Scottish Premiership top-six race: Will Livingston pip Hibs? – Andy Walker analyses pre-split situation | Football News

The Scottish Premiership season is approaching a decisive period with everything at stake beyond Celtic’s procession to the title.

Livingston go into the final round of pre-split fixtures with a chance of making the top six. However, they will need to overcome Dundee United and hope either Hibernian or St Mirren lose.

David Martindale’s side are playing catch-up following successive 3-0 defeats prior to overcoming St Johnstone, but the Livi boss says they will do all they can to finish the campaign on a high.

Down towards the bottom, Callum Davidson lost his job as St Johnstone manager after the Perth side were dragged into another relegation battle.

The club announced it had been “mutually agreed that a change is required” following talks between chairman Steve Brown and Davidson.

Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Livingston meant the Saints had only collected two points from their last six Premiership games to leave them five off the bottom and four clear of the play-off spot.

Davidson led the McDiarmid Park side to a double cup triumph in 2021 in his first season in charge, however, they only avoided relegation through the play-offs last season and a top-six push fell away this term.

Sky Sports’ Andy Walker reflects on the state of play in the cinch Premiership as Livingston look to pip Hibernian to a top-six place.

The top-six battle

Livingston are the outsiders, currently seventh in the table. How big an achievement would it be if they were to snatch a top-six place before the split?

It would be tremendous for a club of limited resources to get into the top six. When you look at the top six, any club that gets into it, there’s a real chance of qualification for Europe. I think that’s the incentive for everyone.

I think we all accept it’s very difficult this season to take any points from Rangers and Celtic, but Hibernian, Hearts, Aberdeen, St Mirren or Livingston – whoever ends up in the top six – I think there’s a real chance of taking points off the others.

That is what makes it such a huge incentive for all the clubs to try to get in there. It would be terrific if it were St Mirren or Livingston given their very modest resources.

Hibernian are currently in that final top-six spot. How much will that Edinburgh derby win have done to lift their chances after a poor run of form?

I was at the game and I thought Hibs thoroughly deserved it. I felt it was more than a one-goal margin of victory. They were terrific and it was great to see Kevin Nisbet back to full fitness after his long-term injury.

I think his game outside the box has really improved and he’s always been a goalscorer. Hibs threatened to be a consistent club all season with the squad they have, but time and time again they’ve let their supporters down.

Any club playing Hibs right now, you always feel you could get something against them – and that’s what they need to get rid of. They need to get a harder backbone to be regarded as a club who can continually challenge for a European position.

St Mirren will be looking to exorcise a few memories. They are fifth, just behind Hearts and well placed. However, they did miss out on the top six during the final round of games last season. How much will that be playing on their minds?

I don’t think it will. They went to Tynecastle recently and got all three points – it shows you they’re capable of going to a difficult venue and putting on a performance. They also went to Ibrox and scored a couple of goals.

They’ve got a threat from midfield in Mark O’Hara, who scored one of the goals of the season last week against Rangers.

When you look at the job Stephen Robinson has done there, their improvement has been remarkable. It would be one of the great success stories of the season.

I thought they would be near the bottom-two places after the form they showed towards the end of last season, so all credit to the players, the manager and the coaching staff. They’re on the verge of something very exciting for the St Mirren fans.

Race for survival

At the other end of the table, St Johnstone have sacked Callum Davidson. James McFadden called it a ‘shocking’ decision. Do you agree?

For some time now, Callum had been losing the supporters. Last season, they scraped by and they got through in the play-off final as they beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle. This season, you speak to any St Johnstone supporter and they will say they’ve not been enjoying the football.

I think it will be a good thing for Callum Davidson. He’ll be able to go away, regroup and refresh. He is undoubtedly the most successful and the best manager St Johnstone have ever had.

But Callum has a lot to offer. He’s won two trophies with a club of that size which is truly remarkable. He’ll always be held in high regard at St Johnstone but maybe a change was on the cards because the football has been poor for some time. The last thing they want is to be drawn into another play-off final.

Given their form, it was becoming increasingly likely and was maybe at the forefront of the chairman’s mind.