Title dream over for Livi United

May 12 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Andy Johnstone

South Division Livingston United 1 - Dunbar United 1

ANDY JOHNSTONE reckons his team would be South Division champs — but for their form against the sides struggling at the wrong end of the table.
The Livingston United boss steered his shock troops to the brink of glory before a series of slip-ups in recent weeks saw their title hopes go up in smoke.
Johnstone admits his side hit a sticky spell at the worst possible time but insisted it has still been a season to savour for the county club who shook off the tag of perennial strugglers to become championship challengers.
He said: “To be honest we’ve been running on empty in recent weeks and we’ve had injuries to some key players.
“The guys I signed from the Super League were all missing on Saturday and have missed most of the last six games.
“I’m not making an excuse though, as we dominated the game and must have missed a dozen chances while Dunbar had one shot and scored with it.
“When it came to the final hurdle I think we weren’t quite good enough although over the season all our guys have been absolutely brilliant.
“Our problem has not been games against the top teams as we have beaten all the sides in the top half of the table, some of them twice, but we dropped 13 points against the bottom five in the league.
“That’s been our problem and had we won the games in the past few weeks then I believe we would have won the league but we stopped scoring goals at the wrong time of the season.
“This season has been a tremendous success though, as Livingston United have been in the bottom three places for the past 14 years, so to be leading the table with two games to go is brilliant.
“We didn’t see that coming so the players deserve great credit for that.”
Livingston United’s title hopes ended on Saturday when they were held to a
1-1 home draw against Dunbar.
They went a goal down before Andy McQuillan levelled but despite dominating the match they couldn’t find the goal they needed to keep their title hopes alive.
And Johnstone concedes that it’s  now Sauchie’s title to lose, although he hopes the championship flag finds its way into West Lothian hands with Fauldhouse still outsiders for a late swoop.
He said: “It’s Sauchie’s league now as they have four games to play and if I’m honest they have been the best team in the league this season.
“Hopefully we can keep a lot of the guys together and then I’ll be looking to bring in four or five more to have a right go next season and try to establish ourselves as a genuine top-three side in the league.
“With only one side winning promotion in the league it is very difficult and looks like it could be even harder next season. I’ve heard there is going to be a team from Falkirk joining the league while two could come down from the Premier Division, which would mean the league has two extra teams next season but still only one promotion place.
“It’s been an excellent season and an exciting one as it went to the wire.
“We might still be able to play a part in the title race though as Fauldhouse could win it and if we can beat Sauchie on the last game of the season Fauldhouse could win it, which would be nice for a local team. We’ll certainly be trying to do them a favour if we can.”