Inside Left.net

A while ago Livingston, in the middle of their struggle to get out of administration and back into the First Division, looked up from the legal textbooks and the front row of the SFA Appeals Tribunal and found themselves still down in the Third, facing a season-opening fixture against East Stirlingshire.

Livi, incensed at the treatment it received from the SFL, where in no mood to play the game and refused to turn up at Ochilview, fearing that to play might strengthen the League’s case for keeping them in the Third. With both Livi and the League sticking to their guns, it was obvious that no solution was forthcoming and so, less than 24 hours to go before kick-off, the SFL postponed the game.

On the 8th of August, while the rest of the league was huffing and puffing their way through their first fixtures of the season, both Livi and East Stirling had a day off.

But as Livi continued what would be an ultimately futile quest for reinstatement to the First Division, back in Falkirk, East Stirlingshire where fuming. The cancellation of the game, especially at such short notice had put them out of pocket and the club where determined to get their money back. The League, already busy figuring out ways of avoiding a fixture build-up chaos while Livi’s appeal worked its way to a conclusion, suddenly received a compensation claim from East Stirlingshire.

On the 7th September,  a three-man SFA panel finally rejected Livingston’s appeal, confirming once and for all their relegation to the fourth tier in Scottish football. While Livi got on with adjusting to life in the Third, East Stirlingshire continued to demand some kind of compensation.

When the original fixture was re-arranged for this evening, East Stirlinghire, in a remarkable twist of events not to mention a healthy dollop of irony, refused to host their opponents while their claim for compensation was still on-going. The club was aggrieved that it was being forced to pay twice for the same fixture, and for a club like East Stirlingshire, that’s quite a heavy financial burden.

And aside from the fact that the team was out of pocket, a re-arranged fixture in mid-week is all very well if you’re a professional outfit like Livingston, but for the part-timers of The Shire, midweek competition brings additional challenges.

Meanwhile, the SFL where getting a bit prickly over the whole incident. Relieved no doubt to have averted the car-crash that would have resulted had Livi’s appeal been accepted (remember the league was into its third game by the time the relegation was confirmed), the last thing they needed was another team demanding cash and refusing to play games.

The league did what it does best. Confirming the game would go ahead tonight, it flexed its muscle and threatened East Stirlingshire with a 15 point penalty if they refused to play the game. Despite having the support of his manager and players, club owner Spencer Fearn decided that perhaps the game ought to go ahead (under protest mind you), but he managed to extract a promise from the league to look into their case.

So tonight,  Livingston have a chance to make it four wins our of four in the month of September and move within 1 point of league leaders Berwick. For East Stirlingshire Eddie Forrest, Derek Ure and Craig Anderson are all out injured, though David King, Jamie Stevenson and Simon Lynch should be back after the 1-1 draw with Stranraer at the weekend.

It’s been well over 13 years since these two teams last met in the league. In season 1995/96 Livi came away with two wins and two draws. East Stirling recorded their only win over the team from the Almondvale last November, when goals from Eddie Forrest and Brian Graham cancelled out a Liam Fox opener  to give The Shire a 2-1 win in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup.