Cowdenbeath – Saturday 16th February 2013

Before last week, it felt like months since our last home game but here we are again today at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium for a second consecutive week as we welcome Colin Cameron and his Cowdenbeath side to Livingston for a second time this season.

Unfortunately, at time of print, Cowdenbeath hadn’t yet played their derby match with Dunfermline but they were going in to that fixture on the back of a win for the first time in 16 games after a 4-1 success at home to Falkirk on Saturday.

Incredibly, since a 3-0 win over Airdrie back in early September, Cowdenbeath had gone sixteen games without a win – drawing eight and losing eight. It’s probably fair to say that when Lyle Taylor netted a second minute opener for Falkirk at the weekend, not many would have predicted a 4-1 Cowden win come full-time.

We know all too well ourselves how difficult Cameron’s side can be to break down given that both our previous matches with them this season have ended in 1-1 draws. The first of those two games was played here and looked to have a home win written all over it but a last minute equaliser from Lewis Milne meant the spoils were shared.

Albeit the same score line, the game between the sides at Central Park just three days before Christmas was a different story as Cowden took an early lead and hit the woodwork twice before Stefan Scougall secured an away point.

Despite showing a mixture of resilience and determination in both of those matches, Cowdenbeath have found it tough on their return to the first division this season and currently occupy the leagues relegation play-off spot, only three points better off than bottom of the table Airdrie.

However, the win against Falkirk was coupled with the return of last season’s league winning captain Jon Robertson and this appears to have given everyone at the club a lift.

‘Robbo’ lead the Blue Brazil to the second division title aswell as winning the Scottish PFA Second Division Player of the Year award before heading to SPL side St Mirren in the summer. Despite featuring on 16 occasions for the Buddies this season, competition for places has begun to heat up and with his former side struggling in division one, Jon took the chance to head back to Central Park for a month on loan and try to help Cowden climb back up the table.

Robertson wasn’t the only addition to Cameron’s squad in January with Motherwell striker Craig Moore also being added to the ranks on a one month loan deal. Aswell as those two, Cowdenbeath also managed to extend the loan spells of Kane Hemmings and Sam Stanton from The Rangers and Hibs respectively.

Tapping into the loan market is something Cameron and assistant Lee Makel have become dependent on given the lack of free funds to sign players to permanent deals. However, with their network of contacts in the game, the pair will be confident that these loan players, who come with experience of working with top SPL players on a daily basis, will add enough to the squad to help steer the club clear of relegation.

With last weekend throwing up a first league win for Cowdenbeath since the beginning of September and a first home loss for us since around the same time, today’s match could be yet another close affair as both sides look to score a win over the other for a first time this season.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Dumbarton – Saturday 9th February 2013

It was only last Saturday that Dumbarton hosted us in our rearranged league match but this weekend, it’s our turn to play host as Ian Murray brings his Sons side to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium.

The last time we met here, Dumbarton were on the end of a 5-0 rout and had only managed to secure one point from their opening seven games. This poor run continued and with only two points to their name come the end of October, the board decided that a change was needed if the club was to stand any chance of staying up and parted company with, then manager, Alan Adamson.

Assistant manager Jack Ross was asked to take the team until a replacement was found and whilst doing so, he managed to guide the side to a first league win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Cowdenbeath. This was just the boost that was needed around the club and only a fortnight later, ex-Scotland international Ian Murray was unveiled as Dumbarton’s new player-manager.

Murray wasn’t in the dugout for the first game after his appointment but as he sat in the stand at East End Park, a 4-0 defeat showed just the sort of work that needed done. As the bad weather hit over Winter and games fell victim to frozen pitches, Murray had a four week spell with no games and was able to get his players on the training ground and start to put his mark on things.

That downtime without a game and the chance for some extra training sessions seemed to work a treat for the Sons who went to the Falkirk Stadium and Cappielow back-to-back over the festive period and managed to turn both sides over 4-3 and 3-0 respectively to signal a turnaround was well underway.

A tough home match against Dunfermline finished in defeat but confidence wasn’t knocked in the camp and when league leaders Partick Thistle came calling to the Bet Butler Stadium the following week, Dumbarton showed that they have what’s needed to battle for their place in this league and despatched the Firhill side 2-0.

Impressive wins away to Airdrie and at home to Hamilton followed and this seen Murray’s team climb off the bottom of the table for the first time since the season started.

That took us up to last weekend when we visited Scotland’s inform team and managed to inflict only a second defeat in seven games. The ‘never say die’ attitude was there for all to see given that even when we stretched our lead to 4-1, Dumbarton continued to fight in the match and came desperately close to levelling the game late on.

The league table doesn’t look quite as bad for Dumbarton now and they sit in eighth place, three points ahead of both Cowdenbeath and Airdrie with two games in hand over the latter. With sixteen games left between now and the end of the season, Murray will be confident that his side have what it takes to stay in this division if they can continue to perform in the same way they have over the past six weeks or so since his arrival.

A strong first-half performance last week coupled with the two late goals will have Dumbarton coming here today full of confidence that, if they can keep focussed for the full ninety minutes, they could pick up three points today and be the first team to leave Livingston with a league victory since Partick Thistle did with a 2-1 win back in September last year.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Raith Rovers – Saturday 12th January 2013

Despite now being into 2013, we welcome Raith Rovers to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium for only the first time this season.

It’s fair to say that their season has been very much like our own up until now, emphasised by the fact that only one point currently separates us both in the league table.

A 0-0 draw was battled out between the sides when we met at Starks Park earlier in the season but Raith’s front pairing of Pat Clarke and Brian Graham have been in fine form for most of the campaign finding the net an impressive 26 times between them in all competitions. It comes as no surprise then that a 2-0 victory at home to Airdrie last Saturday was sealed thanks to a goal apiece from the in-form duo.

Graham, a free signing from Greenock Morton a year and a half ago, finished last season with 11 goals in total. He’s already amassed 19 so far this season, including consecutive braces against Berwick, Hamilton and Montrose back in August. After John Baird left for Dundee in the summer, the Raith fans could be forgiven for worrying where their teams goals were going to come from but Graham has stepped up to the plate excellently. He’ll undoubtedly be a threat today as he searches for goal number 20.

That win against Airdrie last weekend was actually Raith’s first win since they beat Falkirk at Starks Park in early November. Although wins against Airdrie and Deveronvale in the Scottish Cup have come since, before Saturday, Raith were on a six game winless streak in the league and that sort of inconsistency is the reason they find themselves in mid-table and not closer to the top, thrashing it out for the title.

A familiar face is likely to be lining up for Raith today with Allan Walker pulling the strings in the centre of midfield. After leaving here in 2008 to join the Starks Park outfit, Allan has gone on to make over 150 appearances and is more often than not one of the first names on Grant Murray’s team sheet.

For the alert amongst you, another former Livi player could feature for Raith today. Midfielder Stuart Anderson was given a short-term deal towards the end of the 2006-2007 season by Mark Proctor and told he had until the end of that season to prove he was worth an extension.  Anderson made six appearances before Proctor decided to look elsewhere and the Banff-born man went on to play for Peterhead, Salisbury City and Eastbourne Borough before becoming Murray’s first signing for Rovers in the summer.

Although still a few weeks away, it won’t be a surprise if the Raith players are struggling to keep their mind of their upcoming Scottish Cup tie at home to SPL champions Celtic. Having already met the Glasgow giants at Parkhead in the Scottish Communities League Cup back in September, the whole club will be keen to improve on the 4-1 defeat they received that night and will be relishing the challenge of taking on Lennon’s side at a packed Starks Park in front of the TV cameras.

The last time Raith travelled to Livingston, John Hughes was taking charge of his first game here and a 4-0 victory got him off to the best possible start. With Hughes now gone though and Gareth Evans in charge, Murray will be hoping his side can kick on from that victory against Airdrie last weekend and claim their first league win in West Lothian since a 4-0 success back in September 2000 – when, believe it or not, a certain Marvin Andrews helped himself to a double.

Dave Black

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Dunfermline – Saturday 8th December 2012

Today we welcome Jim Jeffries and his Dunfermline side to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium at the end of a week where the Fife club have once again been making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons.

It was only last week that the Pars players received the final payment of their October wages and they started December with the news that the club didn’t have the money available to pay them their full salary for November. They were given two payments this week that amount to less than half of their pay from last month with the club blaming a combination of relegation from the SPL, changes at boardroom level and a lack of home matches for their current cash flow problems.

Despite all this going on in the background, it’s fair to say that the players have continued doing the business on the park with the Pars coming here today in second place with only goal difference splitting them and table toppers, Partick Thistle. Infact, Dunfermline’s only two league defeats this season have both come at the hands of the Firhill side.

Strangely enough though, last weekend in the Scottish Cup 4^th round, a first-half Andy Barrowman header was enough for the Pars to secure a 1-0 win over Thistle and take their place in the next round where a home tie against either Dumbarton or Hamilton awaits.

It was at this stage last month when claims were made that Dunfermline were going struggle to pay a bill of £81,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs with outspoken chairman John Yorkston saying the difficulty had arisen partly due to only having one home game against Dumbarton all month. The Saturday immediate after this, Dunfermline were hammered 5-1 away to Partick and it looked as though the players were starting to feel the strain.

As mentioned though, it was merely a one game blip as a 3-1 derby win over Raith Rovers, a 4-0 win in that home game against Dumbarton and the Scottish Cup victory all followed to put the Pars back on track.

Of course, the Dunfermline players and fans alike could be forgiven for coming here with a sense of confidence today given the thrashing they dished out to us earlier in the season at East End Park. Two goals in each half ensured an emphatic 4-0 win for the Pars and that defeat remains our biggest this season.

Barrowman grabbed a double that day and after his winner last week, he’s now on nine goals in all competitions this season so is likely to be someone our backline will have to keep a close eye on today.

Since that Dunfermline win back in September, both sides went on decent runs in the league, only recording one loss each in the last seven league games – both at the hands of Partick Thistle.

It’s been over three years since the sides last met here on league duty. On that occasion, back in March 2009, goals from Tony McParland, Murray Davidson (2) and Leigh Griffiths secured a 4-2 win for Livi with the Pars goals coming from Steven Bell and David Graham.

It’s fair to say a lot has changed since then of course with Dunfermline tasting SPL life again before their relegation last season and of course we had our own problems, dropping to the bottom tier of Scottish football and working our way back to the first division.

As always though, a tight game is expected today with the Pars knowing that a win could send them top of the league outright if Partick don’t get it all their own way against Cowdenbeath at Central Park.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Dundee – Saturday 1st December 2012 – Scottish Cup

Five months ago, Livingston vs Dundee was set to be a regular league match for the 2012/2013 season.

When the SFL fixture list was originally released back in June, Dundee were scheduled to be coming here to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium on the second day of the season on league duty. However, the demise of Rangers changed all that and meant that the Dark Blues were offered the chance to step up into the SPL via the backdoor and replace the former Glasgow giants.

It’s fair to say that the decision caused a clash of emotions between Dundee fans. There was obvious delight at gaining promotion back to Scotland’s top tier for the first time since we condemned them to relegation back in 2005, but the task ahead was one which many feared might be beyond their capability.

It was only a matter of weeks between Dundee receiving the invite from the SPL and the start of the campaign, this meaning that Barry Smith had been putting together a squad to try and win the first division, not one to compete in the SPL.

Fifteen games in and the current SPL league table shows that life in the SPL hasn’t been overly kind to the Dark Blues as Smith’s boys sit stranded at the bottom of the pile. Only three league wins to date and a goal difference of minus seventeen hasn’t made for great viewing for the Dee faithful.

After scraping past Peterhead on penalties in the first round of the Scottish Communities League Cup, Dundee were then knocked out by Third Division Queens Park in the next round meaning there hasn’t even been the joy of a cup run to take their minds off the league form.

Shock wins against both Hearts and Hibs last month helped claw back some points but last week’s 3-1 defeat away to St Mirren means the gap at the bottom has stretched again and the wind may just have been knocked out of the Dundee sails just as things looked to be clicking for Smith and his players.

We did of course meet with Dundee on four occasions in the league last season but Smith has added no fewer than twelve new faces to the side with the likes of Colin Nish, Mark Kerr and John Baird all being brought in to strengthen the squad. Nish has helped himself to a couple of Dundee’s few SPL goals but a straight red card for an uncharacteristic lunge against St Mirren last week means he may be ruled out with suspension today.

One man who will be playing today is ex-Lion Rab Douglas. ‘Big Rab’ turned 40 earlier this year and is in his second spell with Dundee. Many Livi fans will remember Rab when he played for us back in our early days before John McCormack took him to Dens Park in 1997. Since then the big ‘keeper went on to win SPL titles, play in the UEFA Cup final, represent his country and he still holds the SPL record for most consecutive clean sheets after racking up 7 during his first season with the Celtic.  

As mentioned, the sides did meet on four occasions last season with Dundee winning three of those four, However, the matches here did throw up more goals and excitement than those at Dens with a 4-2 Livi win being countered with a 3-2 Dundee win second time round. Here’s hoping for more of the same today as both sides look to start their own road to Hampden with a win this afternoon.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Falkirk – Saturday 17th November 2012

I think it’s fair to say that when the fixture list was released and Falkirk were pencilled in to visit us here at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium today, not many would have imagined the Bairns to be sitting only two points above the relegation play-off place almost a third of the way into the season.

Many tipped Falkirk as title favourites in pre-season yet eleven games into the campaign and Steven Pressley’s men have only picked up two wins so far – both of which came away from home.

Every time the Falkirk fans think their team has started to turn the corner, a lack of consistency seems to stop that and force the Bairns to take a step backwards.

Defeats away to Partick and at home to Raith opened the season but that looked to have been put down as merely a slow start as game day three seen Falkirk make the trip to Cappielow and return with all three points. You could forgive the Falkirk fans for thinking that was the kick-start their season needed but that win against Morton was followed up with defeat when we visited the Falkirk Stadium back in early September.

Four draws on the bounce were then ended with a win away to basement boys Dumbarton and again, this looked to be a turning point. A home draw against Partick the following week made it six games without defeat but as quick as the Falkirk faithful could begin to think about marching up the table, last week’s 2-1 defeat away to Raith Rovers put a stop to that.

Pressley will be all too aware that defeat here today coupled with results going against him elsewhere and his side could occupy that relegation play-off place themselves.

No wins and only four goals scored at home so far won’t have made for great viewing and those fans who only attend Falkirk’s home games will be starting to get a bit restless.

The loss of striker Farid El Alagui to Brentford in the summer has undoubtedly been a factor in the lack of goals so far this season but his ‘replacement’, Lyle Taylor, has been doing his bit, finding the net six times in the league so far. Pressley described Taylor as being more mobile and quicker than El Alagui so our backline will need to be on top of their game to shut him out again this afternoon.

The Falkirk fans haven’t even had the luxury of a cup run to take their mind off the poor league form although financially, the club will be rubbing it’s hands together thanks to being paired with The Rangers in the second rounds of both the Ramsdens Cup and the Scottish Communities League Cup. Despite losing both, a 26,500 crowd at Ibrox and a three-quarters full Falkirk Stadium will both have went a long way to helping with finances. The Scottish cup has thrown up an away tie to either Stenhousemuir or Berwick so the Falkirk fans will be hoping to advance through a few rounds in that one.

Last season, the four games between ourselves and Falkirk produced 19 goals. Of course, the games at The Falkirk Stadium definitely served up more entertainment but here at the BMCS, we didn’t manage a victory in two attempts against the Bairns and boss Steven Pressley will be reminding his players of their good record here in recent times.

A win today would really set Falkirk up nicely with their next two games being against Hamilton and Cowdenbeath, two sides who are also currently occupying places in the bottom half of the table.

Pressley and his team do have time on their side just now but unless they start to turn these draws into wins soon, it could be a long hard season ahead.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.

Greenock Morton – Sat 27th October 2012

At 4.42pm last Saturday, it looked like we’d be playing host to second place Morton as they appeared to be on course for their sixth league win in a row, leading Dunfermline 2-1 going into the dying minutes. An 87^th minute equaliser from Pars midfielder Ryan Wallace changed all that though and means that Morton’s winning run came to a halt and they had to settle with remaining in third place.

Still though, five wins in a row and six games without defeat is the sort of form that teams pushing for the top spot are looking for and with the first quarter of the season now complete, Morton find themselves labelled as potential title contenders by some sections of the media.

An arguably poor start to the season meant the Greenock side had only picked up two points from three games. An opening day draw with us was followed up by a draw away to Hamilton and defeat at home to Falkirk which may have had some Morton fans already thinking a long season lay in wait. Add to that second round defeats in both the Ramsdens Cup and the Scottish Communities League Cup to Queen of the South and Aberdeen respectively, and it wasn’t looking too great.

September seemed to see a corner being turned though and after a comfortable 3-0 win over promoted side Dumbarton, Morton went on to record four wins out of four last month, helping to build confidence, put points on the board and steadily climb back up the table. A 4-3 win at Cowdenbeath and a 3-2 win away to Airdrie sandwiched a hard fought 1-0 home win over Raith Rovers and meant Morton started October raring to go as they played host to, at the time, unbeaten league leaders Partick Thistle.

Partick had been flying but a 1-1 draw away to Raith Rovers the week before gave Morton an added boost and goals from Kevin Rutkiewicz, Mark McLaughlin and David O’Brien were enough to seal an impressive 3-1 victory and send Allan Moore’s men to just two points behind leaders Dunfermline.

Of course that then took us to last week where Morton travelled to East End Park knowing a win would see them leapfrog the Pars and possibly grab first place depending on Partick Thistle’s result with Airdrie.

It was all going to plan too with Archie Campbell goals either side of half-time giving Morton a two goal advantage as the game entered the final ten minutes. A Scott Taggart handball gifted Dunfermline a penalty with eight minutes left and ex-Livi midfielder Stephen Husband slotted the kick home to set up a dramatic finish. Then, as mentioned, with only three minutes remaining, a Ryan Wallace header snatched the points away from Morton and both teams had to settle for a point.

The disappointment of that aside, Morton still come here today undefeated away from home with two wins and two draws from four games and without a loss in their last six league fixtures.

Campbell’s double last week also sees him move into first place in the first division goal scoring charts with nine goals in as many games. That list also sees David O’Brien and Peter Weatherston with seven goals between them, with the latter of the two having already notched a goal against us back in August.

On the two occasions that these sides met here at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium last season, a 1-1 draw and a 0-0 draw were played out. Both sides will be aiming to go one better today and pick up all three points.

Dave Black.

As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.