Martindale lays it on the line for Final hopefuls
Livingston are playing for their Hampden jerseys now – that’s the message of manager David Martindale after their 3-0 defeat at Tannadice.
Livi fell to their second defeat in a row, as they prepare to face St Johnstone in the Betfred Cup final at the end of the month.
Martindale wasn’t impressed with his side’s, nor his own, display and upped the ante on his players ahead of the showpiece.
“They’re all playing for their jersey for Hampden now,” he said.
“If it wasn’t on their mind before the game, it will be on their mind now.
“I’ll take that on the chin. I’ve got to do better because there were moments I was looking to change the game and I didn’t do it quick enough.
“The boys have been brilliant and maybe I wasn’t at my best.”
Martindale revealed his frustration at the result, admitting harsh words were spoken in the dressing room, as the Lions let out their anger.
He added: “The tactics board has a hole in it now!
“It’s a harsh environment when you’re not winning games of football and the boys are just as frustrated as me.
“I’m trying to give them guidance but also trying to get a reaction out of them. It’s never a nice place when you’re losing games, especially in the manner we did.”
Assessing his side’s performance, Martindale said: “Terrible. I don’t think it was good enough, but the boys all know that.
“The first goal was criminal. To give a goal like that away after 49 seconds by making bad decisions. We have to do better.
“They went down to 10 men and you think you have a foothold in the game and then you immediately give away a bad second goal. Defensively, we weren’t at it.
“You have to give credit to United. They done us over and they were bang at it but they got a huge lift with that opening goal.
“If we had kept it at 1-0 I thought we would have got back into the game no problem because we had a few chances. The second goal deflated us.”