Livi boss: We’ll be earlier on Sportscene
David Martindale admits he was screaming at Nicky Devlin to pass just before the Livingston captain fired in the shot that earned his team an equaliser at St Mirren.
Jamie Mcgrath’s brilliant effort had looked like bringing Livi’s undefeated run to an end.
But Devlin was in the right place at the right time to thump in a spectacular effort – much to his manager’s surprise.
The point extends the unbeaten sequence to five games ahead of next week’s visit of Rangers to the Tony Macaroni Arena
Martindale said: “I was shouting, ‘Pass it, Nicky’. You haven’t seen his shooting in training! But what a strike – phenomenal.
“He said he was thinking about taking a touch but he just hit it. Alan Forrest was unlucky with the original shot, but it was a fantastic strike from Nicky.
“Jak Alnwick didn’t have a chance. It was straight into the side-netting. It was a great goal but so was Jamie Mcgrath’s, so well done to the players.
“That’s us five games unbeaten now. And now that Steven Gerrard is away from Rangers I will need to start trying again now. I don’t try against Rangers apparently! But that’s us five unbeaten.
“That’s credit to the players. To a man they were brilliant. The guys who came off were unlucky. Everyone played a massive part in the performance.”
It wasn’t the greatest of games, lit up only by two moments of genius from Mcgrath and Devlin.
And Martindale joked he hoped it would mean the contest wouldn’t be the last to be shown on Sportscene.
He added: “I told the boys they deserved a point at least.
“It was a similar game when we played them at Livingston. We were unlucky not to take anything that day.
“This time it was two great goals that gets the point for the two teams. It could have been 0-0, and we’d have been last on Sportscene – so at least there are two good goals to wait up for.
“We created the better chances overall but there wasn’t a lot in it. But there normally isn’t. It’s always one goal in it, unless there is a red card or something. If we’d left with nothing I’d have been disappointed as we played well.”