DEVLIN REVEALS ONE FOR ALL ETHOS THAT INSTILS LIONS’ PRIDE

IF the Rangers players need instruction on what team spirit looks like, they could do worse than look into the eyes — and at the upper lips — of today’s opponents. A week on from Connor Goldson’s stunning admission that the Ibrox dressing-room had lost its hunger after one trophy success, the first league assignment of the Giovanni van Bronckhorst era sends the champions into the Lions’ den. At Almondvale they will encounter a team bound by a collective spirit that extends to their fundraising efforts for men’s health charities. Since the start of the month, squad and staff members have been sprouting facial hair in a gesture of solidarity with team-mate Dan Barden, the on-loan Norwich goalkeeper who has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.

By his own admission, the fair-haired Nicky Devlin is not sporting the most striking moustache but, as club captain, he highlights the squad’s ‘Movember’ effort as an example of the togetherness that makes them possibly the tightest gang in the Premiership.

‘It’s not going so well for me,’ laughs the full-back, ‘but Jason Holt has a good moustache, Andrew Shinnie too, although he already had one.

‘It’s for a great cause and we have managed to raise a bit of money, which is the main thing.

‘Obviously Dan has cancer, he’s having treatment and hopefully he’s caught it early enough.

‘For us it was all about raising awareness of that but it’s been good for team bonding and the club is massive on that. The manager is particular with players he signs — you have to fit into our work ethic and the way the dressing-room is.’

Like Rangers, Livingston have struggled to match their performances of last season, a campaign in which they reached the League Cup Final and secured a top-six finish.

After a summer of squad upheaval manager David Martindale first lowered expectations by pointing out the financial realities that made his team unlikely to repeat last season’s achievements.

Yet having steeled supporters for a struggle he then switched tone by declaring with absolute certainty that despite operating with the lowest budget in the division, his team would not be relegated.

The messaging was clever and appears to have had the desired effect within the dressing-room. Players like Devlin, who were caught up in the thrill of a trophy chase this time last year are now more willing than ever to put their bodies on the line for the club in the pursuit of survival.

‘When you go out on the pitch, you want to do well for yourself,’ says Devlin. ‘But because of the type of manager Davie is, you want to do well for him as well.

‘That’s because of the belief he puts in you before games. When he said we wouldn’t go down, it made us want to go that extra yard for him.

‘We rely on him. We know when we win games it’s because we’ve probably worked harder than the opposition. That’s the ethos this club is built on and it’s served us well so far. That won’t change any time soon.’

Even as the West Lothian side toiled badly in the early weeks of the campaign they were capable of pulling off an old trick like a win against Celtic on their Almondvale plastic surface.

Van Bronckhorst would have hand-picked something entirely different for his team’s third game in a week.

‘We have to approach the game as if we’ll get the best version of Rangers, that’s what we’ll prepare for,’ says Devlin.

‘We’ve got a better record against Celtic over the last few years so we want to improve against Rangers. Throughout this week we’ve been reminded that they’re coming to our place to take points.

‘But it’s not just a box-ticking exercise for us against Rangers or Celtic. We believe we can take something.

‘We’re on an unbeaten run and we want to keep it going. We have picked up a bit recently and it’s a bit like last season.

‘What the gaffer said about us staying up probably puts a bit of pressure on us but it also gives us a lot of confidence. He tells us that every day but seeing it in the press gave us a boost.

‘I don’t think anyone can say they don’t know where they stand with him.

‘He is very open and upfront with everyone. If you don’t do something right he tells you and he is also the first to

praise you.’