Robbie Winters admits Livi have to win ugly and play the beautiful game to take title

Aug 19 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Robbie Winters

ROBBIE WINTERS insists Livingston will continue to try to play attractive football in the Second Division – but admits winning ugly could bring a handsome reward in this season’s title race.

The Lions struggled to get their free-flowing brand of football going at Dumbarton on Saturday but dug in to grind out a vital 2-1 victory thanks to a Winters penalty and Iain Russell’s second-half winner.

It was a match where Gary Bollan’s men had to show their battling qualities, especially after going down to 10 men following the dismissal of Michael O’Byrne, to secure their first win of the season.

And Winters insists that Livi’s fighting spirit will have to come to the fore more often than not this season if they are to have a chance of lifting the title.

He said: “It was a horrible game to play in and it wasn’t a good game of football at all.

“It was scrappy and there was more arguing than football but it was three very good points to pick up away from home.

“At the end of the day, we all want to play good football but sometimes you can’t do that, and Saturday was one of those days

“In every league, you have to win your home games to win the title.

“If we can do that – and also pick up a few points on the road – then we should be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.

“It’s still early doors but already it is important for us to keep putting points on the board and try to stay near the top.

“We have two home games now, so hopefully we can get back to playing a bit of football and get the team playing well.”

Next up for Livingston is a potentially stormy clash with an Airdrie side who share quite a bit of recent history with the Lions.

Winters, however, insists it’s just another game for the players and another three precious league points up for grabs as the West Lothian side plot a second successive promotion.

He continued: “Airdrie will be just another game and another team coming here who we have to try and beat.

“They have a lot of youngsters in the team and hopefully they’ll come here and want to try and play football.

“We’ve lost a few experienced players but we’ve got a good squad with talented guys.

“If we want to win the league, we’ll all have to knuckle down and fight a wee bit harder.

“Then if we win the battle, then we can, hopefully, get the ball down and play.”