Premiership Play Off Final v Partick Th

Yasss, we should take a decent support to Glasgow for the away leg, think i'll get my name down for the bus for this so I can have a few beers.

I wonder if Frizzell will make an appearance in these games, and if Hoppy has been saving him for them, he should be well used to playing against that level of opposition and scored a wonder goal against Partick for Killie.

I'd be really confident of us winning this if we had Hardie and Miller up front, the two of them had a great partnership going and would've terrorised Partick's defence, Miller up front himself though is a tough shift for him, and if he has someone playing alongside him it still wouldn't be as good as his partnership with Hardie.

However we've shown we can get goals from our midfield when they press players and push up, and Partick aren't exactly prolific goal scorers, it will prob be pretty tight games which will suit us as we've just shown we can hold our nerve and grind out a win.

Has to be the game Pittman hits a 25 yarder into the top corner, I was waiting on him doing it against Utd but he scored a lovely wee dink of a goal instead, he does love to score raspers in big games though so I can see him doing it in one of these games.

So we began the competitive season with a Betfred Cup tie against Partick Thistle... who would have imagined we’d end the season playing them again for a place in the top tier?

They will be on a high from beating Dundee to avoid automatic relegation. Could really have done with that being a draw.

Not confident we can win over two legs, I think we’d have had a great chance in a one-off final but over 2-legs I think Thistle must be considered favourites.

It would be incredible if we could take a first leg lead to Maryhill but I think the best we will get on Thursday will be a draw & I expect Thistle to edge it.

Liv 0 PT 1

FG 59 mins

Seeing that we've filled 2 buses already is getting me up for this nice and early. Going to be a long week.

Surely we'll have the south stand turnstiles open which should hopefully reduce the queues, looking forward to another big crowd and a rocking Almondvale, been far too long since we had that twice in quick succession. Thistle's a decent away day, shame we can't end up in the same league next season. Train to Glasgow Central, few pints in the centre and through to the stadium, looking forward to it.

As for Thursday's game I've no idea how it'll go, do we know the extent of Raffa's injury yet? Hope he's alright to play, been brilliant in the 2 games against United. Think I'd go something like:


If De Vita isn't fit then put Robinson in there. Still gives us good options on the bench like Frizzell and Cadden. To be honest, if we don't take a serious beating and are still well in it (a goal down at most) going into Sunday's game I'll be happy, would be gutting if it was game over for us only halfway through. Have a lot of faith that even if we do get beat this team will make sure it isn't easy for Partick and won't be comfortable for them. We have the advantage that we've had a great season and are flying, they might be feeling low (although that could motivate them just as much). Both teams have played the same days for the past couple weeks so shouldn't be any excuses about fitness. Hopefully we can rattle their cage and regardless of what happens I probably won't be sober between Thursday and Monday.

Absolutely buzzing for these games, 4 days seems too far away.

1-1, FG 19 mins.

They got a 1-0 win against a Dundee team that went on holiday mode (playing their reserve keeper and a few other fringe players), hardly see that as getting momentum or anything for us to worry about, they're struggling to score goals and we're hard to score against, esp at home. I think the home tie first is perfect, it will hopefully get us a win and we'll take a goal or two lead into the away tie. We've been pretty good on the road too so i'd fancy us to finish the job on Sunday.

I'll wait a couple of days before sticking up a prediction, but I can tell you right now it'll be some kind of winning one.

Liviforever wrote:They got a 1-0 win against a Dundee team that went on holiday mode (playing their reserve keeper and a few other fringe players), hardly see that as getting momentum or anything for us to worry about, they're struggling to score goals and we're hard to score against, esp at home. I think the home tie first is perfect, it will hopefully get us a win and we'll take a goal or two lead into the away tie. We've been pretty good on the road too so i'd fancy us to finish the job on Sunday.

I'll wait a couple of days before sticking up a prediction, but I can tell you right now it'll be some kind of winning one.

I’d be disappointed if you predicted anything else.

I know they haven’t built up any real momentum but they got the result they needed to avoid the drop & that is a massive boost regardless of the strength of the opposition; in the end a draw would have been enough for them with Saints equalising against Ross. A draw would have had less of a boost factor.

I think we are good enough to trouble them but I have a sneaky suspicion that the weight of refereeing decisions going against us will finally be enough to scupper us.

Massive boost for us, that's who we were wanting to play, and we'll take a shit load of fans through on Sunday. It'll be our biggest away support of the season.

Doolan is a threat, same as McDonald was for Utd, apart from him i'm not too worried. Do you know they haven't got a goal scorer in the list of top 24 Premiership scorers, I think every other team has at least one player listed.
I'm more concerned we get everyone through the home game ok and have a full strength team for Sunday, nothing we can do about that though, just have to go about our business as usual and the rest will take care of itself.

Would be good if we got a decent ref for a change, and any penalty decisions we're due would actually get awarded.

This team has constantly surprised me and everyone else all season...here's hoping we have a couple more surprises left. Didn't notice the Livi lion out on the pitch at the united games...thought he'd make an appearance with the bumper crowd

I watched the Thistle game on Sportscene. They have some rather big guys playing for them.

I notice that in the return leg they are charging their season ticket holders £10 and £7.50. I wonder how they get away with that given that the SFA have rules re pricing.

Guys - I am seriously worried about this.

According to the BBC we are playing three games at the same time on Thursday; surely our squad isnt large enough for this even if we get special agreement for all of our loan player to return?

Quarter final? Fecksake have we to start again and play at the bottom from the quarters, it's a conspiracy against us, SFA w*nk w*nk w*nk.

Liviforever wrote:Quarter final? Fecksake have we to start again and play at the bottom from the quarters, it's a conspiracy against us, SFA w*nk w*nk w*nk.

I hadn't noticed the quarterfinal bit... Doesn't coming second count for anything; I suppose we need to meet Dunfermline in the semi and United in the final????

orco wrote:I watched the Thistle game on Sportscene. They have some rather big guys playing for them.

I notice that in the return leg they are charging their season ticket holders £10 and £7.50. I wonder how they get away with that given that the SFA have rules re pricing.

I'm assuming Partick will have to pay the SPFL their cut from the full whack at 15 & 20 quid charges on attendance figures, then take the hit for the discounted prices for ST holders out of their own share of the gate.It's a fair reward to their fans for their loyal support, but they can afford to do that with the attendances they get in the top flight and over 1M in prize money.

I believe that record lottery winning couple are also Partick fans.

Good investment for Lottery winners tbf.

Liviforever wrote:Good investment for Lottery winners tbf.

Yep; really worked out for us didn't it.

Anyone know the situation with suspensions for this game/ potentials for second leg?

Have a feeling there's a few players hovering around the yellow card limit.

forzalfc wrote:Anyone know the situation with suspensions for this game/ potentials for second leg?

Have a feeling there's a few players hovering around the yellow card limit.

All our three central defenders have recently served suspensions so they'll be fine.

Byrne was booked on Friday as was Miller and Thompson. Of those the most at risk must be Byrne who's points must have taken a hike when he was sent off during the 1-1 draw with Morton. He served a one match suspension then picked up two yellow cards in each of the Semi final games.

Like all of you i cant wait for Thursday to come.My nerves are bordering on the ridiculous at the moment and we havent started yet.The thought of Sammson Erskine Doolan and Storey bearing in on us is filling me with a great sense of uneasyness here.I reckon Alan,Craig,Declan and Neil are really gonna have to be at the top of their respective games here.Alan Archiebauld has seen the way we play and will no doubt try to nullify any threat we may cause their backline.Weve said all along that Hoppy is a master tactitioner and it will be interesting to see how he sets about causing a major upset here.We are going through to Firhill on Sunday in our droves and i sincerely hope that like the United game we are still in with a shout of making history.Wont be easy but we have to believe that we can pull this off.One more time Livi do it!!!

Going to stick my neck out here and go for a clean sheet and us to get a magnificent 2-0 win FG 4 mins, another early goal for us too as we usually start well and have a couple of chances from the off, hopefully we'll be clinical and score right away.

Thurs: Craig Thomson

Sun: John Beaton

Any chance we will get awarded a penalty from one of those two?

Liviforever wrote:Thurs: Craig Thomson

Sun: John Beaton

Any chance we will get awarded a penalty from one of those two?

We've generally done okay with Thomson recently; even the 1 - 3 loss to St Mirren was our own fault; all even and he sends off Irvine before Ryan comes on and scores a brace.

Even more unfortunately he was the referee when we beat Stranraer 4-3 but got demoted to division 1.

Strangely John Beaton was the referee in the fist leg of the play-offs against Stranraer where we lost 5 - 2. Even stranger to think that there are four regular first team members that were in the starting lineup for that game (Halkett; Longridge; Mullin; Pittman). How things have changed?

Beaton did however award us a penalty against St Johnstone in 2016 but it was saved.

Liviforever wrote:Thurs: Craig Thomson

Sun: John Beaton

Any chance we will get awarded a penalty from one of those two?

Couldn't really find consistent stats for refs so this might be a little bit wrong.

Craig Thomson was the ref for our 3-1 defeat to St Mirren when Gary Irvine was sent off. He was also in charge of our 2-1 win against United in February. He's dished out 126 yellows and 12 reds in his 35 games this season -- an average of 3.6 yellows per game, 3.9 when you include reds. He's given 8 penalties, which is one every 4.3 games.

John Beaton saw us play the same opponents; our 2-0 win at home to Dundee United in October and the 0-0 draw at St Mirren that confirmed their title win and our play off spot. He's shown 136 yellows and 6 reds in his 40 games -- an average of 3.9 yellows per game, 4.1 when you include reds. He's awarded 9 penalties, which is one every 4.4 games.




Anyway, my voice still hasn't fully recovered from Friday but I still can't wait to let everyone know who's on their way.

I want one of our players getting awarded a penalty when being tripped outside the box, then another penalty for us fouling our own player, that should just about even things out. Oh and if we could get a goal when being blatantly offside that would be nice too.

If everyone is fit, the team picks itself.

Livingston 1. Partick 1. FG 17 mins.