Martindale hails Maley’s farewell cameo as Lions fight back to beat Dundee
David Martindale is convinced handing veteran goalkeeper Gary Maley his swansong inspired Livingston to a final-day 2-1 victory over Dundee.
The 39-year-old was given the final 15 minutes as he brought the curtain down on six years with the club and the fans’ favourite lifted the home crowdaslivichasedanequaliser following Josh Mulligan’s second-half opener.
Andrew Shinnie levelled things up for the Lions with 12 minutes remaining and Alan Forrest curled in the winner just six minutes later.
Martindale, who expects Forrest to join Hearts, handed starts to Craig Sibbald and Jack Mcmillan after revealing they are expected to leave this summer.
Hesaid:“withtheamountof changes,ittookusaweewhile to get to grips with the game. I don’t think there was much in the first half. I thought we did all right, Dundee were okay, there was nothing really in the game of any note.
“Theyscoredagainsttherun of play, which was a wee bit of anegative.weneedtostopthe cross but we need to defend the back post better.
“Then, the gamechanger was putting big Gary Maley on. We were 1-0 down and we win 2-1, so that’s got to be the headline. He was man of the match as well. There can’t be manyplayerswhohaveplayed 18 minutes and won man of the match.
“The changes really helped us pick the game up and, all joking aside, big Stretch (Maley) going on actually picked the crowd up – and I think that translated onto the park. And the four substitutions helped that, obviously.”
Dundee assistant Dave Mackay
admits the club face big decisionsthissummerfollowing relegation to the Championship.
The Dens Park side revealed ahead of the game that manager Mark Mcghee will not remain in charge for next season, and Mackay said: “We’re all in for meetings (on Monday). At the minute, I’m just disappointed we couldn’t finish on a high.
“There will be some people moving on, others staying.
“Butit’sachancenowforthe club to rebuild to make sure the next time we get back to the Premiership, in hopefully ayear’stime,itisinamuchbetter place to sustain it.
“The club will work through a process and will have plenty ofgoodcandidates.ultimately it is a big decision for the club andtheyneedtomakesurewe get the right one in.”
Dundee made the breakthrough in the 59th minute.
Jordan Marshall clipped in a brilliant cross from the left andmulligantimedhisarrival at the back post to perfection to power in a header.
Livi upped the tempo in search of a leveller and got it 12 minutes from time.
Odin Bailey had curled a shot wide and substitute Joel Nouble was then inches away from tapping in the winger’s cross before the equaliser in the 78th minute.
Substitute Nicky Devlin’s headerfromadamlewis’cornerwasclearedofftheline,but Forrest kept the ball alive and Shinniesteeredinthewinger’s low pass from close range.
Having made all their subs, Livi were then reduced to 10 men as Morgan Boyes was helpedfromthefield.butthey still managed to dig out a winner six minutes from time.
Bailey ran at the Dundee defence on the right before finding Forrest on the edge of the box and the winger curled a brilliant left-foot shot beyond Harry Sharp.