How David Martindale plans to manage his Livingston squad ahead of meeting unbeaten Hearts

David Martindale (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Livi face Hearts in the cinch Premiership at Tynecastle on Saturday to complete a seven-day schedule which also saw them take on the Old Firm.

Martindale's side have beaten Celtic and lost 2-0 in the Premier Sports Cup against Rangers since Hearts played Ross County last Saturday.

Livi have picked up more injury issues from Ibrox after losing Jackson Longridge for the game and handing Stephane Omeonga a debut, but Adam Lewis is set to feature after coming off with what turned out to be a blistered heel.

Martindale said: "We need to go with a game plan very similar to Ibrox – we need to go there and frustrate Hearts.

"Hearts are unbeaten and we have played two games in the last four days, so it's going to be difficult. You try to kid yourself on that you are not thinking about the next game, but subconsciously you are."

Martindale finds that team selections in such busy weeks are dictated by knocks and injuries.

"It's about trying to freshen things up and make sure we are still putting the best team on the park that we possibly can.

"A few boys took knocks on Wednesday so that probably rules them out of contention for Saturday.

"Ben Williamson couldn't play at Ibrox and he played a massive part in the victory on Sunday. Jackson Longridge and Scott Pittman were on the bench and I probably could have got 10-15 minutes out of them if I needed to."Stephane is a bit tight but that's to be expected."

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.