Gary Bollan was appointed Livingston manager yesterday after the club's new owners revealed they will go ahead with today's third division fixture against Montrose while continuing the battle to retain their first division status.

The West Lothian club are to press on with an appeal to the Scottish FA after failing on Thursday in an attempt to overturn the Scottish Football League's decision to relegate them to the bottom tier for breaching insolvency rules.

Livingston remain hopeful the narrow 16-10 vote and the SFL's apparent u-turn on an agreement to safeguard their survival from administration will be looked on favourably by the SFA. However, after initially hinting they would again refuse to fulfil their fixtures pending an appeal, the Livi 5 Ltd consortium, who this week took control, have decided to go ahead with the game against Montrose "in the interests of sport".

Gordon McDougall, the new chairman, yesterday insisted the results of any matches played during the appeals process would be "without prejudice".

"We have decided to play in Division 3 until determination of all appeals processes open to us are exhausted. The new board have discussed the matter at length and have taken the decision to co-operate fully with the member clubs and the SFL."

Bollan, a former Dundee United, St Johnstone and Rangers defender who also spent 18 months at Livingston as a player, will be assisted by Brian Welsh, his former Tannadice team-mate and McDougall's son-in-law.