Livingston

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Why should Scottish football fans care about Czech side Viktoria Plzen drawing with Italian heavyweights Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League?

The result on Thursday night has serious consequences for the Premiership, with the Czech Republic now having leapfrogged Scotland in the coefficient standings.

Not only will the winners of the top flight no longer gain automatic qualification to the Champions League from 2025/26, but there's also a knock on effect for those finishing further down the table.

Here's everything you need to know.

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• Hearts lost their first two home games against Livingston in the Scottish top-flight back in 2001-02, but are unbeaten in 13 matches against them since (W7 D6).

• A home victory in September 2022 is Livingston's only win in their last 11 league games against Hearts. They have lost both league meetings between the sides this season.

• Hearts are unbeaten in eight home league games (W5 D3). This is their longest unbeaten home run in the Scottish Premiership since November 2021 (10).

• Livingston are winless in their last 14 away league games (D3 L11). Only from September 2018 to August 2019 (18) have they had a longer winless run on their travels in the top-flight.

• Only Dundee (26y 66d) have a younger average starting XI age than Hearts (26y 67d) in the Scottish Premiership this season, whilst Livingston have the oldest (28y 218d).

Livingston are away to Hearts on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership, looking to keep their faint survival hopes alive.

Who would you like to see start at Tynecastle? Choose your Livingston XI here.

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David Martindale says “the belief is still there” in his Livingston side as they aim to pull off a remarkable relegation escape.

The West Lothian club are currently nine points adrift at the foot of the Premiership with six games to play.

A positive result away to Hearts on Saturday, coupled with defeat for Ross County at home to Rangers on Sunday, would reduce the gap further heading into the post-split fixtures.

Martindale has refused to “put too much emphasis” on other teams' outcomes, instead only looking “at ourselves and what we can affect”.

"I have to put all my energy and positivity into how we go to Tynecastle," he adds. "How we affect that game and how we pick points up.

"That's where my main focus lies. We need to go out and win the next game of football.

"It's going to be a big ask to stay in the league but we can. But I don't want to sound delusional because I know how challenging this season has been for everyone."

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Livingston have announced a new "six-figure" sponsorship deal with local taxi hire firm Home of the Set Fare.

The deal will see Almondvale rebranded as the 'Home of the Set Fare Arena' for next season, after the previous deal with Tony Macaroni came to an end.

"This really is a fantastic bit of business for the club," chief executive Dave Black said. "I’m absolutely delighted to be able to announce Home of the Set Fare as our new stadium naming rights partner ahead of the 2024-25 season.

“The enthusiasm from their side was fantastic and after doing a tour of the stadium and seeing what we had to offer, we were able to get this signed off and start to make plans for the new season."

All the pundits tipped a goalless draw for Livingston's clash meeting with Aberdeen at the weekend, and for the first time this season we did not disappoint.

There was plenty of effort on show, but not the quality to match in a drab affair. The medical staff put in a shift too with quite a few injuries, which shows the application I suppose.

Frankly, it was a poor game between two poor teams. The only crumb of comfort for me is that we didn’t spend millions on our squad like Aberdeen have.

A concern for me was how light the bench looked. We barely filled it and had many first-team regulars in the stand. I’m hoping that's only a temporary thing and some of the players haven’t chucked it.

There is likely to be a mass exodus when we inevitably go down. We’re low on resources as it is and even against Championship teams our budget is low.

We can only hope the manager is scouring YouTube now and finding the next group of gems to mould into a Livi team that will fight its way back next season.

On today's episode of the Scottish Football Podcast, Liam McLeod is joined by Kenny Miller and Alan Stubbs.

They discuss Sunday's Old Firm thriller and look back on an action-packed Saturday in the Scottish Premiership.

Listen to the episode in full here.

The Sportscene team assess whether Richard Jensen should have been sent off for his high boot on Tete Yengi.

(Available to UK users only)

We asked for your thoughts after Livingston played out a goalless draw with Aberdeen.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Kev: What a borefest. Two poor teams lacking in skill and entertainment. If this was someone's introduction to the Scottish Premiership, it would certainly put them off ever attending again.

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• Aberdeen are undefeated in their last three games in the Scottish Premiership, their last joint-longest unbeaten streak was from 24 September 2023 to 8 October 2023.

• Livingston have failed to score in 17 of their 32 games, more often than any other team in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Aberdeen have failed to score in 14 of their 32 games, only Livingston (17) and Ross County (16) have failed to score more often in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Dan MacKay attempted just four passes in the first half.

David Martindale says Livingston benefitted from a bit of luck in their draw with Aberdeen, although he felt his side were "the better team".

Were you at the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday or following the match elsewhere?

Either way, we want your views on the game - have your say here.

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Livingston boss David Martindale: "First half was frustrating for both teams with the amount of stoppages. It was really difficult for anyone to get any control of the game.

"Second half, I felt we were the better team. We were a wee bit unlucky, but saying that we get lucky with the offside call [for Aberdeen’s disallowed goal].

"We're one point closer than where we were, that’s what I'm going to take from it and it’s a clean sheet for the players."

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It felt like the story of Livingston's season when a dejected David Martindale watched Bojan Miovski smash in what he thought was a gut-wrenching losing goal, but he will now feel like luck is finally on his side.

The issue is that luck has almost certainly come too late, but this hard-fought point is a lifeline for Martindale and his players, who will continue to fight in their final six games.

Confirmation of a bottom-six finish compounds a miserable season for Aberdeen, a campaign so grim that moving seven points clear of 11th spot feels like the biggest positive of their day.

Given how poor their season has been, the Aberdeen board could do worse than allowing the season to play out with Peter Leven at the helm.

The caretaker manager has steadied the ship by taking seven points from his last three games and has crucially bought the Pittodrie hierarchy time in their new manager search.

Livingston hope to be able to welcome back Joel Nouble after an ankle issue, but James Penrice (hip), Andrew Shinnie (groin) and Cristian Montano (hamstring) are expected to remain on the sidelines.

Angus MacDonald and Killian Phillips are both in contention to feature for Aberdeen. Interim boss Peter Leven has said Slobodan Rubezic is unavailable, however, and he will return to training next week.

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David Martindale says his Livingston side haven't been consistent enough to warrant their place in the Scottish top flight.

The West Lothian side go into Saturday's game against Aberdeen 10 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

"We are making bad decisions in games," he said. "We string together very good moments in games but then one poor decision changes the game.

"I think we have fallen a wee bit short as a group this year. The consistency has been the key one for me, if you want to be in the Scottish Premiership you have to be consistent and we have not been consistent enough.

"This is my 10th season at Livingston. I came into win that game of football on matchday one and that is not going to change on matchday 38 whatever the situation is.

"I do not come to work to get beat. My position, my mindset isn't going to change whatever that league position is.

"We have got a duty to the fans and the club to make sure we are giving maximum effort in every game."

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David Martindale has been speaking to the media as Livingston prepare to face Aberdeen on Saturday.

Here are the main points:

• Martindale says his side a really struggling with injuries, although James Penrice and Joel Nouble are getting closer to a return.

• He adds that there's a group of about 13 or 14 that can be relied on to start games but outwith that they are finding it difficult.

• Says his personal mental resilience has been key for ignoring the external noise and keeping his players motivated.

• Martindale acknowledges that there have been good moments in games but their poor decision-making has let them down and they've not been "consistent enough" to be a Premiership side.

• Praised Peter Leven for "steadying the ship" at Aberdeen. He knows how tough Saturday's game will be given the quality the Dons have.

• Insists himself and the players are "fighting for their future" in every game and assured fans they'll keep pushing until matchday 38.

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• Livingston are unbeaten in their last three home games against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, winning two (D1). This after only winning one of their first 13 top-flight matches against the Dons at the Tony Macaroni Arena (D5 L7).

• Aberdeen have won six of their last 10 league meetings with Livingston (D1 L3), going unbeaten in each of the last three matchups in the Scottish Premiership (W2 D1) whilst also keeping two clean sheets.

• Livingston have won just one of their last 23 league matches (D4 L18), losing four of their last five (D1) while conceding three goals in each of those four defeats.

• Aberdeen ended a run of five straight league defeats away from home when beating Motherwell 1-0 last time out on the road. The Dons could win back-to-back away league matches for the first time since April 2023 (three in a row).

• Jamie McGrath has scored eight league goals for Aberdeen this season, matching his total for Dundee United last season. Only in 2020-21 (10 for St Mirren) has he netted more in a single Scottish Premiership campaign.