Bottom club Livingston welcome leaders Hearts to the Energy Assets Arena in the only Championship game this weekend.
The match has been brought forward from April 4 – the weekend of the Petrofac Training Cup final – as both clubs are out of the Scottish Cup.
Livingston go into the game on the back of a 0-0 midweek draw against Alloa, with player/boss Mark Burchill hoping his side can upset the odds on Saturday.
The 34-year-old said: “Tuesday night was disappointing as we never played as well as we can. I reckon that we did enough to edge the game and we had three or four good chances to do that but we never took them. Their goalkeeper played well but we should have scored with some of the chances we had.
“I was disappointed but there are positives to take into this game. We are undefeated in three games for the first time this season, we kept a clean sheet for the first time in 13 games and we moved a point closer to Cowdenbeath, so there is progress being made.
“I do not need to say too much to get the boys motivated for this game. We are facing the best team in the league and it is an opportunity to show what we can do. We played very well in our recent game against Hearts and were unlucky to lose 1-0 so we can go into it with confidence.
“That was my second game in charge at Livingston and came a week after my first one which was an away trip to Rangers. You do not get a much tougher start than that.”
Another person making a start at Livingston is Scott Pittman, who has joined the club from Bo’ness United and was one of Burchill’s unused substitutes on Tuesday night.
Pittman is the son of Steve, the American internationalist who starred in a left-back role for Partick Thistle and Dundee, with Burchill saying: “Scott was with a couple of senior sides when he was younger however it never worked out for him.
“He went into the Junior ranks and did well there for a few years. He is an exciting midfield player and comes here with a good pedigree. The fact we saw off two or three other senior sides to his signature is great news for Livingston.”
Craig Stewart
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