Gaffer’s words meant so much to his Livi lions
Livingston skipper Nicky Devlin is sure the only way is up for his club.
The full-back reckons their recent run of fine form – remaining unbeaten in five games, and picking up two wins – came from the unquestioning confidence of their manager.
David Martindale stated publicly that Livingston will not be relegated this season.
He made that bold prediction after losing the opening three Premiership matches.
Devlin says that gave the players an added boost, and they’ve even started picking up points away from their muchcriticised artificial pitch.
He said: “What the gaffer said about us staying up probably puts a bit of pressure on us.
“But it also gives us a lot of confidence that, even though we were on a poor run, we knew we had his full backing.
“He tells us every day that we can stay up. He knows what we are capable of and, when we get it right, we are a good team.
“Hearing it in the press gave us a boost. It made us want to go that extra yard for him.
“We rely on him. We know when we win games, and it’s because we’ve probably worked harder than the opposition.
“That’s the ethos this club is built on, and it’s served us well so far. That won’t change any time soon.”
Devlin, 28, says
Livingston will be ready for the visit of Rangers.
All the brouhaha surrounding management changes at Ibrox won’t alter the thinking of the men from West Lothian.
He went on: “We have to approach the game as if we’ll get the best version of Rangers here.
“It’s not just a boxticking exercise for us against Rangers or Celtic. We believe we can take something.
“We’ve got a better record against Celtic over the last few years, so we want to improve against Rangers.
“The full focus is on taking points against them because we’re on an unbeaten run and we want to keep it going.”
Devlin is one of the players currently sporting a moustache in support of the Movember campaign to raise awareness of men’s health issues.
It’s something that has become really important to the club after goalkeeper, Daniel Barden, was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“For us, it was all about raising awareness,” said Devlin.
“Obviously Dan has cancer, he’s getting treatment and, hopefully, has caught it early enough.
“We wanted people to be aware of it and, hopefully, we have managed to do that.
“It’s been good for teambonding, and the club is massive on that.
“How’s the moustachegrowing going? Not well, for me anyway.
“Jason Holt has a good moustache and Andrew Shinnie has a good one as well – but, to be fair, he had one already!”