David Martindale adamant Livingston will not give up in survival fight

David Martindale is adamant everyone at Livingston is doing everything they can to try and keep their survival fight alive.

The Lions are well adrift at the foot of the cinch Premiership after winning only one of their last 22 league matches.

With just eight games to go – including Sunday’s visit from title-chasing Celtic – they appear in grave danger of slipping into the Championship.

Martindale admits his team have not been good enough but he assured supporters that everyone at the club is feeling the “pain” as they strive to find a way to improve their grim predicament.

“As a group we have been underperforming,” he admitted. “There have been periods in games where I think we’ve played really well but we’re losing.

“If there was a recipe to get you out of this situation, we would get out of it but in football there are so many uncontrollables within a match, so it’s not easy.

“It’s been a really challenging season, a painful season, and all me and my staff and the players can do is go out and try and win the next game of football. That’s all we can do.

“We’ve had conversations as a group on multiple occasions. The players have had conversations as a group on multiple occasions.

“Everybody in this club cares. Everybody. We’ve all done everything we can.

“We’re not out of it yet but I understand how difficult it is, I understand how big a hole we are in.”

Livingston produced a spirited display in their last meeting with Celtic, when they lost narrowly in the Scottish Cup quarter-final earlier this month, and Martindale is hoping they can summon a similar level of performance at home to Brendan Rodgers’ side on Sunday.

“We went to Parkhead, gave it a right good go and still came away 4-2 down but there were positives to take from that game,” he said.

“But Brendan’s a very astute manager with top players so it’s going to be difficult.”