David Martindale lauds Livingston display in victory over Motherwell

Posted Sunday, October 08, 2023 by PA

David Martindale heaped praise on Livingston for the ruthless way they put 10-man Motherwell to the sword in a 2-0 victory.

The Lions made light work of cutting open their visitors once Lennon Miller had been red carded in first-half stoppage time for clipping the heels of Dan MacKay.

Bruce Anderson made the breakthrough only seven minutes into the second half and Sean Kelly added a second from the spot nine minutes later.

It was a first home victory for the Almondvale side in the Premiership this season and they remain undefeated against teams outside the Old Firm.

Livi boss Martindale said: “We’re not getting carried away, but it’s three points and a clean sheet.

“I felt we just shaded it 11 v 11. Motherwell have had a fairly good start to the campaign and they’ve got a good shape about them and a good structure. They’re well coached.

“I don’t think they caused us many problems in the first half and we worked on Dan MacKay, in particular, attacking those central zones at pace.

“We got our just rewards from it and Dan got his just rewards from it.

“I thought wee Bruce was brilliant today with his link-up, he was fantastic and brings Dan into play, and they went down to 10 men.

“I’ll be honest, I thought it was going to be a difficult second half, in terms of trying to break Motherwell down.

“But we managed to get in behind them quite early on for the first goal and then James Penrice did magnificently for the second goal.

“That took a wee bit of the sting out of the game, playing against 10 men. The boys have got to take a lot of credit for the clean sheet.”

Martindale reserved special praise for Anderson, who led the line for Livingston impressively and grabbed his sixth goal of the campaign.

He added: “Bruce’s link-up was brilliant. It’s a part of his game he needs to join together and be a bit more consistent with.

“He’s always going to score goals if you get the ball into the box, but outside the box he knows it’s an area of his game he needs to work on.

“But, outside the box, I thought he was tremendous today and that was the most pleasing aspect for me.”

Meanwhile, Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell was angered by his side’s second-half capitulation.

The Fir Park side opened the season in fantastic form with 10 points from a possible 12, but have now lost four in a row.

Kettlewell said: “There was nothing in the game before [the red card] and that’s the bit that really frustrates me.

“But it also seemed to be the catalyst for a real degree of naivety from our point of view.

“The decision making wasn’t good enough, we conceded one penalty and could have conceded another.

“It all just spiralled out of control and I have never seen that since being here. It irks me and it begins to anger me, as we have had a lot of plaudits for being a good side.

“We are always well organised but in that second half, it all just spiralled. I take responsibility for that but I have never seen it from the players before.”