David Martindale admits he didn't get everything right for Livingston after bizarre debut for former Raith Rovers star

Livingston boss David Martindale claims he had never lost faith in goalkeeper Max Stryjek, despite the Pole’s blunder in Premiership action last week.

Livingston manager David Martindale was happy to stand by the choices he made during his side's League Cup tie with St Mirren. Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group

And his loyalty was rewarded when the 25-year-old pulled off a couple of crucial saves in open play and another couple in the penalty shoot out as they edged into the quarter-finals of the League Cup after a 1-1 draw with St Mirren.

It takes last term’s losing finalists a step closer to righting that wrong.

“I thought the big man was brilliant,” said a delighted Martindale. I thought his two saves were superb, especially the second one from McAllister.

“He did cost us three points last week but I still never thought about replacing him this week.

“He has really become a leader for us this season and I have been so impressed with him since pre-season. He is one of the main players for us and one of the first names on the team-sheet.”

On a day when the club were also able to give Kyle Jacobs an outing for the first time since March 2020, the only real fly in the ointment was the embarrassment surrounding new signing Harry Panayiotou, who was sent on in the 67th minute but then subbed off 12 minutes later, with Martindale saying he had made a mistake.

“Harrison came into the building on Thursday and I didn’t really have a chance to check on his fitness. He did two training sessions but they were very minimal.

“After ten minutes I knew I had made a mistake.

“It was nothing really to do with Harrison, I have to take that on the chin. I threw the boy in at the deep end when I should have put on Andrew Shinnie.

“I think you could see that when we put Shinnie on the park that we started to control the ball more.

“I’ve spoken to Harrison and he’s ok with it. That shows we have the right sort of character.”

The defeat was a blow for last season’s semi-finalists, St Mirren.

“We've been on the right end of penalty shootouts on two or three occasions, today we're on the wrong end of it,” said manager Jim Goodwin.

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