David Martindale praised Livingston stalwart Scott Pittman after he celebrated his record-breaking appearance with the match-winning goal against Hibernian.
The 29-year-old made his 124th Premiership outing for the West Lothian club to surpass Oscar Rubio’s top-flight tally.
He is also now just 11 short of breaking the club’s all-time appearance record, currently held by Keaghan Jacobs.
And the midfielder picked the perfect day to net just his fourth goal of the season to send the Lions above their visitors into seventh place in the top-flight table.
Martindale said: “I am delighted for Pitts and it was a fantastic finish. I am so happy he broke the record but he will smash all the records at this club.
“Keaghan Jacobs is 10 games ahead of him for the all-time record but he could surpass that by 100 at least.
“He’s a local boy and it’s great to see as I don’t think it will ever be done again.
“He’s one of those players who is a good fit. You’ve seen boys move over the years and it doesn’t quite work out when they go to other clubs.
“He’s in a club where he’s loved, he’s valued and he brings a lot to – and I think he knows that and he’s comfortable here. There’s a lot to be said for that loyalty.”
Martindale was thrilled to see Livingston rack up a second victory since missing out on the top-six.
He added: “I enjoyed it. I think the game had a wee bit of everything.
“There were spells in the first-half where we looked more threatening and we looked dangerous on the counter-attack in the second half.”
Meanwhile, interim Hibernian manager David Gray has bemoaned his side’s toothless attack.
The Easter Road side dominated possession and managed 18 shots at goal but none were on target as they slipped to eighth.
He said: “We’re very disappointed to lose the game.
“I thought in the first half we were good and dominated pretty much. We created lots of chances, nullified them a lot and passed the ball well.
“We should have been more clinical and taken our chances. It kind of sums up our season — 18 shots on goal and nothing on target.
“It shows where we’re struggling, to put the ball in the net. It’s not just the forwards, it’s everyone that’s involved.
“Credit to Livingston, in the second half they came out with a reaction to how we played and got their goal. I don’t think we really recovered from that.”
