LURE OF LIVI

David Hopkin has achieved many things in a long career that included Scotland caps and a winning goal in an English Division One play-off final. He also now stands on the cusp of leading Livingston back to the Scottish top flight.

All this is impressive and admirable. However, it’s possible to wonder, with Livingston set to do battle with Partick Thistle for the right to play in the Premiership, if making a once unloved side so appealing to the town’s populace presently stands as his greatest feat.

The 47 year old gazed out of his office five minutes before kick-off in last Friday’s semifinal second leg against Dundee United and saw long queues of supporters still forming outside. The official attendance was later confirmed as 4,508.

“It’s fantastic,” Hopkin said yesterday. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw all the people coming in. I looked out of my office at 7:40pm – my wife couldn’t get into the car park, it was so busy!

“The crowd was pouring in. Overall we have changed the perspective of the club over the past couple of years. We’re trying to get everyone back.

“I was out in Edinburgh for Alan Archibald says Partick Thistle have rediscovered their groove after hitting the restart button on their nightmare campaign.

The Jags have found themselves in a fight for survival just a year on from breaking into the Ladbrokes Premiership top six for the first time. They did manage to escape automatic relegation after closing out the season with two wins and two draws from their final

0 David Hopkin has asked for two last lung-busting efforts from his players against Partick Thistle.

DAVID HOPKIN a meal with my wife last week and Hearts and Hibs fans were saying they were coming to the game. I had friends from Greenock and Gourock coming up. So when they start five post-split fixtures. But they are not done yet and must now see off Championship upstarts Livingston over two legs in the play-off final.

However, Firhill boss Archibald is confident his side will be able to handle the tension after seeing them successfully put their earlier woes behind them as they clambered off bottom spot.

“The players have lifted their game,” he said ahead of tonight’s opening clash against Livi at the Tony Macaroni Arena. “We asked them after the split to treat it like a new season. I know that sounds stupid but there was so much negativity telling you they’re coming to games you know the crowd will be good. I still didn’t expect it to be as big as it was on Friday but the potential has always been here.”

It just required someone to tap into it. Hopkin arrived as Mark Burchill’s assistant in 2015, initially on a part-time basis, before replacing him as manager. Livingston have barely looked back and stand on the brink of a second successive promotion.

But first they must find a way past Partick Thistle. Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Dundee United – Livingston won the tie 4-3 on aggregate – left Hopkin so emotionally exhausted he chose not to travel to watch Thistle, their most likely opponents, win 1-0 against around the place and rightly so. But we just felt we had to wipe the slate clean, focus on the five games coming up. We did that and I think the boys feel a bit more confident.

“I’ve seen enough over the last five games to show me they can handle these type of occasions. You can see there is a trust in the group. The boys trust each other and the way they are playing now.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in the performances. We’ve not won every game but we’ve been in all of them, only lost one, created chances and now we have a wee bit of momentum.” David Dundee at Dens Park the following afternoon. He had what he described as a “sofa day” instead.

“We were waiting on Saturday to find out who we were playing so we had people watch Partick and Ross County,” he explained. “I watched the game later on Saturday on BBC Alba.”

But Livi are raring to go now. What Hopkin learned from his own play-off experience as both a player – he scored a last-minute winner for Crystal Palace v Sheffield United in 1997’s Division One play-off final – and manager is that the semi-final is the toughest assignment. He reckons Livi can now “relax and enjoy” the coming games Hopkin’s Lions outfit have been the second tier’s surprise package this term. Their physical style helped them muscle past semi-final opponents Dundee United but Archibald insists his side do not fear the West Lothian bruisers having taken on plenty of robust Premiership opponents.

Archibald said: “They are physical – but I think that sometimes overshadows how good a team they are. They play good football, they have good players and can pass it and play. Shaun Byrne and Scott Pittman have good quality in the middle of the pitch and Rafa De Vita is really – the pressure, is on Patrick Thistle while the momentum is with Livingston.

“We budgeted for finishing eighth and that’s where we aimed to finish,” he reflected. “We went into the top four in October and I think everyone was waiting for us floundering. But we are very professional here – with prehab and triple sessions every day. We work hard. People thought we would crumble against Dundee United but the later the game went on the more I knew we would be strong.”

Skipper Craig Halkett, pictured above, was asked whether it would qualify as a football miracle if Livingston reached the top flight in a sea-

“The crowd was pouring in. Overall we have changed the perspective of the club over the past couple of years. We’re trying to get everyone back”

Partick have raised their game ahead of play-off final, says Archibald

good on the ball too. Their back three were all released by Rangers and Celtic, so they’ve had a good upbringing. But all that gets overshadowed sometimes because they are so strong.

“Yeah they are one of the best in their league at set-plays, we know that. They have got the long throw but I don’t think it’s anything we haven’t faced before. We’ve had good preparation in the games we’ve played against St Johnstone, Motherwell and Ross County, who all play in a similar type of system with a similar type of size. We just need to make sure we’re ready for it.”

0 Alan Archibald: Confident.