Under-pressure manager David Martindale will hope his Livingston side can arrest a woeful run of form when Ross County visit the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday.

Livingston prop up the Scottish Premiership at present, while County are on the rise after a fine start by new boss Derek Adams.

Match preview

Six straight defeats for Livingston is making Martindale's job security more fragile by the week.

With his side sitting bottom of the table, Martindale's men have failed to find the net in almost six-and-a-half hours of league action, as a respectable start has turned into a dire set of results as we enter the second-third of the season.

It may be difficult for Livingston to climb off the bottom too, not only because of their form, but because St Johnstone are in 11th have a game in hand, and Aberdeen in 10th, three points ahead of them, have two.

With just one win here all season, it is no surprise that Livingston have the worst home record in the division too, something which is usually the decisive factor when it comes to deciding relegation battles.

Ross County have been good opponents for Livi in recent years though, winning six of their previous eight encounters here.

The visitors will come here with newfound belief though, after the appointment of Adams has seen an instant upturn in fortunes.

After narrowly staying up last season, coming from 3-0 down on aggregate in the relegation playoff, County had regressed even further under Malky Mackay, who was eventually sacked during the international break.

Before last weekend's action, County were level on points with Livingston at the bottom, but they now find themselves just three points off the Championship Group after a fine week.

Starting with a solid 0-0 draw against Kilmarnock was respectable enough, but it did extend the side's three-match scoreless run.

That was swiftly ended in midweek though, as Jordan White's late winner saw them beat high-flying St Mirren in their game in hand, to move them further away from trouble.

Team News

Livingston will hope to have Cristian Montano back from a minor injury after he missed the defeat at St Mirren having only recently returned from suspension, but Michael Nottingham did come back into the side last weekend after injury setbacks of his own.

Kurtis Guthrie was also drafted into the side in hope of helping turn Livingston's fortunes around along with Bruce Anderson up front, but the duo were largely ineffective in Paisley.

Quite surprisingly, Adams has stuck with the same Ross County team that faltered late in Mackay's reign, and it has produced results.

Many of the visitors' injury concerns come in midfield, and all are long-term issues, with Jay Henderson, Ben Paton and Ross Callachan all missing.

In defence, Josh Reid has been able to return to the squad recently, but the 21-year-old is yet to make it off the bench since Adams arrived.

Livingston possible starting lineup:
George; Nottingham, Devlin, Kelly; Nouble, Holt, Shinnie, Pittman, Penrice; Guthrie, Anderson

Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Nightingale, Baldwin, Leak; Brown, Randall, Dhanda, Allardice, Purrington; White, Murray

We say: Livingston 0-1 Ross County

Improving on away form will be key for Adams, as County are winless in their last five away games, and facing the league's most out-of-form side should give them a good opportunity to end that run.

Martindale cannot afford to lose many more games, as their current six-game losing streak has them bottom of the table, but it is likely that could go on here.


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