Holt hails Livi after convincing win

Posted Sunday, August 25, 2019 by PA

Livingston manager Gary Holt was full of praise for his team’s performance at the Global Energy Stadium where they thrashed Ross County 4-1.

Jon Guthrie, Steven Lawless, Lyndon Dykes and on-loan winger Jack Stobbs all scored for visitors Livi, with Ross Stewart on the scoresheet for the Staggies.

But Holt also insisted that there is still room for improvement.

He said: “I thought it was a fantastic 90 minutes from start to finish. But was it a complete performance? No.

“There are areas where we want to get better and areas where we can improve and we saw that today.

“Don’t get me wrong, we could have scored eight – quite comfortably, with the chances we had.

“It was that decision-making in the final third at times could have been better.

“Coming away from home, the club have been brilliant putting us up and letting us stay overnight. We reaped the benefits today.

“There was brightness and energy, so the club need a pat on the back. It benefited the players and showed in how we started the game.”

Referring to Sheffield Wednesday loanee Stobbs’ terrific volley for Livi’s fourth goal on his debut, Holt added: “It was his first game since February and he said to me after 10 minutes that he couldn’t breathe.

“But it was a tremendous finish. He also did it in training the other day.”

Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell said: “They were better than us at every single facet of the game, there’s no disputing that whatsoever.

“But they get themselves three goals ahead before we’d even looked at the game.

“That came from not defending our penalty area and a basic failure to take responsibility for jobs that are set out before the game.

“We all take responsibility for that – it’s not just me pointing fingers at the players alone.

“You feel there is a glimmer of hope when you get the one goal the first time we complete two or three passes, but their energy was relentless and we couldn’t deal with it.”