Hopkin has faith in kids
‘Youngsters will handle title run-in’
Livingston boss David Hopkin has backed his youngsters to shake off any nerves as they inch closer to lifting the League One title.
The Lions strengthened their position at the top with 1-0 victories over Stranraer and Stenhousemuir this week which sees them sit nine points ahead of Alloa Athletic with just 21 points left to play for. The two teams are set to meet at the Tony Macaroni Arena on April 8 in what could potentially be the day the title lands in Livingston. And the former Scotland international says the innocence of youth can work in his favour as they approach the final stretch. He said: “If you ask anybody, it’s always the final stages that are the hardest. I think we need to just keep playing the way we have been. “We’ve got a lot of young boys in the squad but they don’t get caught up in it all. They’ll just be looking forward to every game that will be played between now and the end of the season.” And he had special praise for match- winner Nikolay Todorov who bounced back after missing an effort in the opening minutes to score the only goal of the game against Stenhousemuir.
Hopkin said: “Nikolay’s just a young boy. You look at him and think he’s a lot older but people forget he’s only 20.
“He took his chance well and bounced back from missing a couple. He keeps going and he’s a goalscorer. He’s given us something different.”
The Lions have now kept backto- back clean sheets and have conceded just twice in their last seven league games. They take on play-off challengers Airdrieonians at home this weekend as they aim to complete a season clean sweep over the Diamonds and Hopkin believes that could be the key for his side for the remainder of the season.
He said: “We’ve kept two clean sheets on the bounce and defended well. We’ve been working really hard with the back four to really see things through and you can see that it has worked.
“I’m pleased with the result against Stenhousemuir and the three points, although we made it a bit more difficult for ourselves with the number of chances we missed, especially in the first half.”
Winger Josh Mullin took a knock in the latter stages of Tuesday night’s game but should be fine in time for Saturday while Mikey Miller and Keaghan Jacobs remain sidelined.