Livingston taking steps to prevent repeat of Anderson incident

David Martindale confirmed Bruce Anderson is fit and well following his recent diabetic seizure as he explained that Livingston intend to be extra vigilant with the striker’s health.

The 22-year-old ended up in hospital after suffering a fit at the end of the first half of his team’s 2-0 defeat against Hibs at Easter Road in August.

He was discharged later that evening and was still feeling the effects for a few days afterwards, but Martindale believes the episode could have been avoided and is keen to ensure there is no repeat.

The Livi boss said: “Bruce took a bit of a knock in the first couple of days after it, you could tell he wasn’t right. He looked a bit white and you could see it in his hydration tests.

“His body had a wee bit of a shock and it was probably down to too much sugar rather than a lack of sugar. He took an extra gel apparently which tipped him over the edge.

“He seems to be in a good place now but it was a wee bit of a reality call for him in that he maybe needs to look after his blood sugar levels a little. I’m no diabetic though, so I don’t know if it’s as easy as that.

“From a footballing perspective, I think it’s the first time it’s happened with Bruce but it’s a lesson we’ve learned as a club because Bruce left his testing kit on the bus.

“If he’d tested himself he’d probably have realised he’d had too much sugar. We now know that we need to have that stuff in-house and make sure we have it readily available for Bruce in case it happens again.

“I don’t think it would have been as severe if he hadn’t forgotten his testing kit.

“As a diabetic you’ve got to take a bit of responsibility for yourself and test when you don’t feel right, but in general he’s very good at looking after himself. He’ll learn from it and I’ve learned from it. He’s good to go this weekend.”

Martindale hopes to welcome recent signing Stephane Omeonga into his squad.

The Belgian former Hibs midfielder, who last played for Italian club Pescara, found a way to speed up the process of returning to Scotland.

He said: “Stephane should be with us on Wednesday. He stays an hour from the German border so as soon as we agreed the contract he set about moving over to Germany to do his isolation there because it’s a green-list country.

“He had his work permit meeting last week and he expects to get his passport and work permit delivered to him in Germany on Monday.

“Because he’s done his isolating in a green-list country while he was waiting on his passport, he won’t have to isolate when he comes across next week. Fair play to him and his agent who were very clever in doing that.”

Martindale lamented several illnesses and injuries after the defeat at Hibs before the international break but his squad is now in far better condition ahead of Saturday’s trip to Dundee.

He said: “The couple of weeks without a game has helped. I had probably another four boys train today for the first time since the Hibs game so we’re not in a bad place.

“We’re getting there numbers-wise. We’ve gone from one extreme to the other. We’ll probably have around three or four players who are available but won’t be in the squad this weekend.”