David Martindale admits Livingston would be fighting for a top-four place had it not been for ‘missed opportunities’ this season - but he is adamant his players should still hold their heads high.
The Lions go into the final two games knowing they no longer have a top-six finish in their own hands.
They need a victory over St Johnstone this weekend, and in the final game before the split against Dundee United, in the hope that Hibs do not take maximum points or that St Mirren lose twice.
A frustrating collapse in recent weeks that has seen the Almondvale men suffer defeat in five of their last seven league matches looks like proving extremely costly.
But, with the West Lothian team already having accrued more points than they did by the split last season, Martindale remains steadfast in his belief the campaign should not be seen as a failure no matter what happens.
He said: “There have been missed opportunities for us of late. From match-day 23 until now we have been inconsistent and that’s disappointing.
“If we were more consistent we would be talking about top four and not making the top-six.
“Other teams have found that consistency as well, while we have lost ours.
“But, if I look at the whole season, we are a point better off with two games to go than we were after 33 games last season. It shows you there is progression.
“The message has been it has been a decent season. It might not feel like that over the last month but it has been.
“What I would say, though, is if we were as consistent as we wanted to be then we would be in the top four.
“I thought Hearts had a lot of consistency before hitting a bit of a wobble recently. From third to twelfth, the one common denominator between us all is a lack of consistency.”
Back-to-back 3-0 defeats to St Mirren and Motherwell and just two wins from 11 have left Livi desperately seeking confidence with a shot at European qualification on the line with just two games to go.
But Martindale has urged his squad to ignore the wider implications of this afternoon’s meeting with St Johnstone.
He added: “I have told the boys to forget the top-six and focus on St Johnstone. Top-six is out of our hands and we can only control what is in front of us.
“I think a few things have impacted us recently.
“We are at the business end of the season and teams approach games differently. Games are more direct and more physical than earlier in the season.
“We have boys coming out of contract as well, so there are a host of different variables that played into things.
“We sit down at the start of the season and our main objective is to stay in the league.
“We look like we have done that this year, which is good. By doing that the boys should hold their heads high.
“A lot of people tip us to go down every year and we prove them wrong.
“We have never stayed in the Premiership this long before so we can be proud of that.
“It shows how big an achievement that is, but sometimes you become a victim of your own success.
“If we don’t make top-six we only have ourselves to blame, because of a lack of consistency.
“But staying up is success. Getting to the top-six would be brilliant but we can be proud of what we have achieved, no matter what happens.”
