After three days portrayed as the enemy of the footballing nation Mark Burchill enjoyed a return to winning ways as Livingston beat Queen of the South 4-1 yesterday.
The fall out from their Petrofac Training Cup defeat at Ibrox on Wednesday had been fierce with a promising young coach the target for incredible venom.
Burchill took the criticism on the chin, kept his cool through two hours of abuse as a panellist on Radio Clyde the following night, and produced a badly needed win for his side on Saturday afternoon.
As a club to learn the ropes of management Livingston is either heaven or hell. Every problem possible seems to hit the club, unpaid bills arrive as often as boardroom changes take place while the SFA impose registration bans, impose fines and deduct points.
If you wish to develop your power-point presentation skills and impose your managerial philosophy on the game it’s probably best to avoid the Tony Macaroni Arena.
On the other hand if you want to experience every possible set-back that management can bring set the sat nav for the new town along the M8.
Taking over from John McGlynn last season Burchill steered Livi clear of the Championship play-off place with an incredible run of results while also lifting the Petrofac Cup, in the process taking Clackmannanshire giants Alloa apart in the final.
With a signing embargo preventing him from re-signing those players Burchill encountered a novel issue in June when Declan Gallagher was given a three year jail sentence for assault, he has since been released on appeal and re-signed for the club.
That catalogue of problems puts in perspective the challenge Burchill faced in making the grade at Celtic, a task that involved Henrik Larsson, Mark Viduka and Chris Sutton but he did manage appearance in the 5-1 and 6-2 victories over Rangers (IL) and holds the record for the fastest hat-trick in a European competition.
None of those facts were particularly relevant yesterday as Livingston took the road south to Dumfries, sitting at the bottom of the Championship with one league win to their name.
Whatever else he may be the one time Celtic striker isn’t short of confidence. Some people may have been put off by that characteristic but if you expect to fail usually you’ll be proved right.
Despite going a goal down to Queen of the South Burchill’s ‘boot boys’ stormed back after the interval scoring four times to claim a deserved three points to sign off an eventful week.
When it comes to match reports I find the Queen of the South website in a league of it’s own. A detailed and honest account of the match is complimented by great pictures from the game, for any lower division club complaining about the lack of media coverage that they get a look at the website of the Dumfries club shows what can be achieved.
Yesterday they reported: “The fifteen minute break between the halves is usually pretty crucial, and today for whatever reason, it worked superbly for one team, and it went horribly wrong for the other, and for those of a Queens persuasion in the crowd of 1485 unfortunately it went against them as Queens produced one of their worst 45 minutes for some time. In the space of 35 dreadful minutes they conceded 4 goals as the team that began the day in bottom place tore them apart.
“After a low key opening to the second period, on 50 minutes, the visitors were level. A free-kick was floated into the Queens penalty area, flicked on by White into the path of Pitman who under no challenge, was able to drill his shot past Thomson from close range. That goal gave the visitors a huge boost, and although Queens created a couple of half chances – most notably a decent effort from Lyle – there was certainly a shift in the pattern of the game as Livi began to pass the ball around to good effect.”
Next week Livi will look to build on the win over Queen of the South when they host Raith Rovers, November includes fixtures against Hibs and Sevco. After surviving the last seven days whatever else is thrown in his direction it’s unlikely to faze Burchill and his ‘boot boys’.
