Shock cup win dream
Can Livingston upset the odds at Aberdeen?
Livingston boss David Martindale admits his disrupted plans for this weekend’s Scottish Cup tie with Aberdeen are ‘less than ideal’.
However, the gaffer remains confident the Lions can travel north and bounce back from last week’s 6-0 loss at Celtic Park by booking their place in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.
Livi’s last-16 clash away to the Dons had originally been scheduled for Sunday but has been brought forward to ensure no ties clash with the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh, which takes place at 3pm on Saturday.
Speaking to the Courier, Martindale said: “The loss to Celtic was a terrible result but won’t define our season. It’s now about how we react?
“I don’t think it will dent the confidence because it’s a cup game which is a nice distraction.
“It won’t be an easy game, it never is against Aberdeen, but it’s one we’re capable of winning if we play at the top of our game.
“We need to be on it for the whole game to get into the next round, which would be a home tie in the quarter-final, so there’s a great incentive.
“We’d love to replicate what we did in the League Cup and get to Hampden but it’s not going to be easy, obviously, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
He added: “We had the hotel booked, pre-match meal booked, yoga and psychology session booked and then you need to change everything.
“The plan was actually to give the players Monday off because we were meant to be playing on the
Sunday. I couldn’t do that after we lost 6-0 but we could have been in a situation where we’d have lost a day of training.
“It’s not ideal but it is what it is and we’ve just got to deal with it.
“We won’t stay over now with it being a 5.30pm kick-off which in turn means we’ll probably need to have our pre-match meal on the bus.
“It’s all part of dealing with things in what’s been a very difficult season. Hopefully things can be back to normal for next season.”
Livi head into the clash with no fresh injury worries, while goalkeeper Max Stryjek has taken part fully in training.
Martindale said: “He’s had a niggling complaint for three months but hopefully we’re there with him now.
“He’s trained well on Monday and
Tuesday.”