Livingston boss David Martindale targets 'one player' to complete Lions squad

David Martindale insists he is one player away from his ideal squad at Livingston despite working on a tight budget.

The Lions boss confirmed at the end of last season the club would be forced to cut its cloth, but has still been able to bring in four players during the summer window.

The West Lothian outfit have lost key men in Jack Fitzwater and Stephane Omeonga but have recruited experience in the form of defensive duo Michael Devlin and Michael Nottingham.

Midfielder Mohammed Sangare and full back Miles Welch-Hayes have also arrived at the Tony Macaroni Arena and Martindale believes he is close to building a side that can challenge for the top six this campaign.

“I’m actively looking for players in the offensive area, we are looking at a couple of options,” he said.

“I’m probably one more short and I’ll need to move one or two on for that to happen.

“We’re looking for quality. We’ve looked at hundreds of players at this point. We’re not exactly where we should be but we knew this year the budget would be cut.

“We have the lowest budget in the league, but every season we’ve been in the Premiership, it has been the same, we don’t treat it any differently.”

Bruce Anderson’s late equaliser saved Livi from a slip up at League One Hamilton Academical in the Viaplay Cup group stages on Saturday, but Martindale’s men were undone in the post-match shootout, losing the bonus point 4-1 on spot kicks.

It leaves them in a precarious position in Group C behind Accies and Tuesday’s opponents Cove Rangers and the Lions’ boss is adamant his side can not afford any further stutters if they are to reach the knockout stages.

“I think we dominated most of the game after the 30-minute mark, but we were pretty poor at our penalties,” he said.

“I’d like to give Accies credit, they were bang at it from the first minute, we are no long in, these games come early in the season.

“But we can’t use that as an excuse. Cove will be a difficult game. Paul [Hartley] has recruited really well, they can play, they can be physical.

“I don’t think we underestimate anyone. But it will be a really tough game of football.”