Holt tells side they must pick up points

Livingston manager Gary Holt has warned his players they need to pick up points to ensure their Ladbrokes Premiership safety.

Livi are 17 points clear of bottom club St Mirren but a late defeat by the Buddies last weekend has left Holt determined to put any doubt about their top-flight status to bed.

With the Paisley side, Dundee and Hamilton all picking up impressive results in recent weeks, Holt does not want Livi to get dragged down into a fight with the bottom three.

His side host St Johnstone today and he has urged his players to make sure they are focusing on catching eighth-place Motherwell rather than looking over their shoulders in the weeks ahead.

Holt said: “We definitely have something to fight for because we ain’t safe. No one has told me we are mathematically safe and I am actually quite good at maths, it’s one of my good subjects. So we need wins, we need points, and the sooner we can get that the better, and we can start looking above us.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game on Saturday, we have lost 1-0 against them both times.

“So we are smarting at that but we know if we can get a victory and results elsewhere go our way, we could move up a place in the table. That’s a carrot we are going to look at and try to achieve.

“We look at the team above us and that’s Motherwell. If we can catch them, great, then we can look what’s above them. If we start focusing on whether we can get top six, it takes your eye off the ball on what you are trying to achieve.

“We will take Saturday’s game and hopefully get the right result and then move on to next week’s game.”

Midfielder Shaun Byrne returns from suspension for the visit of Saints.

Gary Holt otherwise expects to have a similar squad.

Ricki Lamie, Dolly Menga and Lee Miller are not ready to return but Rafa De Vita is pushing for his first appearance of the season after making the bench last weekend for the first time since his long-term knee injury.