Livingston v Cowdenbeath.

Raith in the driving seat here,but having looked at the respective groups,many teams could effectively finish on 8 points including us.In that respect goal difference is potentially going to have a say as albeit a slim chance if we are to get in through the back door.Martindale was looking for a reaction the other night after the Alloa fiasco,well I'm looking for one tomorrow after the borefest on Wednesday. Hopefully some of the illness having an effect on the team has reasonably subsided.Gary Bollan will see an opportunity here as his team can still qualify for the next round should we be under par.Weve got to put our stamp on this from the off and see where it takes.After more ticketing shenanigans il be there once again to cheer our relatively new team,and hope they put on a show for us.Mon the Lions..

Is the ticketing situation a bit easier after getting the relevant info into their system in the Raith game, should just be a case of repeating your last order and not having to fill in all the shite this time, as they'll already have it. Unless you're adding new people to your bubble.

Still a lot of faf for no other reason than making it difficult, and putting people off from going, same with the not doing ppv, well done Livi in depriving yourself of money, good job.

Just need to focus on the game and make sure we win the fecking thing, then see where we are with other results afterwards. Pretty much our worst ever group stage performance, we've been fortunate to have seen us breeze through every other season we've had in this format, even when we were in League One. Which tells you our whole approach to how we're playing isn't working, we've better quality players playing in the Premiership the last 3 seasons, but are struggling against lower league opposition, and even a team that dropped out of the SPFL. This really should've been our easiest group stage yet. Not looking good for our league campaign.

Anyhoo, one decent performance could get our spirits up, and be the start of our team gelling into a good playing unit, grasping for any glimmer of hope.

Yeh the ticketing issue seemed a bit easier than the first time,but fans still having problems with it.1.6k the other night which surprised me.Was a good atmosphere despite the ticketing issues.We might have been nearer to 2k had those who unfortunately couldn't attend been there.Raith brought around 300 is.Made for a decent crowd considering all things.Hope my prediction of just falling short doesn't materialise,but I just feel weve shot ourselves in the foot as progressing goes.Anyway looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully the the Lions bring a bit of cheer to the place.

Be so Livi if we beat Cowden and Poplatnik scores the goal for Raith that puts us out.

Well, if we have the same team as the last two games then we’ll be out anyway.

It seems to me that with one or two exceptions we have a largely mid-table second tier squad, assembled by the current manager. So, let’s see them go out there and prove me wrong.

Good start, any chance we could sign Buchanan back up this season.

1-1, seem to be playing better anyway, just can't stick the ball in the net that well, if we could start clicking in front of goal we'd be not too bad.

Fitzwater playing well down the right wing, sets up Anderson for us to go 2-1 up.

2-1 Livi HT.

Just needing Alloa to score a goal now, and a third from us just to put the game to bed.

Looks like results have gone our way to qualify as the 4th best second placer


Correction 3rd best 2nd placer.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Looks like results have gone our way to qualify as the 4th best second placer

We're spawny barstewards.

Much better performance from us though, and looks like it could've been a few more. Thought we hadn't scored enough to get above Raith and qualify, even if Alloa won the pen shoot out, so we were oot. Couldn't believe we finished as a best 2nd place team on 8 points, but delighted we did.

Sorry to be a barsteward guys.Im just back from the game.Yeh we're through,God knows how.Bearing in mind the opposition and all the health issues at the moment this game could have been a helluva lot more comfortable than the score suggests. Il never change my opinion of saying what I saw first hand.Fitzwalter as a right winger worked.Obiley was solid.Sibbs is hopefully over his illness.Few of the players looked knackered and I bet were greatfull for the couple of drinks breaks they got.Players starting to come back after health issues which will be welcome im sure.Had to check when I got back to see,however unlikly that we'd qualified.As it stands at the moment dreading the draw tomorrow.The current team would be taken apart by better quality from what I've seen so far.Which probably means we'll scoosh this competition. Fech it im away to the fridge for a cold one before like others,I become delusional 🤪 or demented.Enjoy your weekend guys.

Unfortunately it means we’ll get a harder draw as we won’t be seeded.

Sorry Bertie,glass half full.Il rectify that shortly.If I was one of the teams through,I'd love to draw Livi at the moment.Struggeling as we are at the moment albeit early doors.Im hoping for any of the big guns for any financial gain we get from it.Would be welcome.As I suspect the club would too.Wur doomed.

If I remember correctly the seeds will be last season’s top four plus the for group winners with the best records. As things stand the seed are…
Rangers
Celtic
Hibs
Aberdeen
Dundee United
Dundee
Ayr
Dunfermline

Dunfermline can only hold on to their seeding if both Hearts & St Mirren lose tomorrow.
If Hearts & St Mirren both win then they will replace Ayr & Dunfermline.

Thanks for the update Bertie.Wish I was opptomistic.But I'm not.Quality will rise in the end,which unfortunately we don't possess at the moment.This competition gives us game time to get back to full strength for the real test,ie survival .

Didn't expect to get through so just delighted we are, anything from here on is a bonus in this cup.


Hopefully Jacko and Shinnie are ok, and not going to be out injured, we'll need both of them fit for as many games as possible in the league.

Still concerned about out defence but we have the players to attack teams, could do with Anderson sharpening up in front of goals though, he's passed up a few chances in these cup group games. Not overly confident in Reilly scoring goals, so far he just isn't looking like a goal scorer. Hammy, Forrest, Devlin and Mullin are all coming back, so that's good news.

Can only hope we get better with every game, couldn't be any tougher for us in our league opener, if we can keep it down to 3 i'd be happy, anything better would be marvelous.

Bad news guys….

Woke up this morning and realised I had not included St Johnstone. For one dreadful moment I thought that fact had actually knocked us out but having reviewed it, we are ok.

Seeds are therefore
Rangers
Celtic
Hibs
Aberdeen
St Johnstone
Dundee United
Dundee
Ayr (could be replaced by Hearts or St Mirren depending on today’s results)

Non-seeds as things stand
Hearts (could replace Ayr as a seed)
Raith
Motherwell
Kilmarnock
Dunfermline
St Mirren (could replace Ayr as a seed)
Arbroath
Livingston

Liviforever wrote:Didn't expect to get through so just delighted we are, anything from here on is a bonus in this cup.


Hopefully Jacko and Shinnie are ok, and not going to be out injured, we'll need both of them fit for as many games as possible in the league.

Still concerned about out defence but we have the players to attack teams, could do with Anderson sharpening up in front of goals though, he's passed up a few chances in these cup group games. Not overly confident in Reilly scoring goals, so far he just isn't looking like a goal scorer. Hammy, Forrest, Devlin and Mullin are all coming back, so that's good news.

Can only hope we get better with every game, couldn't be any tougher for us in our league opener, if we can keep it down to 3 i'd be happy, anything better would be marvelous.

My Panda colleague at work told me most of Reilly’s goals for Saints came against lower league opponents in League Cup group games & falsely inflated his scoring record, he was known for running around a lot with nothing much to show for it in league games…. As far as I have seen that is a fair assessment. Certainly hope he can prove to be better than that.

Don't mind the running around a lot bit, but he could do with scoring the odd goal too, i see Anderson as doing that, and Hamilton as the player to score us some goals too. So basically Anderson is a better version of Reilly, and when we take Anderson off we're going to be weaker if Reilly comes on for him.

Some goal by Sibbs, great work to win the ball back twice too. https://twitter.com/i/status/1419214160370483201

Liviforever wrote:Don't mind the running around a lot bit, but he could do with scoring the odd goal too, i see Anderson as doing that, and Hamilton as the player to score us some goals too. So basically Anderson is a better version of Reilly, and when we take Anderson off we're going to be weaker if Reilly comes on for him.

That’s the problem right now, our first xi is probably not too bad a side but we have built a squad that is quantity over quality.

St Midden 2 Jaggy Thistle 0 - this result meant St Mirren & Dundee United both finish with 12 points and identical goal difference of +8 with 9 goals scored & 1 conceded. Having checked the format… when teams finish level on points the criteria for separating them is Goal Difference, followed by Goals Scored, followed by Goals scored away from home. St Mirren scored most away goals, so I can only assume they will be seeded ahead of United. Hearts need a 2 goal win to reach +9 GD & replace United as a seed, technically becoming the 7th seed. They need a 6 goal win to have better GD than Dundee.

Seeds are therefore
Rangers
Celtic
Hibs
Aberdeen
St Johnstone
Dundee
St Mirren
Dundee United (could be replaced by Hearts)


Non-seeds as things stand
Ayr
Hearts (could replace United as a seed)
Raith
Motherwell
Kilmarnock
Dunfermline
Arbroath
Livingston