When Callum and I arrived an hour before kick-off I was wondering if it was water-wings the players would need rather than football boots. Thankfully the rain held off, the sun came out, and the team's performance was such as to negate anything the elements could throw at us.

Being our first real game together I wasn't sure how silky our football was going to be. The team however had no such apprehensions and quickly set about taking the game to Livingston. A few shots from distance and some nice link up play had made Callum a spectator for the most part. The goals from Sam and Samuel were greatly deserved and were very tidy.

The 4 - 0 lead at half time was greatly deserved but the defence and midfield had to be lively at times and Callum had a few shots from distance to deal with, so it was in no way over.

Sams header from Ryan Gracies cross was a thing of beauty and took us to 5 - 0, and a hat-trick for Sam.

We then had a spell of pressure as Livi tried to get back into the game. We weren't clever at clearing our lines and they managed to get a couple of nice goals from distance to take it to 5 - 2.

A quick shuffle of positions and we were back in control. Samuel hunting his hattrick had a couple of chances before yet another really tidy header gave him his just rewards and took the game to 6 - 2.

There were some really tasty challenges going in now, which the team were very much playing their part in. Despite being far from the worst challenge in the game Sam managed to pick up a yellow card which given his wee grin after it, I think he was pretty happy to take.

The game finished 6 - 2, which I think we were very worthy off.

Result aside I was delighted with the team today, lots of players out of position, some playing their first game for United, some just back from holiday and one who hadn't yet trained with the team, all were excellent. The mood of the players during and after the game was much more of the supportive and encouraging environment we like to promote and it was a great to see.

This was a tough game and there will be many more to come.

We are finally up and running. Hope you all enjoy the weekend and we will be back on Monday for a hectic 3 days of training - game - training. Love it :-)