Lions will be roaring to go again despite Hampden woe

THE image of a visibly distraught Marvin Bartley at full-time laid bare the pain felt by the defeated Livingston players at a huge opportunity wasted.

Just 90 minutes away from lifting rare major silverware, the Lions captain was left with only tears for souvenirs after a well-belowpar display from his team at Hampden.

Yet while the 1-0 Betfred Cup final loss to St Johnstone undoubtedly cut deep, manager David Martindale (below, with Bartley) swiftly vowed it won’t define a season with so much still at stake for the West Lothian side.

And he urged his players to bounce back from their bitter disappointment and secure a top-six finish and possibly also a crack at European football.

He said: ‘The boys have to move on from this. I said to them as the St Johnstone players were getting their medals: “Forget about it, it’s done”.

‘We’ve still a massive amount of football to play and a fantastic opportunity as a club to push for the top six and try for a European slot.

‘This could go one of two ways. We could finish in the top six or finish seventh or eighth.

‘I don’t think anybody remembers who loses cup finals, so I am not going to dwell on this experience too much.

‘But the boys have done great to get here and should take a lot of credit for getting the club to a cup final.’

On social media afterwards, Bartley described the cup final loss as ‘the most difficult defeat of my career. Football is my life and at the end emotions are uncontrollable’.

The 34-year-old had been played out of position on the left of midfield to nullify the threat of Shaun Rooney.

Martindale can point to the fact Rooney’s winning goal came from a set-piece. But having Bartley on the flank in place of the more attackminded Craig Sibbald did seem to nullify Livvy’s threat.

Asked if he would do anything differently in terms of tactics, Martindale agreed.

‘We didn’t win the game, so I’ve got to reflect on what I could have done better,’ he said.

‘Did I get the formation wrong? Did I get the personnel within that formation wrong?

‘I’ll self-reflect and look to see what I could have done better. We didn’t win the game of football, so there must have been something I could have done better.

‘When you lose a cup final you are going to be bitterly disappointed. But I think you have to be positive in defeat and all credit goes to St Johnstone.

‘I thought they defended their box far better than we defended our box.

‘Big Shaun has to take a lot of credit for that because I thought he took his goal extremely well and he is really difficult to mark from set-plays.

‘We are generally quite good at set-plays, but again I will give St Johnstone credit.’

Despite the defeat, Martindale is hopeful that yesterday won’t be his last cup final as a boss and that his next visit to Hampden will be post-pandemic with supporters allowed in.

He added: ‘Does it whet my appetite for more? That’s what a cup final does.

‘It’s not easy just now, but it’s something I would like to replicate in the future. It would be fantastic to come back to Hampden with fans in it.’

Livingston keeper Robby McCrorie, meanwhile, was devastated not to tip Rooney’s header on to the post.

But he backed his team-mates to follow Martindale’s orders and ensure a strong finish to the campaign.

‘I got a fingertip to it. I was so close but so far away,’ said the on-loan Rangers keeper.

‘On another day I get my fingertip on it and it hits the post. We do so much work on set-pieces to try and clear our lines, so to lose the game that way was disappointing.

‘But the manager said at the end of the game we can’t let this define our season.

‘We need to kick on and learn as much as we can from this and make sure we finish as strongly as we can. ‘What’s happened this season has been unbelievable but the season is not over yet. ‘This team is more than capable of coming together when times are tough and pushing through.’