Barr powers Livingston to victory

Dec 15 2011 by Allan Valente, West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON defender Craig Barr reckons his weekend winner against Raith Rovers was his most important goal for the club yet – and he’s set his sights on adding a few more to his tally.

The 24-year-old scored the only goal of the game on Saturday as Livi kept pace with the pack at the right end of the table.

It was a much-needed three points for the Lions who had lost back-to-back league fixtures for the first time in a couple of years going into the game. But they put all that behind them as they outplayed Raith at Stark’s Park.

Barr said: “Going there and winning shows we do have a bit of character. We are a young team and it can be difficult going away from home to these places. But beating Raith Rovers was a big result.

“It was important to pick up a win because we had lost two back-to-back. That hasn’t happened since I arrived at the club and had Raith won it would have dragged us down to the bottom end of the table.

“It was just my third goal for Livingston. I scored two last year but I’ve never scored a goal which has mattered as much as this one, so it’s great from my point of view.

“I probably should be scoring more. I was getting closer over the weeks and I have had good deliveries from corners from Fozzy (Mark Fotheringham).

“I said to him at half time on Saturday that one day I would get on the end of one of his crosses. Ten minutes later there was a flick on at the front post and it just came to me and hit my head, but I’ll take it.

“The boys did well and I thought we played some nice football. We deserved to win and it was an important three points.”

Livingston changed things around on Saturday in what proved to be a fairly comfortable day for the visitors.

“The manager was pleased to get the three points,” Barr added. “We started with a new formation and it suited the players we had.

“Sinky (David Sinclair) and Fozzy were holding in front of the back four and provided good link up play going forward.”

Now Barr is looking forward to facing Ayr United on Saturday, and he hopes the side can get back to winning ways on their own patch after losing their unbeaten home record to Ross County recently.

He said: “Ayr will be a difficult game, we knew there would be no easy ones in this league. We didn’t have the best start with a few draws but hopefully we can go on a bit of a run now.

“We fancy ourselves against anyone at home because of the way we play.

“Obviously we want to ensure our safety first and foremost, but our aim is to keep as close as we can to the top end and get as high up the league as possible.

“It was disappointing losing to Ross County a few weeks ago in the manner we did, especially after the home run we had, but we need to win our home games and pick up what we can away.”