Strong friendship has helped Lions towards push for promotion

Livingston captain Craig Halkett insists being team-mates on the pitch and friends off it is a huge factor in the Lions’ push for promotion to the Premiership.

The West Lothian outfit will attempt to see off Dundee United in tonight’s play-off semi-final second leg after coming from behind to win 3-2 in Monday’s clash at Tannadice.

Livingston have exceeded all expectation after starting the campaign with aspirations of simply consolidating their position in the second tier following last season’s League One title success.

And former Rangers trainee Halkett insists having a squad that is pulling in the same direction has helped David Hopkin’s side punch well above their weight.

He said: “We’re a close-knit group and I’ve not been in a changing room like it. There’s no cliques and everyone is close.

“We all get on very well and I think that carries on to the pitch. You can see that in a lot of our performances this season when we’ve gone all the way and got late goals to get us a point or three. “It’s definitely a close bunch of boys. “We socialise off the park as well. We’ve had a few golf days and things like that. We’ve got boys from both Glasgow and Edinburgh so we can’t all do things together all the time.

“It’s a great mix the manager’s got. We’ve got a core of good young players who want to go far and do good things in the game and he’s also got experienced guys who have been there and done it. That mix together works really well.”

After taking an early lead at Tannadice through Rafa De Vita, United struck back with goals from Thomas Mikkelsen and Anthony Ralston.

However, Josh Mullin and Scott Pittman efforts turned the tie in the visitors’ favour and Halkett admits that performance sums the Lions up.

He added: “I think that win just encapsulates what we’re all about.

“The manager got the message across at half-time that if the match stayed the way it did at 2-1 he would have been delighted but as the match went on we grew into it and we kept pushing.

“To get the two goals in the second half speaks volumes about the team we’ve got and everyone was delighted.”

Halkett, who moved to Livingston from Ibrox in January 2016, insists former Scotland midfielder Hopkin also deserves great credit for leading the team to the play-offs even though he is working with one of the smallest budgets in the league.

He added: “The gaffer has done some job and I think it probably suits him that people don’t talk about him much. He’s going about his business.

“But I think he deserves a lot of credit. From a personal level, I’ve loved working with him.

“He’s given me my chance so I’ve got a lot to repay him for.

“He’s a great manager and he knows what he wants and all the players give him that. He also had confidence in me to give me the armband and I would like to think I’ve repaid him.

“I’ve enjoyed it but there are experienced boys like Lee Miller and Neil Alexander who I can turn to as well and they’ve helped me a lot.”

The bond between Livingston players is strong, says Craig Halkett.