Brian Kerr urges Aberdeen Fc focus for Livingston trip
aberdeen fc head to West Lothian on Friday after taking seven points from a possible nine against Livingston this season. Brian Kerr says the visitors are still in a fight that matters at both ends of the table, with Livingston also still chasing safety.
Kerr on Livingston
“Kilmarnock was a big win for us. You can see it in the table. This is not the end though. We have to keep going and focus on Livingston. It's going to be a difficult game, so we just have to keep going.
I think we have a lot to do because all the teams at the table are fighting to survive the relegation. We are not there yet.”
That warning fits the numbers Aberdeen carry into the match. They beat Livingston 1-0 away in November and then backed it up with a 6-2 win at Pittodrie in January, while the September meeting finished 0-0. The head-to-head has been one-sided enough for Aberdeen to take control of the fixture, but not enough to let Friday drift into a routine evening.
Livingston's response
Livingston arrive off the end of a 31-game winless run. Scott Pittman and an Alex Gogic own goal earned a 2-0 win over St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday, and Kerr pointed to the threat that can come from a team with little margin left.
“It's going to be dangerous, another team fighting for their lives. They're going to give everything. They've got nothing to lose in their situation. They know that they need to go and win the remaining four games and we know they're a difficult team to beat.
They move the ball well, they're very dangerous on the counterattack. So we know the challenges we face. We just need to make sure that we go down there with the right game plan and do our part of the job.”
Livingston's need is immediate. Marvin Bartley's side have won just twice in the league all season and have stayed at the foot of the table since matchday nine. Jerome Prior, who has played 3,060 league minutes, was named in the SPFL Team of the Week after the St Mirren game, a small lift after a long run without a league win.
Aberdeen's recent edge
Aberdeen enter on the back of a 1-0 home win over Kilmarnock on Saturday. Nicky Devlin scored the winner in the away meeting with Livingston earlier in the season, Kevin Nisbet and Topi Keskinen each scored twice in the 6-2 win in January, and Darren Mackie and David Foster were the scorers the last time Aberdeen won at Livingston, a 2-0 result on 20/11/2004.
For Aberdeen, the question is not whether the fixture has favored them this season. It is whether they can turn those seven points from nine into another result in a match that still carries pressure for both clubs in the final month of the season.
