2020–21 Livingston F.C. season
# 2020–21 Livingston F.C. season

The 2020–21 season was the club's third consecutive season in the Scottish Premiership, the top flight of Scottish football. Livingston also competed in the Scottish Cup and the League Cup.

## Season Summary

Goalkeeper Gary Maley signed a new contract after a Twitter poll "joke" vote from fans. Marvin Bartley was named as new captain for the season. On 19 August, Lyndon Dykes left the club to join Queens Park Rangers for £2,000,000, breaking the record for the fee of a player sold by the club but part of the fee will go to Queen of the South as a sell-on clause. Having signed on 22 August, Anthony Stokes left the club on 15 September without making an appearance for the club. After the defeat to Celtic, Livi were bottom of the table but back to back wins seen them move up to the top six before the October International break. On 26 November, Gary Holt resigned as manager after failing to win in five matches. David Martindale and Tony Caig took over as caretakers with Martindale insisting he was "a changed man". Martindale’s appointment saw the club’s form improve dramatically, with the club getting 8 consecutive wins and going 10 consecutive games unbeaten after a 2-2 draw with Celtic. Livi reached the League Cup final for the first time since 2004 after beating St Mirren at Hampden Park. The SFA's 'Fit and proper person' hearing was a positive outcome for manager Martindale, who was turned down in his application to be a club official a year earlier but had since been supported publicly. The winning run continued as Livi won at Pittodrie for the first time since 2004, making it 14 matches unbeaten. Livi progressed into the Top Six cut-off but finished Sixth, failing to win any of their post-split matches, dropping one place from last season. But still, a top-half finish and their second-highest points total in the Premiership is not to be scoffed at. Martindale has exceeded expectations this season and then some.

## Results & fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

## Squad statistics

### Appearances

As of 15 May 2021

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premiership | Premiership | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | SCO | Robby McCrorie | 18 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Nicky Devlin | 46 | 2 | 35+1 | 2 | 7+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | NIR | Ciaron Brown | 18 | 1 | 13+3 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Alan Lithgow | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ENG | Jack Fitzwater | 27 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 4+1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | ENG | Marvin Bartley (c) | 41 | 1 | 32+1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Scott Pittman | 47 | 7 | 37+1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Jay Emmanuel-Thomas | 31 | 9 | 14+10 | 5 | 3+2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | MF | SCO | Craig Sibbald | 41 | 2 | 29+3 | 1 | 5+2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Alan Forrest | 38 | 11 | 21+8 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | FRA | Julien Serrano | 30 | 2 | 19+5 | 2 | 5+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | SCO | Josh Mullin | 30 | 6 | 16+6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | SVN | Matej Poplatnik | 25 | 3 | 5+14 | 0 | 2+2 | 2 | 0+2 | 1 |
| 17 | MF | SCO | Scott Robinson | 31 | 6 | 16+10 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | SCO | Jason Holt | 37 | 1 | 24+4 | 1 | 4+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | SCO | Salim Kouider-Aissa | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | SCO | Gavin Reilly | 7 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | SCO | Jack McMillan | 12 | 0 | 4+4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | SCO | Scott Tiffoney | 13 | 1 | 4+7 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Jackson Longridge | 13 | 0 | 9+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | NGA | Efe Ambrose | 28 | 0 | 17+5 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | ENG | Jon Guthrie | 42 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | FRA | Djibril Diani | 5 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | SCO | Aaron Taylor-Sinclair | 11 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2+2 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 32 | GK | POL | Max Stryjek | 27 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | TOG | Steve Lawson | 16 | 0 | 7+7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | FW | IRL | Jaze Kabia | 9 | 1 | 1+7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | SCO | Carlo Pignatiello | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | GK | SCO | Gary Maley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the season ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | SCO | Lyndon Dykes | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | FW | GER | Lars Lokotsch | 5 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Robbie Crawford | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | TUN | Aymen Souda | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Raffaele De Vita | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | USA | Brian Schwake | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | FW | SCO | Jack Hamilton | 5 | 1 | 2+3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Team statistics

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 36 | 38 | −2 | 56 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round |
| 5 | St Johnstone | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 45 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 6 | Livingston | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 42 | 54 | −12 | 45 | |
| 7 | St Mirren | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 37 | 45 | −8 | 45 | |
| 8 | Motherwell | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 39 | 55 | −16 | 45 | |

* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
* ↑ St Johnstone qualified as the 2020–21 Scottish Cup winners.

### League Cup table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | LIV | ALO | EDI | AIR | STE |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Livingston | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 12 | Qualification for the Second round | — | 2–1 | — | 4–1 | — |
| 2 | Alloa Athletic | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 9 | Qualification for the Second round | — | — | 2–1 | — | 4–2 |
| 3 | Edinburgh City | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 4 | | 1–5 | — | — | — | 2–2p |
| 4 | Airdrieonians | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 | | — | 0–2 | 0–1 | — | — |
| 5 | Stenhousemuir | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 12 | −8 | 2 | | 0–4 | — | — | 0–2 | — |
