Drama Queens
Hopkin anticipates a cracker at home against in-form Doonhamers — and he’s confident his side can win
Livingston head coach David Hopkin insists his side can put an end to Queen of the South’s fine form when the teams meet on Saturday.
The Dumfries side have been the surprise package in the early stages of the Championship season and go into the clash sitting second in the table with three wins from their four games.
However, the gaffer is confident his team can pick up their first home win of the new campaign – although he knows it will be no easy task.
He said: “It will be a very tough game against a very good side. They’ve had a great start to the season.
“They have an experienced team and a lot of great players. They are a side who have had a fast start to the season, and they’ve got goals in them with Stephen Dobbie and others.
“They are a very organised team who will be difficult to break down. We know it’s a tough test for us but it’s one we are up for.
“We need to approach the game properly and we’re still finding out about teams in this league. Really we can properly assess everything I think once we’ve played every team once, and I’m sure they’ll all know a little bit more about us once that’s done as well.
“The players need to go into the game knowing what their job is and that’s up to us as coaches to instil that in training.”
The boss admitted that while he was disappointed not to progress in the Irn-Bru Cup after defeat at The New Saints, everyone at the club knows where the priorities lie this term.
He said: “Everybody wants to win every game they play and obviously we’re no different.
“I watched the TNS game back and thought we played very well in the second half.
“People have said that we’re the first team in a long time to go there and really dominate possession, so that speaks volumes about the players.
“I’m disappointed to go out of the cup, especially on penalties but you wouldn’t really want to have been in it and drawn against another team in your league.
“We have to concentrate on the league and on the Betfred Cup, that’s really the priority for us.
“We’ve got one midweek game coming up against Hibs then it’s into one game a week which helps you with coaching and fitness.
“All we want to do this season is ensure we stay in this division.”