Stubbs confirms his interest in Miller after losing to Livingston
st mirren 0 livingston 2 Hamilton (13), Lithgow (35)
St Mirren manager Alan Stubbs mourned a lack of quality in his squad as the Buddies were bullied badly at home by their promotion compatriots from last season, Livingston. The home side were visibly shell-shocked by a first half set-piece salvo, leaving Stubbs determined to delve into the transfer market before next week’s deadline. “Hopefully we can do something between now and Friday to strengthen the squad,” Stubbs said. “It is something I have been saying for the last few weeks. We do need to make the squad stronger and hopefully we might be in a position to do something. “I don’t think it is targeting certain individuals, it’s as a group we need to be stronger. “Early on, I said there were players who are available to leave because they are not going to get playing time. “We just have to do the best we possibly can in terms of making the squad as strong as we possibly can. “We have got six days now to try and do it. “It is not about the players who are here not doing it, or the players I have brought in not doing it. “The point is we need be better as a group. Whether it is the ones who are still here or the ones who have come in, we need to be better.” Whether one of the new recruits will be Kenny Miller, time will only tell, but Stubbs did confirm the Saints’ interest in the former Scotland striker. “We have registered our interest so now we just have to wait and see. I don’t think it is in terms of a finance. I think
that would be OK. It’s just what Kenny wants to do now in terms of his options. So, hopefully, we’ll just see what happens.” Former Falkirk boss Gary Holt took charge of his first match as Livingston manager after the bizarrely curtailed adventure with the aforementioned Kenny Miller at the helm, but deferred to assistant David Martindale to pick the team. Martindale immediately reinstated centre-half Alan Lithgow in the visiting rearguard which proved a tactical masterstroke. The visitors took the lead thanks to a Steven Lawless corner kick that made it’s way to the back post. Lithgow was on hand on turn the ball back across the face of goal for teenage striker Jack Hamilton to rattle his effort off the underside of the bar and just over the line. The Buddies had not learned their lesson and Livingston struck again from a corner 10 minutes before the interval. Lawless once again found Lithgow, this time in the middle of the box and the defender looped his header over Craig Samson and into the back of the net. Saints pushed and Ryan Flynn found himself with an excellent opportunity to pull a goal back after the restart but a superb tackle from Scott Pittman, who tracked his man from midfield, nullified a certain goal. Danny Mullen was next to find space behind the rearguard of the West Lothian club but the striker lashed widely at his effort. Livi had to withdraw Hamilton due to injury and had to play the rest of the match without a recognised centre forward but that did not deter the striker’s replacement, Egli Kaja, who found space in the box to glance a header just wide. Scott Robinson was presented with a great chance to further extend the visitor’s lead on the counter-attack but Craig Samson executed a superb save to foil the winger from eight yards out.