Livingston V Hearts at The Braidwood Motor Company Stadium - Match Preview

Livingston V Hearts - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.Stubbs ready for tough festive testHibernian head coach Alan Stubbs feels his players are ready to prove they can go from strength to strength in the second half of the season by beating Rangers and Hearts.Hibs host the Ibrox side on Saturday before facing their Edinburgh rivals and runaway Scottish Championship leaders at Tynecastle on January 3.The Leith side sit level on points with Queen of the South and only two above Falkirk in the race for a play-off spot and beating Rangers would give them a major boost exactly halfway through the campaign.Stubbs told Hibs TV: "The biggest thing is the players have to believe in themselves and their ability that they can win the two games."At this moment in time the players believe that

They have a spring in their step

They can see improvements on and off the pitch and it has given them confidence that they are not afraid to make mistakes."Yes, we have made one or two but I feel everyone has come through a tough period and we are hopefully going to have a strong second part to the season where we can be in a position to have something to play for at the end of the season."Unbeaten Hearts moved 12 points clear of Rangers with a 2-0 win at Cowdenbeath on Tuesday - their 15th victory in 17 games.But head coach Robbie Neilson continues to focus on improvement and he is eager to enjoy a more successful trip to bottom club Livingston than the 4-1 League Cup defeat that a young Hearts side suffered in August."We have a huge game with Livingston now, and we're extremely keen to right the wrongs of the cup game we played there," Neilson said.Bottom of the table Livingston are without Brad Donaldson, who has an ankle injury, while Jason Talbot has a groin problem.Former Tynecastle striker Mark Burchill takes the West Lothian side for the second time as their interim manager after a 2-0 defeat from Rangers last weekend.Burchill said: "I was very encouraged by our performance at Ibrox

We created a good number of opportunities however we could not convert them however if we start doing that then we will win games."Hearts have been flying this season however we have to be positive and look to pick up the three points."

Source : PA

Source: PA