Livingston defender ready to 'give everything' in fight to avoid the drop

Livingston defender James Penrice says he’ll ‘give everything’ to ensure his hometown club keep hold of their Premiership status.

The 25-year-old admits dropping down to the Championship will see people at the club lose their jobs - but says he sees a marked difference between the Lions and a similar scenario he faced at Partick Thistle six years ago.

The Jags were relegated that season at the hands of David Hopkin’s Livingston during a campaign in which the full-back played for both clubs, having enjoyed a spell on loan at the Tony Macaroni Arena during the first half of the campaign.

He said: “I had a similar run of results in the year Livi got promoted when I was at Partick Thistle.

“I was only young back then but there’s a difference. I felt in the Thistle team boys had chucked it after the January. There was a mentality change, a lot of boys were out of contract but I don’t feel like that here.

“This club needs to be in the Premiership. People will lose their jobs if we go down to the Championship and I don’t want to see that happen. I’m from the area, it’s not on my wishlist and I’ll give it everything but there’s more togetherness here than there was in previous runs I’d been on.

“I was at Livingston the first half of that season and went back to Thistle in January and didn’t play a game but there’s a massive difference between what I’m seeing here - although maybe that’s just because I’m older now.”

He added: “My family are here every game. My mum, my dad, my pals come and watch. All the neighbours in my street are all Livi fans. I don’t want to see them go into the Championship. I was here before and the club’s in a much better position now.

“We’re all in it together, we’re all rooting for the same cause but