Livingston

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Livingston boss Marvin Bartley has been speaking to the media as his side prepare to travel to Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

Here are the main points:

• Bartley says there was "nothing surprising" about their post-split fixtures but feels "we were probably due four home games and one away and somehow we've ended up with two home and three away".

• The Livi boss is "very, very comfortable" with the situation surrounding his contract, which expires at the end of the season, adding: "Football always finds a way of working itself out."

• There are players who will be out of contract in the summer and Bartley admits "they haven't had talks" yet, but stresses that, just like him and his coaching staff, they are all still "working away".

• Livingston are currently bottom of the Premiership, 11 points behind Kilmarnock in 11th with six games to go, but Bartley stresses "the attitude has been top class" from his players.

• The Livi boss referenced the 2-2 draw against Hearts at the weekend where, having led the game, they found themselves 1-0 down. He admitted "it would have been easy for us to chuck it" at that point.

• He insists "we won't allow players to come off it or show any attitude other than 100 per cent" and stresses "if they do that, they just won't be in the squad".

• Livi have only won one game, back in August, and Bartley "understands" the situation the club are in "is because we haven't won enough games".

• Team news: Bartley says everyone is OK. Both Brooklyn Kabangolo, who returns from suspension, and Macaulay Tait will be back in the squad for the trip to Tannadice.

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• Dundee United and Livingston have dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Scottish Premiership this season, with 22 each. Dundee United, though, are joint-leaders for points gained from a losing position (13, level with Celtic).

• Livingston have 16 points from 32 league games this season; the only side to have 16 or fewer after 33 games when the division splits in the Scottish top flight under its current format (since 2000-01) were Livingston themselves in 2005-06 (15).

• Dundee United have won both of their last two home league games, and could win three in a row in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since October 2021.

• After their 3-1 defeat in December, Livingston could lose back-to-back top-flight meetings with Dundee United for the first time since February 2005.

• Dundee United have won both of their last two Scottish Premiership games against newly promoted opponents, last winning three in a row in January 2015.

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

This game had a bit of everything, including all four seasons in 90 minutes.

It is another draw when we desperately need wins, but it is such an important point. We scored two goals against this season's long-standing league leaders and showed we are a good team.

In the first half, we flew out of the blocks and got a great goal, but for long periods it was tough going.

Hearts had us on the ropes, but couldn't put us down.

We showed fantastic resilience, and at times we also played some really neat football. We moved the ball quickly when we needed to, and for anyone watching this game on television, they would have surely found it entertaining too. I certainly did.

Hats off to the Jambos, they came through in huge numbers and made a great noise too. I don't mind opposition teams filling our stands; it's cash in the bank, and I genuinely think the atmosphere helps lift our players, too.

That said, the noisy visitors from the capital had an influence on the referee, I felt.

He made some odd decisions for me, not least having to get VAR to save his blushes for missing an obvious wrestling move for Hearts' red card.

At the end of the day, we are a point better off, a point closer to Kilmarnock, but it still feels like it's too far a bridge to cross to get out of the relegation mire.

It does show we have improved under Marvin Bartley, and if we can keep the majority of his squad, we should have a right good go in the Championship when the inevitable drop happens.

Until then, I'd like to enjoy more games like this, matches where we go for it and actually win a game.

I can take relegation, but it would be terrible to only win one game all season.

If the remaining matches are played as we did for this one, then we may just get that highly elusive win.

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

GK: Raphael Sallinger (Hibernian)

Almost seems to get in by default at the moment because of another weekend lacking any outstanding goalkeeping performances. A couple of saves and a clean sheets means the Austrian gets the gloves again.

RB: Dujon Sterling (Rangers)

A solid performer at Ibrox and nabbed a goal in the vital 4-2 win over Dundee United.

CB: Luke Graham (Dundee)

A colossus at the back for the Dark Blues all afternoon. Unfortunate to be on the losing side.

CB: Alex Gogic (St Mirren)

Seldom a weekend goes by when this team of the week favourite doesn't find his way into the starting XI. His brilliant headed goal against Aberdeen and a clean sheet earns him another call-up.

LB: Jordan Obita (Hibernian)

Set up the goal for Felix Passlack after Owen Elding's pass unlocked the Kilmarnock defence. An effective presence down the Hibs left.

CM: Felix Passlack (Hibernian)

Another big goal for the former Borussia Dortmund man. The German has a knack for arriving in the box at just the right time.

CM: Stevie May (Livingston)

Once upon a time had the flowing locks and the killer touch of a goal machine number nine in his glorious St Johnstone era. These days he has refashioned himself into one of Livingston's most versatile players.

Age and injuries take their toll on all players but his precision finish and general clever play were fundamental for Livingston in their draw with Hearts.

FW: Owen Elding (Hibernian)

What a prospect he looks for Hibs. The 20-year-old who arrived from Sligo Rovers opened the scoring after 13 seconds against Kilmarnock and his pass to unlock the Killie defence for the Passlack goal was a measured thing of beauty.

FW: Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)

Powered in his headed goal and looked the part all afternoon against Livingston. Full of invention, poise and confidence. But, crucially, it's his killer instinct in the box that counts most.

With the national team struggling for goals, will he be Scotland's go-to man for the World Cup opener against Haiti?

FW: Claudio Braga (Hearts)

Player of the season? A joy to watch, every part of his game looks great right now. Never a doubt the goal would be scored when the chance came his way.

Could the partnership with Shankland be the key ingredient that gets the Hearts title tilt over the line? Earns extra points for me for his desire to stay on his feet in the box rather than look for a penalty.

FW: Calvin Miller (Falkirk)

A contender for the Scotland squad? The national team could do with a creative winger with pace and Calvin Miller has been providing that all season in the Premiership for Falkirk.

The stats add up as well, seven goals and 10 assists in all competitions.

Watch Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts drop two precious points in a thrilling draw at bottom side Livingston.

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Hearts inched back to the top of the Scottish Premiership but could only muster a disappointing draw against the league's bottom dwellers Livingston.

Read the full match report here.

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Livingston boss Marvin Bartley: "I'm delighted with the players. They dealt with adversity really well today.

"When Hearts went ahead, we had to show some character and we did that in abundance. The subs came on and improved us, made us more solid and caused them problems.

"We have to hit these heights every week. Where we end up at the end of the season is where we deserve to be.

"We have to go again and do it next week. It's the most difficult thing in football, to have consistency, but we need to show it now.

"The mindset today was good, they went out and did what they need to do. Good teams and good players bounce back, and we showed that today."

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Livingston head coach Marvin Bartley is hoping his players can use a bustling Almondvale to their advantage - even if it is mostly full of Hearts fans.

The bottom club host Derek McInnes' table-topping side on Sunday, with the visitors bringing 7,000 fans to fill three of the four stands.

"As a footballer you want to play in front of full houses," Bartley said.

"Whether it's your fans or the away fans, you want to see a full stadium.

"I think if you ask any of my players, I think they would definitely prefer what they're going to go into on Sunday.

"Ultimately you have to try and use it to your advantage and motivate yourself to go out there and show that you're as good as the players you're playing against."

Hearts could find themselves second in the table going into Sunday's game should Rangers win at home to Dundee United on Saturday.

But Bartley has praised the work McInnes has done this season.

"I think they've surprised everyone, from the point of view that you always expect it to be Celtic or Rangers up there," he added.

"To do what they've done is unbelievable, they deserve massive praise. Maybe at the start, people were saying, 'they'll fall away sooner or later' but here we are with seven games to go and they're still top.

"There's an expectation now on them rather than, 'let's see how far they can go', and they've dealt with that and taken it in their stride. The consistency that they've shown has been top tier and that's why they're top of the league."

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Livingston will be without the suspended Brooklyn Kabongolo and Macaulay Tait, who is unable to face his parent club. Connor McLennan (ankle) is still out, but Aidan Denholm is closing in on a return after a long-term hamstring injury.

Hearts welcome back defenders Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley after injury, while Stuart Findlay has a chance of being involved. Tomas Magnusson, who was set to return after a broken cheekbone, is now out with a thigh injury, while Harry Milne (calf), Craig Gordon (shoulder), Ageu (thigh) and Calem Nieuwenhof (hamstring) are still out.

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Livingston defender Danny Wilson has backed his former club Hearts to win the Premiership title.

The centre-back has been surprised by his side's poor return to the top flight and suggested their late 2-1 defeat to Hearts at the start of the season set the tone for their campaign.

Hearts are two points in front of Rangers at the top while Livi sit rock bottom, 12 points behind Kilmarnock and St Mirren, with seven games to play.

"Given the consistency they've shown, I don't see why they can't go on to win the league," Wilson said of Hearts.

"They've been the most consistent team and they find themselves deservedly at the top of the league.

"They have all the ingredients to be a successful team. They are very solid and they have players that can win them games. I've been really impressed with them."

The sides meet in West Lothian on Sunday, a fixture Livi haven't won since 2022. Marvin Bartley's men are without a victory in any competition since the start of August.

And Wilson suggested Hearts' 2-1 win at Almondvale at the start of the season, where Livi conceded an injury-time goal to lose, set the tone for an underwhelming campaign.

"They've won a lot of games by the odd goal," the 34-year-old added.

"When we played them here earlier in the season I thought that sort of set the tone for our season.

"We were very unlucky not to have taken one or three points but we took none.

"We know how tough it will be, but hopefully we can make it three points this weekend to give ourselves a better feeling."

The captain said Livi's poor run is "something I didn't expect coming into this season" and added: "We need to start putting points on the board.

"We're really at that stage now where if we don't, then it's looking like the inevitable is going to happen."

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• Hearts have lost their past three away league outings; they had only lost two of their first 12 on the road in 2025-26 before this (W8 D2 L2).

• Livingston have failed to score in their past two league games, but haven't done so three times in a row in the Scottish Premiership since April 2024.

• Hearts have lost just two of their past 28 top-flight matches against Livingston (W16 D10), although both were away, in December 2018 (5-0) and September 2022 (1-0).

• Livingston have lost their past five Premiership games against Hearts, never before losing six in a row to the Tynecastle side in the top flight.

• Hearts have scored 20 league goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) this season - more than any other side. Livingston have conceded 18 from non-penalty set-plays, also a league-high figure.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Livingston boss Marvin Bartley has been speaking to the media as his side prepare to welcome league leaders Hearts on Sunday.

Here are the main points:

• Looking back on the 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock before the break, Bartley says "the end product in certain situations let us down" but admits "the lads took accountability" for their mistakes in that game.

• Livingston currently occupy the bottom spot in the Premiership, 12 points behind Killie above them with seven games to play and Bartley stresses "every game was massive when I came in as manager and nothing's changed."

• But the boss knows "our focus can only be on Sunday against Hearts, if you start looking beyond that you find yourself in massive trouble."

• While Bartley knows he's got a talented squad, he stresses "better teams have been relegated, it doesn't matter what you are on paper" adding "nobody's too good to go down and come the end of the season where you are is where you deserve to be."

• Bartley took over from David Martindale earlier this season but his contract is due to expire at the end of this campaign and Bartley admits "we need clarity on that, that's something I've spoken to the club about".

• When asked if he'd like to stay in West Lothian, Bartley says "of course, I love it here" but stresses "my main focus is on Sunday but of course I want to stay on but it's something that needs to be sorted out and sorted out quickly".

• On the visit of league leaders Hearts, Bartley admits "their pressure is very different to ours".

• And with several players, such as Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin, getting back to full fitness Bartley says "whatever Hearts teams is out there will be extremely strong" adding "we have to be at our best".

• Bartley admits the title challengers have "surprised everyone" adding "they deserve massive, massive praise" for their achievements this term.

• The Edinburgh club are bringing 7000 supporters to Livingston and Bartley says "as a footballer you want to play in front of a full house" adding "you have to use that energy to your advantage and inspire you to go out and perform."

• Team news: everyone is available, Aiden Denholm has trained for the last few weeks and just needs the all clear.

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

Defeat against relegation rivals Kilmarnock was tough to take in a season of sore ones.

The result was a fair summary of a game where we hardly laid a glove on our fellow season-long strugglers.

We hit the post but otherwise there wasn't much to write home about in a defeat that all but seals our fate. We are bound for the Championship. Even the most wildly optimistic Livi fan accepts this now.

We are 29 games without a victory, setting winless records every week and 12 points behind a team that weren't any better than us a few months ago.

The players are hurting, said manager Marvin Bartley. If only they could have channelled that during the game. Killie were better than us in every department.

The key point here isn't this result. You can track our malaise back to earlier in the season when Kilmarnock acted quicker to move on a manager that wasn't getting results and added fresh blood with some relegation-fighting experience.

The January transfer window was pivotal too with Killie signing well while we rolled the dice on old-timers struggling to get games elsewhere and players who must have amazing edits for their YouTube best of clips because we have barely seen any quality on the pitch.

We even paid a six-figure sum for a player that was no better than we had and has hardly troubled the team. We have more or less played with our Championship team all season.

All that's left is to see out this miserable season and start planning for next year. I think most of these players will leave, but what will happen to the overcrowded coaching and management structure? Will Calvin Ford's pockets be deep enough to sustain the many directors of this and that?

The chance to get some younger, hungrier players in place to mount a Championship title challenge is a journey I look forward to. That journey needs to begin now.

Watch Kilmarnock move 12 points clear of Scottish Premiership bottom side Livingston with victory at Rugby Park.

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Kilmarnock recorded back-to-back victories in the Scottish Premiership for only the second time this season as they downed bottom side Livingston to leave them 12 points adrift at the foot of the table.

Read the match report here

Have your say on the game here

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Livingston manager Marvin Bartley tells BBC Sportsound: "We're hurting. The emotion right now is hurting - the players, myself, probably everybody associated with the football club.

"We just weren't good enough in probably both boxes. There's definitely an opportunity there. It has been missed.

"In the final third, attacking-wise got into some good situations and the final ball wasn't good enough.

"Ultimately the two goals that we concede, especially the second one, our set-up - we become lazy.

"It's bleak but this isn't a recent thing, it's been across the whole season. We all need to show that we're good enough to represent Livingston Football Club."

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Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann has no new injury concerns. Tyreece John-Jules (quad), Djenairo Daniels (knee) and Matty Kennedy (hip) remain out.

Livingston pair Joel Nouble and Brooklyn Kabongolo are both doubtful after picking up injuries against Hibs last weekend while Connor McLennan (ankle) is still out but Aidan Denholm is closing in on a return after a long-term hamstring injury.