Livingston’s survival in the Premiership over the last few seasons has often been put down to the fighting spirit that has enabled them to punch well above their weight for the size of the club and the budget that manager David Martindale has been operating with.

That has arguably been unfair at times on the ability of the players, and when those restrictions that Martindale has been working with have tightened even more significantly this season, it seems that their resistance to relegation is finally starting to give.

For captain Mikey Devlin, there is no doubt that their famed fighting spirit still remains. But at the top level, that can only carry you so far.

READ MORE: Livi can't accept Old Firm defeats as Martindale rues error

After a demoralising defeat to Celtic at the weekend where Livi failed to threaten the opposition goal at all, he admitted that confidence is becoming as rare a commodity as points at Almondvale, as they look to regroup and mount a final assault to stay in the division.

“I see 11 boys on the pitch trying their best, but, ultimately, that’s not enough,” Devlin said.

“We’ll keep fighting, we’ll keep working and doing everything we possibly can as a group and as individuals to firstly get results and see where that takes us. But we need to do more. We need to bring more.

“It would probably be stupid to sit and say confidence hasn’t taken a bit of a hit at the moment.

“We are not winning games and really the position we are in, it doesn’t matter who we play at the moment, it’s an opportunity to try and get points.

“We have lost another game. That is disappointing. I suppose you can look at it and say it is Celtic or if you are playing any one of the Old Firm if you don’t get a convincing defeat in terms of scoreline...but, to be honest, that was convincing as it gets.

“It felt like we were defending for 90 minutes. So, unless you go and have a go, that's what gives you confidence and that what gives you belief that you can then go and play against other teams of a similar level to your ability and try and get three points.

“Look, the boys applied themselves. There wasn’t a lack of effort. It wasn’t for a lack of discipline or anything. The effort and endeavour is there, it’s an honest group.

“But we need to bring more in an attacking sense to the game and we need to keep doing that between now and the end of the season.”

There was an air of inevitability about Celtic’s eventual victory from the early stages of the contest at the weekend, with Livi struggling to get out of their half even though they did make it to the interval without their own goal being breached.

That didn’t last long into the second period though, and Devlin says the Livi players simply have to bring more to the party if they are to have any hope of scrambling to 11th place and avoiding automatic relegation.

“Ultimately, not good enough, to be bluntly honest,” he said.

“I thought the first half we at least frustrated them. Shamal (George) had a save towards the end of the first half when Kyogo (Furuhashi) gets the shot, but other than that, I don’t think they had too many clear-cut opportunities.

“But we didn’t really offer anything in exchange for that and I think that when you are playing against a good side, there is only so long you can play like that before something eventually gives, whether that be an individual error or just a bit of brilliance from the opposition.

READ MORE: Livingston 0 Celtic 3: Instant reaction to the burning issues

“Ultimately, it’s really difficult to do that for 90 minutes. I just think it is really difficult to come into a game and not offer a lot, virtually nothing really in an attacking sense.

“We were relying on Tete Yengi, who has been brilliant for us since coming into the club. We are relying on him getting hold of the ball and he is basically playing two-on-one against two very good centre-backs. It’s difficult for him to create anything himself.

“We’re deep and it’s hard for us to get pressure on the ball. I don’t think we got to grips with that the whole game in terms of trying to apply pressure to Scales and Carter-Vickers and we allow a team that want to dominate the ball to effectively build under no real pressure and walk the ball up to the halfway line.

“When you do that, I believe it is only a matter of time. You need to try and cause problems going the other way and give them something to think about and I don’t think we did that.”