 'at it' sounds sensible.

Actually in Wales the word "football" was more often used to describe Rugby Union. Cardiff; Swansea; Newport and Wrexham played "Soccer". Its not purely an American idea but also, I believe adopted in Australia where they have Aussie Rules football.

orco wrote:Jeezo I thought this was a fitba' forum not "First Aid In English".
The purpose of language is communication so as long as you know what a person means that person has communicated.
There are certain expressions I am not fond of but I would not publicly criticise anyone for using them.
We English speakers often get too hung up on the niceties of the language and it's grammar.

It really gets my goat when someone tries to sound "hip" by spelling Football as Fitba...  

And for the record Bertie is not entirely correct on his tunnel vision of the use of "Just about". The use of a adjective and an adverb together can give rise to a significant level of ambiguity; for example if I were to say I was writing a series of books on Scottish fitba (that ones for Orco so that I sound in with the in-crowd ) but the first one was JUST ABOUT Livingston FC I assume people wouldn't think I meant "ALMOST".

Wherever possible the use of an Adjective and Adverb together should be avoided unless your meaning is 100% clear. However if, at the end of the day, people understand what you're talking about then surely its mission accomplished?

Fitba' fitba' fitba'