Livingston boss David Martindale says he’s ‘raring to go’ as the Lions prepare to return to pre-season training.
The squad return from their summer break tomorrow and are due to jet off to Spain for a summer training camp next week.
But the delight at getting back into the swings of things has been dampened somewhat, Martindale says, by the frustration of friendlies falling by the wayside.
The Lions have just one scheduled friendly - at home against Morton on July 2 - having seen clashes with English Premiership outfit Nottingham Forest as well as Kelty Hearts cancelled.
Speaking to the Courier, Martindale said: “The players are back in Wednesday doing all their tests, meeting everyone and going over all the expectations and standards before back into training on Thursday.
“We’re all raring to go and it’s good to get back into the swing of things. We’ve got a few days here and then we’re away to Spain next Wednesday but we’re really struggling for games. For some reason this year it’s been very difficult to get anything sorted.
“We had Nottingham Forest lined up but they got promoted and their plans then had to change. Aberdeen are over there too, but they arrive two days before we leave so it’s going to be difficult to arrange anything with them.”
He added: “We usually get two games sorted but it’s been tough this year. We’ll definitely have something, though.
“I was really looking forward to Forest. It would have been a decent challenge and something a bit different, testing yourself against an English Premier League side, but them getting promoted saw them have to change their schedule.
“Even when we get back it’s been a bit problematic. We had Kelty Hearts arranged and then we drew them in the League Cup so that got pulled out and by that point most clubs have everything lined up so we’re having to work on trying to replace that.
“We play Morton on July 2. We were planning Kelty for July 5 and we’ve missed out on a few other games because everything had been sorted out by that point.
“We might need to drop down the leagues for that July 5 game and then you’re right into the Albion Rovers League Cup game on July 9.”
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