Laszlo’s ultimatum: Succeed or move on

● United manager warns players to overturn play-off deficit or head out of Tannadice

LIVINGSTON (3)

V DUNDEE UNITED (2)

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.

“It’s a great mix the manager’s got. We’ve a core of good young players who want to go far and do good things in the game, and he also has 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 by Mikkelsen and Anthony Ralston.

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

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, says 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. I’ve loved working with him; he’s given me my chance so I’ve got a lot to repay him for.

“He also had confidence in me to give me the armband and I would like to think I’ve repaid him.”