Livingston boss Marvin Bartley confessed his debut in the dugout did not go to plan but insists their second-half display gives him hope they can turn their campaign around.
Their 2-1 home loss to Falkirk ensured it was a 25th game without a win for the hosts, who sit six points adrift at the foot of the William Hill Premiership table.
Kyrell Wilson and Louie Marsh netted for the Bairns as Livi turned in a poor first-half display, while an early Connor McLennan strike after the break provided a much-needed spark albeit their comeback bid fell short.
Bartley said: “We shoot ourselves in the foot twice, but the reaction from the players in the second half was very, very good. To be fair was the spirit missing in the first half? I don’t think so.
“I just think it’s really, really difficult in the position that we are in, and you concede the type of goals that we did. I think it takes stuffing out of anybody.
“One thing I understand in football is that you will make mistakes but one of the most important things for me is you react in the right way, and they definitely showed that reaction.”
Bartley elected for a change in formation, opting for a back three, with the 39-year-old admitting their league position necessitates doing things differently.
He said: “We’re bottom of the league, so we probably do need to make some big changes. We need a big change and we need to get a spark. Joshua Brenet and Babacar Fati are probably more expansive and more attacking so that was the thinking.”
His Falkirk counterpart John McGlynn confessed they should have made things much easier for themselves but was delighted to have put their poor record against Livi to bed.
The Bairns had not won any of the six meetings between the sides across the last two seasons.
He said: “It was far too stressful. I was really happy with the way we played in the first half and the early goal really helped us. Our record against Livingston isn’t very good but we should have done it more comfortably.
“At half-time the message was to keep going but you’ve got to give Livingston credit because they came into the game but I thought we caused ourselves problems with elementary mistakes.”
The boss admitted he felt frustrated by Livi’s goal, which came while Liam Henderson was lying injured in the six-yard box.
He said: “I’m not particularly happy with that. It’s one of the few occasions that’s been the case when a player’s injured. I know it’s happened when we’ve been attacking that a player’s gone down and play has stopped so I feel aggrieved.”
