TOP WORK Boss warns of tough tests ahead after great start
Livingston head coach David Hopkin insists there’s still plenty of hard work needing done if his side are to top their Betfred Cup group.
The Lions got off to a stunning start to the season with a penalty shoot-out victory over Partick Thistle on Saturday before following that up with a fine defensive display to defeat St Mirren 1-0 on Tuesday night.
But, while others may be looking at their results against the top-seeded teams in Group H and assuming progress to the last16 is a given, Hopkin says nothing could be further from the truth ahead of upcoming matches against lower league sides.
They welcome Airdrie to the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday before ending the group stages away at Stranraer in games that the head coach says will test the depth of his squad.
He commented: “There’s tough games coming up and these results really don’t have any bearing on that.
“We played Partick and we had a lot of the possession but against St Mirren we had to show another side to our game and really show our mettle away from home.
“In that aspect, I’m delighted with the way the boys dug in because I think the Championship is going to be a lot like this during the season.
“To score so early and keep a clean sheet is a massive positive and I’m delighted. We were away from home against a very good side.”
He added: “There’s a few guys carrying knocks and we’re very light on the ground just now. We need to bring some more players in because there’s seven or eight of the guys who have played constantly and not had a rest and I think it’s starting to show a wee bit, especially in the midfield area.
“There’s guys still playing despite having knocks so I need to get one or two players to help us in that middle area of the pitch.”
And he had special praise for Dale Carrick, whose second minute strike proved the difference before he was subbed with a dead leg late in the first half.
The boss said: “It was a cracking finish from Dale and great link-up play between him and Danny (Mullen). It’s just broke to him and it’s an instinctive finish.
“It was obviously a shame that he had to come off and that forced us to change our shape a wee bit, but it doesn’t seem to be anything worse than a dead leg.”