Guthrie sets sights on top six finish for Livingston

STAND-IN captain Jon Guthrie insists Livingston can start dreaming of the top-six.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Easter Road left the Lions in fifth place in the Premiership table and just four points adrift of Motherwell in third.

The West Lothian men also enjoy a six-point lead over Kilmarnock in seventh as they head into their final five games before the league splits.

Manager Gary Holt has consistently talked only about avoiding relegation and improving on last season’s 44 points that earned them ninth.

And, with a tough run of games against Celtic, St Johnstone, Hearts, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock before the split, the Almondvale outfit still have work to do. But Guthrie believes they have given themselves an excellent opportunity to finish the season in the top half of the table.

The 27-year-old said: “It’s not something we’ve spoken about as a group; we don’t look too far ahead, we just take it game by game. But, obviously, where we’re sat now, we want to be pushing for that [top-six finish] now.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position and it’s about finishing strongly now.”

Meanwhile, The SPFL have confirmed that McDiarmid Park is the venue for next month’s Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup final between Inverness and Raith Rovers.

The clash will take place at 4.10pm on Saturday, March 28 – with the game also being broadcast live on BBC ALBA.

The home of St Johnstone will play host to the final for the 10th time in the competition’s history, the latest being in 2018 when Caley beat Dumbarton 1-0.

Championship promotion hopefuls Inverness are looking to collect a hattrick of Challenge Cup wins, while League One leaders Raith’s only previous success in the competition came when they stunned Rangers at Easter Road in 2014.