Livi striker Liam Buchanan hopes '˜best goal' wins him start

Livingston frontman Liam Buchanan has labelled his second-half strike against Rangers last week as the best of his career.

Liam Buchanan celebrates after scoring in the defeat by Rangers. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS

The former Partick Thistle player appeared from the Ibrox tunnel as a second-half substitute, his team-mates having conceded four goals by the interval.

Within ten minutes of the restart, Buchanan collected a pass from Danny Mullen and sent a blistering shot beyond Rangers No.1 Wes Foderingham and into the far corner of the net to salvage some pride for the West Lothian strugglers.

He now hopes his effort has done enough to convince manager David Hopkin he has the firepower to deliver goals in tomorrow’s visit of title-chasing Falkirk.

“It was probably the best goal of my career,” Buchanan admitted. “I don’t normally shoot from that far out so it was nice to see it go in. I’ve caught it really well and I think it picked up a bit of pace on the surface. It was just unfortunate I scored when we were 4-0 down.

“We weren’t happy being down that scoreline at half-time but, watching it from the bench, it was a very good Rangers performance. But we’ve put that to bed and are just looking forward to tomorrow’s match with Falkirk.

“I want to start every game I play in. The manager went with a different team last Saturday but hopefully I showed I am ready to start this weekend.”

Buchanan is under no illusions of the task facing Hopkin’s side tomorrow with their opponents having suffered just two defeats in the Championship this season – those setbacks coming against title rivals Rangers and Hibs.

“You go into every game looking to get something from it,” said Buchanan. “We know Falkirk are a class act and I think they’ve shown that this season with their consistency. They’re at the top end of the table at the end of the day, the league table doesn’t lie. I think Peter Houston has got a bit of stability at the club now so we know it’s going to be a really difficult game.”

That said, Buchanan acknowledged the club have to start picking up points sooner than later with just four points separating them and bottom side Alloa.

“We have to be realistic and say we are involved in a relegation fight,” he admitted. “We are capable of getting up the table so our immediate thoughts are about catching the likes of St Mirren and Dumbarton, who are above us, before we can think about anything else.”