Livingston manager David Martindale says that it was set-pieces that brought Livi’s unbeaten run to an end against St Johnstone.
The Lions had been on a remarkable run of 14 games without defeat prior to this weekend, but as they tried to make it 15, a free-kick from Scott Tanser and a Shaun Rooney header from another set-play handed St Johnstone a 2-0 victory on Saturday.
How Livingston conceded the goals frustrated Martindale: “I’m disappointed in the manner we lost goals. They defended their box a lot better than us — and I thought their use of set-pieces in attack was better than ours. They were more aggressive.
“We were very wasteful from those situations. The second goal is poor (to concede) and we miss big Jon (Guthrie) in both boxes. But it’s credit to St Johnstone, who maximised their chances. We basically lost the game through two set-plays.”
There’s a strange feeling of defeat at Livingston but it’s far from doom and gloom. They have a League Cup final against St Johnstone to look forward to at the end of this month as they go for silverware.
Martindale doesn’t believe this result will have a bearing on that tie: “I’ll be delighted if they think that. I am confident that is not the case. Even if we had won , I don’t think it would have given us the opportunity to go into the final as favourites.
“We are going into a national cup final, form goes out the window. Nerves will play a part for both teams so I am not bothered about that. You have that downer But again, we talk about it – you don’t get too high when you win games and you don’t get too down when you lose games of football. We just have to make sure the overhang does not eat into Wednesday night.”
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