Livingston United Andy Johnstone hopes home form can seal title glory

Apr 28 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Livingston United Andy Johnstone hopes home form can seal title glory

LIVINGSTON UNITED gaffer Andy Johnstone hopes his side’s phenomenal home form can carry them to a final-day South Division title decider as the league race enters the final straight.

The shock-troops have won every single home league match they have played this season to take them to the top of the pile.

And with four of their final five league matches in front of their own fans at Station Park, Johnstone admits to being desperate to extend their proud record before heading to Sauchie on the final day of the season for what looks likely to be a ‘winner-takes-all’ title showdown at Beechwood Park.

He said: “It is all coming to a peak now and we have just five games left to go.

“Four of them are at home and we know if we win them all and if Sauchie keep winning it will all come down to our away trip to them on the last day for a title decider.

“It won’t be easy as we have three local derbies in our home games but we have been in good form at home this season and have won all nine of our games here and have averaged four goals a game.

“We’d love to keep that run going but it is a big ask to expect a side to win all their home games in a season but we’ll be trying to do that.

“All we want is a chance to be in the hunt in the last few games and had someone offered us the chance of a title decider on the last day of the season we’d have taken it.

“All we can do is take one game at a time and get on with it.”

Craig Easton steered Stoneyburn into the lead almost straight from kick-off on Saturday but the hosts quickly regained control of the match.

Andy McQuillan scored twice while Lee Docherty also found the net before Andy Malone was shown straight red card.

But despite being reduced to 10 men Livi netted again two minutes after the restart through Stephen Payne to make sure of the points leaving Johnstone thrilled with his side.

He continued: “I knew we were capable of it but to be honest I didn’t expect the result to be so easy.

“We played really well but we lost a goal after only 20-seconds. We then went on to have a shaky five or 10 minutes before we got a foothold in the game.

“I didn’t worry too much losing a goal that early as it is always better to lose a goal in the first minute than the last minute as you have time on your side to get back into the game.

“It was all one-way traffic after that initial 10-minute spell and by half-time we were 3-1 up although we were also down to 10 men by then. Stoneyburn have done so well this season I expected a tougher match from them but our boys were so up for it and won convincingly in the end.”

Johnstone admits even he has been surprised by his side’s march to the top of the table after setting a preseason target of finishing in the top seven places.

He added: “At the start of the season we had to rebuild an entire new team and our aim was actually to finish in the top half of the table.

“We have done that now but to be in a title challenge with just five games to go is something we didn’t see coming.

“But we are here on merit and from now until the end we’ll go out and do our best in every match and see where we finish.”