Five (Three Things): MD 18 - Hamilton Academical

 In what was probably the most dominating performance of Livingston’s season, the Lion’s ran out 2-0 winners. Here are Five (Three) Things from Livingston’s trip to New Douglas Park:

Livingston need to start taking their chances, or they could live to rue it

It wouldn’t be overstating it to say that if Scott Robinson had his shooting boots on, he would have been taking the match ball home as an early Christmas present. Leading the line for the second game in a row, Robinson was his usual busy self, winning balls that on paper he had no right to win, he won 8 of his 15 aerial duels, and set the Hamilton Academical defence on an uneasy footing with his constant harassment with his running. On 9 minutes he had probably the best chance of the first half, seeing his header beat the Accies keeper but his the crossbar before the defence dealt with it. The header was a technically good effort and probably deserved more. In the second half, he arguably had two easier chances, twice he was played through, the first produced a good save from sub keeper Kyle Gourlay and the second saw the Accies defender get back to block the shot into the path of Craig Sibbald who was arguably fouled in the box.

Against the Accies, Livingston saw the game out and never really looked to be in trouble of throwing it away but all too often in seasons gone by we’ve seen Livingston fail to take their chances and teams have punished us with late goals. Scott Robinson is a fantastic player and one who is integral to this team but it’s safe to say that an out and out striker would have seen this game killed off before half time.

Livingston are starting to look defensively solid

As we approach the halfway point of the season, it looks like Livingston have finally found their first choice back four. If you’d said at the start of the season that the back four would include Jack Fitzwater, it would have raised the eyebrows of most Livi fans. But now, we’re starting to see a solid defence that has ground out the mistakes of earlier weeks. As a defensive partnership, Guthrie and Fitzwater seem to have set themselves out as first choice centre backs and against the Accies, they looked incredibly comfortable, both defensively and in possession. Defensively, Fitzwater led the match for ball recoveries (23), showing his ability in the air (9 recoveries) and on the ground (10 recoveries). It is a marked difference from the player that started the season.

At full back, the Lions seem to have found a real gem in Julien Serrano. The Frenchman has consistently impressed since coming in on loan at the start of the season and he’s formed a positive relationship with Alan Forrest down the left hand side, Serrano and Forrest was the most common passing combination (19) for the Lions against Hamilton. It’s safe to say that Serrano has cemented his place as first choice left back ahead of Taylor-Sinclair and McMillan. On the other side of the back four, Nicky Devlin has consistently shown why he’s probably one of the first names on the team sheet. Much the same as Scott Robinson, Devlin is probably a player who goes under the radar, but every week there is a 7-8/10 performance. With Mullin in front of him, he probably has to do less attacking work and is expected to put in fewer crosses but he still pushes forward, supporting Mullin and his ability to win the ball high up the pitch aids the Lions going forward. Of Devlin’s 9 recoveries against Accies, 5 were in their half.

Livingston teams of the last 3 seasons have been built on three things, a team that can put teams under pressure and make them uncomfortable, wide players that can get forward and cause problems and a defence that is solid at the back while contributing goals at the other end. It seems like all three parts are now clicking into place.

A slow start seems to have (temporarily) stunted, what could still be, a comfortable season

Livingston now have 3 away wins for the season, taking them above either of the last two season’s totals, and in fact with the same amount of wins away from home as both seasons combined.

In the bizzaro world that is 2020, it’s been Livingston’s home form that has let them down after 2 seasons of pretty much unbridled success at the Tony Mac. 5 home defeats, 2 more than last season and only 2 fewer than 2018/19 indicate what has appeared to be a poor start to the season. Last season, it would have been an expectation rather than a hope that, St. Mirren, Hamilton Academical, Kilmarnock and Motherwell would have come to Almondvale and Livingston would have taken all three points. Wins in those games and we’re looking at being much closer to the pack below Rangers and Celtic, rather than at the top of the best of - the best of the rest.

Signs are positive under Martindale however, a fourth win on the spin against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park would see the second best start by a Livingston manager, behind Jim Leishman’s 7 straight wins at the start of the 1995/1996 season.