Scottish League
2025-05-26 - Ross County vs Livingston
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: Scottish Premiership Relegation Play Off Second Leg
Monday 26th May 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Ross County
Scenes at the end of the First Leg may not have made for pleasant viewing, but Ross County will ultimately just be pleased to return home with a positive result. There will be a feeling of perhaps earning the rub of the green in the 1-1 draw and Ross County know there is a lot more work to do if they are going win the Relegation Play Off for the third year in a row.
Those previous experiences feel important for a team that finished 11th in the Scottish Premiership again. The side finished with a 5-6-8 record at home in the top flight and Ross County scored 22 goals and conceded 28 in those matches.
Ross County have not won any of their last 10 games in all competitions, but the 96th minute equaliser on Thursday means the last 3 have all ended in 1-1 draws. They had lost 3 in a row at Global Energy Stadium, but Ross County were able to snap that run in the 1-1 draw with Motherwell to conclude the regular season.
Livingston
Over the last few years, David Martindale has built a strong reputation for getting the best out of his squad and the manager remains confident in his current group, despite the 1-1 home draw in the First Leg of this Relegation Play Off tie. Better finishing may be needed to secure the victory to earn promotion back to the Scottish Premiership, but there was enough from the First Leg to give Livingston the belief to complete the job.
They may have finished 2nd in the Scottish Championship, but they were playing in the top flight last year and Livingston have already won one Play Off tie. The 8-6-4 away record in the second tier of Scottish Football was compiled from matches in which Livingston scored 24 goals and conceded 18.
Livingston have won 6 of their last 8 games in all competitions following the 1-1 draw with Ross County. It is the away form that has really impressed with Livingston having lost 1 of their last 11 games on their travels in all competitions. Most impressively, Livingston have won 4 of their last 5 away games, including the last 3 in succession.
Head to Head
This is the second time Ross County have hosted Livingston this season- the first was in the Scottish FA Cup and it was the Championship club who prevailed 2-3 after Extra Time.
Ross County had won 2 of 3 home games against Livingston prior to that.
Prediction
It has been the kind of month in which a 96th minute goal would turn a solid winner into a losing selection, but that is what happened when Livingston failed to hold onto a 1-0 lead over Ross County in the First Leg of this Relegation Play Off.
The Championship team won't have lost hope having been the better team in the First Leg, but the opening goal feels really important and that could lead to a tense fixture.
There were plenty of goals when the teams met in the Scottish FA Cup, but there is arguably more on the line in this Second Leg. A struggling Ross County team may not want to give much away considering their own goalscoring issues, while Livingston have long been a pragmatic, tough to beat team.
Extra Time could be needed again, but a narrow win for either cannot be ruled out and backing fewer than three goals to be shared out looks the best approach.
The Pick :
Ross County 1-1 Livingston
