Livingston manager David Martindale has credited his team’s ‘pleasing performance’ against St Johnstone as they ran out 3-0 winners on Saturday.
Martindale hailed goalkeeper Max Stryjek's two superb saves in the dying minutes of the game that kept the Lions three goals to the good.
Martindale said: “It was a good result for us, as we are away from home and we know St Johnstone well enough to know they are a good team.
“So, we had to come here with a slightly different game plan compared to how we would normally approach a game like this, but credit to the players for that performance.
“Players win you games of football so all the credit goes to them.”
When asked if this was ‘revenge’ for the loss in the League Cup final last year, Martindale was quick to refute these claims.
He said: “We could’ve won 10-0 today and I’d still be annoyed about that cup final! The feelings about the cup final got dropped two hours after the whistle was blown, you need to try and forget about those games and look ahead to the next fixture."
Martindale also discussed how away records tend to be scrutinised in football, when every game is a challenge to a team.
He continued: “I see a lot of people discussing away records and the like; it’s difficult to win any game of football away from home, outwith probably the top four of every league.
“People come to Livingston and it’s hard to pick up points where we play, so it’s pleasing we’ve come here and done the job.
“The last couple of times we’ve come to Perth, it’s been a draw between the sides, so it’s nice to come to St Johnstone to score three goals and it’s extremely pleasing to get a clean sheet.
“I need to credit big Max, he made a fantastic save from a cross ball from St Johnstone’s left-hand side and Max got in there and pushed it over the bar, so credit goes to him and the entire back four.
“I think we defended well as a unit.”
Martindale also revealed that the idea of a ‘turning point’ in a season is a myth to him, given the high competitive level of the Scottish Premiership this season.
He added: “I don’t really believe in the whole ‘turning point’ stuff when it comes to a competitive season.
“Because we won today, does that mean we’re going to go on and win the next eight games? Not for me to say, but I don’t think teams are going to do that in the Premier League this season, as it’s a tough, tough league this year.
“Hearts and Hibs have really improved this year, Dundee United have kicked on as well, so I think it’s a tough league, and outwith the teams that are spending £40-55 million a season, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to see their season turn round quick.
“We try to isolate every game we play, and as I spoke about before, we had a fantastic season last year where we won 12 games of football in the Premier League.
“That really puts it into perspective for us, and you’re probably going to lose more games than you win, so it’s about focusing on every game individually.
“The boys can take fantastic amounts of credit from this win, however.”
On the subject of injuries, Martindale was happy that the international break came at the time that it did for his team, saying: "I don’t think it’s any surprise that we had a couple of players that returned from injuries today. It’s the first time this season for us that four players weren’t included in the matchday squad.
“It was pleasing to see Scott Pittman back especially. It’s been the vast majority of the league campaign [so far] that he’s been out, and he pops up for our third goal .
"His midfield runs are fantastic, he’s a great box-to-box player, so I think now that we can get a bit more continuity into the starting eleven, we can make the squad a bit more competitive as well.”
Martindale also confirmed that defender James Penrice will travel down to London this week for a hernia operation, which is the reasoning behind his substitution at half-time.
He noted: "James felt he could play through it today, but obviously that wasn’t the case, so despite him playing with a slight injury today and for a couple of games, he was utilised because we needed him to play.”
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