Livingston will not be overawed by trip to take on 'wounded animal' Celtic

Andrew Shinnie admitted Livingston are braced for a Celtic backlash on Saturday but the midfielder is adamant there will be “no defeatist attitude” as they bid to stem a run of nine games without a victory at the home of the Premiership leaders.

The Lions are five points adrift at the foot of the table and, following a narrow defeat away to Aberdeen on Wednesday, their task does not get any easier as they visit a Hoops side bidding to bounce back after suffering back-to-back league defeats for the first time in a decade.

“It’s not always a good thing (to be playing a wounded animal) but either way they’re going to have to react to what’s been a couple of disappointing results for them,” said Shinnie.

“We’re expecting them to try to come flying out the traps after the last couple of games so it will be a tough one.

“At this minute in time, when you look at the fixtures they’re all hard because we’re not winning games.

“But Pittodrie is a tough place to go and we acquitted ourselves well on Wednesday. Celtic Park’s always tough and not many teams win there.

“But we’ve been there before and got points so there’s no defeatist attitude here. We’ll go there with a game plan and they’re off the back of a couple of bad results so if it’s a bit tense there we’ll look to capitalise on that.”

Livingston have won only one of their last 15 matches in all competitions since the end of August, but Shinnie is adamant morale within the dressing room has not been dented.

“During the week, I never ever sense that there’s a lack of confidence here,” he said.

“We’re obviously not 100 per cent confident at the moment because of where we are but I never look around and think ‘we’re feeling really down here’.

“In the few years while I’ve been here, it’s mostly been positive, we’ve always done well and been competitive. This is the first really poor run we’ve been on so it’s up to us to stay positive.

“The last few games we’ve been performing better but ultimately we’ve not got the results. A couple of good results can change the season around. The next few weeks will be a big period so hopefully we can get a few results and kick on.”