Livingston striker Bruce Anderson has hailed his side’s ‘team spirit’ as they put three goals past 2020/21 cup double winners St Johnstone on Saturday.
The number nine bagged a goal and assisted teammates Odin Bailey and Scott Pittman in the victory in Perth.
Speaking on the win, Anderson said: “It was a great team performance. As a group, I think we all knew that a display like this was coming. We’ve been working hard for weeks to try and put things right and you could see that there was a real togetherness and a real team spirit there.
“We wanted to come flying out of the traps and we did – we put pressure on them right from the start, managed to get the early goal and then we just took it from there.
“I think it could have been an even bigger win: Odin Bailey and I had a couple of half-chances and Alan Forrest came really close at the end after some brilliant play.
“On another day we could have scored five or six but we’ll happily take the 3-0 and move on. This result has been overdue.
“We’ve been the better team in some of our recent games but let ourselves down with little mistakes here and there so there’s been a real focus on trying to eradicate that.
“You saw how solid we were at the back but this was a united effort from everyone. Max (Stryjek) has had one big save to make and he pulled it off but that’s the harsh reality of life as a goalkeeper – if you make a mistake then it’s usually a goal but he showed up and he was brilliant when he needed him most.”
Anderson also felt the Saints defence got nervous when Livingston began to press them individually, saying: "This season there’s been a real emphasis on being aggressive in our pressing and we did that from the first minute on Saturday and got a chance straight away from it.
"That sometimes does cause a bit of panic at the back and maybe that was the case here. But we’re now looking up at the table rather than over our shoulders but, to be honest, we were doing that even when we were going through our bad run."
He added: "You need to keep looking up and it was all about getting the three points at McDiarmid Park and now we just have to make sure that we continue the hard work and get another win against Ross County next week.”
Anderson added a goal and two assists to his season tally for the Lions, but was coy when asked about any personal targets.
He said: “I do have targets but they’re kept in house – only myself, the manager and the backroom staff know what they are. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself by making them public but, hopefully, that’s me back on the goal trail.
"Would double figures be a start? That’s the minimum.”
The striker was also assured that the international break done the Livingston players no harm, and helped them refocus on the task at hand.
He added: “The dressing room is really strong so it was really just about pulling our socks up a bit, rolling our sleeves up further and grafting away because we always knew that the results would change if we worked hard enough.
“Everyone was at 100% on Saturday and that was why the scoreline was the way it was. It fairly changed everyone’s weekend as well: there’s nothing worse than a Saturday night after a defeat but everyone on our side was happy this time.”
After being rushed to hospital in August with a diabetic seizure, the striker has the condition under his control and aims to put the scare behind him.
He noted: “It took me a while to get back to normal – my confidence took a bit of a knock because it hadn’t happened before so it was a bit of a shock to the system in every sense.
"So it took time for me to adjust and get my body back to normal. In that way, the international break came at exactly the right time for me because I’ve felt really good in training for the past week and I’m back to full fitness now.
"I try to put it to the back of my mind but, of course, it’s always there. You just have to get on with it, really. I’ve had the condition for a number of years now so I’m used to it.
"I just need to take extra care of myself and I’m in good hands at this club so there are no worries on my side.”
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