Livingston boss David Martindale believes the international break could be just what his depleted squad need.
The Lions sit bottom of the Premiership table with four defeats from four games while the gaffer says 11 players were either unavailable or forced into action when they shouldn’t have been in the 2-0 loss to Hibs at the weekend.
And during that contest, striker Bruce Anderson was forced off after suffering a diabetic fit while goalkeeper Max Stryjek and defender Jack Fitzwater were both sick at half-time – with the latter being able to last just four minutes into the second half.
Despite the slow start to the season, Martindale insists he has full belief in his squad to turn things around.
Speaking to the Courier, he said: “It feels like your making excuses but every game we’ve played this season we’ve had a depleted squad and had to make enforced changes.
“We had a situation on Saturday where Ben Williamson gets pulled out of the team by Rangers because of blood tests and we have to play Sibbald who shouldn’t have
been.
“Bruce and Jack have had to come off and I’ve got four guys on the bench who I couldn’t put on which limits the changes you can make.
“Our strength and conditioning coach ruptured his Achilles on Friday so you don’t even have him either.
“I’ve probably done Sean Kelly in a wee bit on Saturday too because he shouldn’t have been playing but Jack ran off the park being sick so he had to come on.
“Everything seems to be going against us just now. I do hate talking about it but it’s been a really frustrating period.”
He added: “This two weeks is going to be a massive benefit for us.
“I’m honestly not worried. It’s four games into the season and we’ve played three of the top four teams.
“We’re a new squad and we’re still building it and gelling together as a team.
“This break will allows us to do that and hopefully we’ll be in a much stronger position when we play Dundee.
“I’ve not been able to get what I think is my strongest XI on the park at any point this season.
“We’ve actually got the biggest squad size since I’ve been here – we’ve got 25 - but we’ve had so many injuries we’ve relied on the same seven or eight guys.
“I’m genuinely really excited to see what the boys can do when we’ve got them fit and healthy and if we can get that first win under our belts I think you’ll see them kick on.”
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