Livingston boss David Martindale knows his side must beat Ross County on Saturday to avoid relegation to the Championship, and hopes striker Bruce Anderson can sting the Staggies once again.
The Lions need a miracle to avoid the drop, sitting 12 points behind their visitors with 15 to play for, and know a defeat will be curtains for their Premiership campaign.
Martindale admits it’s more likely they’ll go down than stay up, but will keep fighting for as long as they can.
“It’s a must-win,” said Martindale. “I’ll be really honest — we’ve been in a ‘must-win’ situation for some time.
“If we don’t win this game then we’re going to be playing Championship football, arithmetically.
“We’re in a big hole, we know the probabilities are stacked against us.
“We’ve been in an adverse situation for well over six months but all we can do is go and win that game of football, and we’ll take it from there.
“The probabilities are that it’s going to be very difficult for us.
“Even if we went out and won our next five games, we’re still relying on Ross County losing their games, so you’ve got to be realistic at the same time.
“We’ve come up short. We’ve under-performed, so collectively we’ve not been good enough this season, the consistency levels have not been there.
“But all I can really focus on is that next game, which is Ross County on Saturday.”
Livingston are still in the midst of a crippling injury list and Steven Bradley has been added to that, having been injured during the warm-up before the 4-2 defeat at Hearts.
Striker Tete Yengi is also suspended, having been shown a second yellow card at Tynecastle for kicking a bottle of water into the Livingston dug-out.
But Martindale says that provides an opportunity for ex-Aberdeen and Hamilton striker Bruce Anderson to shine, having scored five goals in his last four games against County.
He said: “I’m angry, frustrated, but I can understand why Tete got the yellow card.
“I had hoped there would’ve been a modicum of common sense applied.
“We’re in a relegation battle, a young player has come off the pitch, frustrated not at the coaching staff but in terms of his own performance.
“We were 2-0 up, and at half-time we were 4-2 down, so there was a lot of emotion and frustration kicking about, so I think sometimes you’ve got to show a bit of logic in those situations.
“Tete will learn from it. He’s not a bad kid, he’s a really good lad, but it’s disappointing that we’ve lost a player.
“The door opens up for wee Brucey, who has been sitting patiently on the bench since Tete has come in, because he has been scoring goals.
“It’s an opportunity for wee Brucey to go in there and try to keep the jersey, and he could be a hero.
“He’s got a great record against Ross County.
“Hopefully the wee man can keep up that scoring form that he seems to have shown against Ross County over the last two or three years.”
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here
