Livingston manager Gary Holt has called on his players to “take the bull by the horns” as they look to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at Kilmarnock.
Livi were unable to build on the momentum gained from their impressive home victory over champions Celtic prior to the international break as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Killie last time out.
Holt is keen to see a positive approach from his players when they host neighbours Hearts on Saturday.
He said: “I’ve put pressure on them this week to go and take the bull by the horns and go and make an impact.
“And then that’ll carry your team-mates through, rather than waiting for someone else and then you jump on their coattails.
“It’s just about getting back to the simple things and doing them to the best of your ability.
“I felt last Saturday we were a wee bit hesitant to go and make things happen.”
Livingston ran out 5-0 winners the last time they welcomed Hearts to the Tony Macaroni Arena in December 2018.
Holt insists Livi have moved on from that result but he is wary that Hearts may arrive with the intention of banishing the memory of it.
He added: “It’s a local derby as such. They’ll be coming here smarting because obviously last year’s result is well-documented.
“But we’ve put it out of our minds and we want to focus on improving from last week.
“We know it’s going to be a hard game.
“We played them three times at their place – once in the cup (last season) – and we lost the cup game but we drew twice in the league.
“When we came off – even in the 5-0 game – we were on our hands and knees and that’s what we need.
“We need that amount of effort every single week and Saturday is no different.”
Livingston will continue to be without injured duo Chris Erskine and Scott Pittman for the game.
