Andrew Shinnie remains positive ahead of ‘massive’ run for Livingston

Andrew Shinnie senses a chance for Livingston to pick up some much-needed points before the winter break after winning none of their last six games.

The Lions have had a tough run recently, with four of those matches pitting them against big city clubs Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen.

They face another six fixtures before the winter break and four of them are at home – starting with Wednesday’s match against Hibernian. Three of their home games within the festive period are against teams alongside them in the bottom four.

Shinnie knows that after putting so much into their recent matches with little reward, Livingston have to start capitalising over the coming weeks if they are to climb away from their current position of second bottom in the cinch Premiership.

The attacker said: “It’s a massive period for us because there are quite a few games left to make sure we’re not near the bottom at the break.

“It’s a weird season because we’ve gone through runs when we play quite tough games and then we have a period when we play the teams around us and then we go back to the tougher games.

“There are a lot of games where we feel we’ve deserved three points but for one reason or another we haven’t done it.

“We’ve got a good run of fixtures coming up. It’s a good chance for us to put some points on the board.  A couple of results can push you right up the table so everybody’s staying positive and upbeat.”

Shinnie is unfazed by the fact his side have not won in six as he does not believe it is an accurate reflection of the way they have been playing.

He said: “You can look at stats like no wins in six whatever way you want but a few of the draws in there were good results and we did well in the games we lost against Rangers and Hearts.

“One of the results within that run is a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park, which not many teams get, so I’m not paying attention to stats like that. Every game is in isolation. You just take the next one as it comes.”

Similarly, Shinnie is not reading anything into Hibs’ run of only one win in eight league games ahead of their visit to the Tony Macaroni Arena.

He said: “It doesn’t really matter what form Hibs are in. They’ll be desperate to pick up points. Playing Hibs is always a difficult game.

“They’ve got a great squad with good attacking threats, as we saw a couple of weeks ago against Rangers in the (Premier Sports Cup) semi-final. They can beat anyone on their day.

“Every team goes through spells in this league when they’re up and down. We’re looking to bounce back and they’ll want to win as well so it will be a good game.”