First Team
PREVIEW | Livingston v Saints
21st January 2020
We head to the Tony Macaroni Arena on Wednesday night to take on Livingston in our first league match of 2020.
Saints head into the match unbeaten in six games in all competitions following the convincing 3-0 victory over Morton in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
Our opponents were also in Cup action at the weekend coming from behind to defeat Raith Rovers 3-1.
Gary Holt's side currently sit in 5th place in the Ladbrokes Premiership table, five points above Saints having played two games more.
Victory for Tommy Wright's men on Wednesday night would close that gap to just two points with just seven points separating 5th place and 11th place in the table.
TEAM NEWS
Saints will be without the suspended Murray Davidson for the match after the midfielder accumulated enough bookings for a one match ban.
Apart from Murray, the Manager will have a full squad to choose from for the match at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
David Wotherspoon has managed to shake off a dead leg sustained in the Scottish Cup win over Morton, while Matty Kennedy is also fit having missed the weekend's match with a knock.
PRE-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE
THE MANAGER:"There's always a bit of apprehension after the winter break because you don't really know what kind of performance you're going to get after three weeks without a game.
"In the end it was a comfortable win with three great goals and a clean sheet. That was very pleasing and we can now look forward to the trip to Ayr Utd in the next round.
"Our focus is now on the upcoming league matches starting with Livingston on Wednesday night.
"It'll be a tough game. In recent matches there hasn't been much between the sides. They seem to keep on getting results and they are particularly hard to beat on their own pitch.
"We go into it in good form though and it's a game we'red looking at getting all three points from. We've kept five clean sheets in our last six matches and that's been the basis of our mini revival.
"We're five points behind Livingston going into the match and we know that we have a chance to close the gap on the teams above us in these next few matches and that's what we'll be aiming to do."
DAVID WOTHERSPOON:"It's always tough against Livingston and it has been since they came back up to the top flight.
"They're a physical team and they'll try press us fast and hard looking to force us into mistakes. We need to make sure we're on our game and ready for the challenge.
"Livingston are up there at the moment and we need to catch them. If we take care of our own performance then hopefully we can get all three points and close in on them.
"Our form has been good and we've been playing well. We managed to put together some results before the break and now we need to focus on keeping that going.
"Looking at the table it's tight and we've now got a run of games where we could potentially pick up some points on the teams around us. That's our focus but we'll just take it one game at a time starting with Wednesday night."
SUPPORTER INFORMATION
Match admission to the Tony Macaroni Arena is by ticket only. There are no cash turnstiles.
Livingston have a dedicated ticket booth in the NorDan East Stand which is open on matchdays and you can pay by cash or card. It is located to the right of turnstiles 15, 16 and 17.
Prices are as follows:
- £25 - Adults
- £17 - Concessions *
- £10 - U16s
*Full-time students on production of a current matriculation card, U18s, registered disabled (if with a carer and under 65 full price paid but carer admitted free)
The bar at the Tony Macaroni Arena will be open from 5PM to 7:30PM and Saints fans are welcome.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Wednesday night's match is the 27th meeting between the clubs in all competitions with Saints boasting 13 wins to Livingston's 8. The fixture has ended in a draw on 5 occasions including earlier this season when it finished 2-2 at McDiarmid Park.
Tommy Wright's men haven't won in their last three against the Lions with two draws and a defeat which came back in March 2019 - the last time we visited the Tony Macaroni Arena.
It's the 9th top flight meeting between the clubs with the majority of 26 previous meetings having come in the First Division.
The top flight head-to-head record is much tighter with three Saints wins, three draws and two Livi victories.
Of the First Division clashes between the sides, the 2007/08 campaign particularly stands out when Saints won all four matches that season scoring 14 goals.
That season saw Saints win two of the matches 5-2 both at McDiarmid Park.
The first of those matches saw Andy Jackson bag a double with Liam Craig, Rocco Quinn and Peter MacDonald also on target. Saints Hall of Famer Dave Mackay was in the Livingston side that day, alongside Scotland internationals Robert Snodgrass and Graeme Dorrans.
The other 5-2 win that season came towards the end of the campaign. Kevin Moon opened the scoring that day on the stroke of half-time, before Paul Sheerin netted two spot-kicks and Steven Milne also helped himself to a brace for Saints.
On the scoresheet for Livingston that day was none other than Murray Davidson! Leigh Griffiths also played and scored in the match.
SAINTS TV
Not making the game? Saints TV has you covered!
It's live audio commentary only for the match with the full match replay and highlights following from midnight.
Joining Gary Henderson on the commentary is the suspended midfielder Murray Davidson.
Subscribe now before the game!