We had the much awaited friendly with Argentina on Wednesday, a game which ended in a 1-0 win for the visitors. It’s wasn’t a great game, truth be told, though the goal by Maxi Rodriguez was a cracker. The score line surprised us – we had feared the scoreline would have reflected the South American’s dominance in the game, but like we said earlier on in the week, Argentina ain’t all that and a bag of chips.
Whether the final score says something more about Scotland’s performance than Argentina’s we’re not sure, but in any case, all the hype is over, Terry Butcher can continue holding grudges for a few more years while the rest of us get back to what we love best: league football.
SPL Game of the Day – Rangers vs Aberdeen
Outside of the Old Firm derby, this game is probably the most charged fixture in the Premier League. Some of this certainly stems back to the early to mid 80’s when Aberdeen regularly beat Rangers to both League and Cup wins. To illustrate, consider that between September 1980 to about September 1988, Aberdeen did not lose in 30 of the 33 meetings between the sides. Since then it’s been mostly one way traffic though, but Aberdeen have a habit of pulling results out of the bag just when they need them; consider the last game of season 2007/08 when Aberdeen’s 2:0 win at Pittodrie ended Rangers’ title campaign and sent the trophy to Parkhead, while a 1-1 draw earlier in the season made Aberdeen the first team to take points of the ‘Gers, something that Walter Smith will be hoping to put right tomorrow.
Rangers have history on their side in this fixture. A League Cup game in 1995 was the last time Aberdeen beat Rangers at Ibrox, Billie Dodds’ two goals sealing the victory, but for the last League win you’d have to go back to 1991 when the Dons won 2-1.
There’s not much to say about Rangers really – their season is progressing according to form and – again – tradition. Unbeaten since that shock win against St. Mirren back at the start of October, they’ve ploughed a steady furrow, the 0-0 with Motherwell the other week perhaps a surprise to many. Rangers lost influential midfielder Kevin Thompson for up to eight months due to a cruciate ligament injury inflicted during their 4-0 win at Kilmarnock, but there’s plenty of backfill in the middle of the park for Rangers, including of course talisman captain Barry Ferguson, to give Jimmy Calderwood plenty to think about.
Aberdeen are still without Bertrand Bossu, Tommy Wright, Stuart Duff and Jamie Smith, while Darren Mackie will undergo a late fitness test to see if he’s available for selection. For the first time since Scott Severin’s 2 minute cameo against Lithuania in 2006, Aberdeen had one of their own playing for Scotland – striker Lee Miller came on for the second half in the midweek friendly against Argentina and had few chances, but found the going tough against the more experienced (and skilful) Argentinian defenders.
Rangers trail Celtic by four points and with the Hoops playing second-from-bottom St. Mirren, don’t expect the gap between 1st and 2nd to close any time soon. Aberdeen’s defence has been noticeably absent, if not incompetent of late. Losing a two goal lead against Hibs was bad enough, and Rangers are a different proposition altogether. Kris Boyd just cant stop scoring at the minute, so Aberdeen would do well to keep him in check. Aberdeen have been accused of raising their game for the Old Firm, but it’s hard to see anything other than a Rangers win in this game though.
Remaining SPL Fixtures
Dundee United will be hoping to pick up their season again following the defeat to Kilmarnock last week; the Terrors play bottom side Hamilton, whose season is going from bad to worse. Defeat last week at Celtic, however narrow was not made any easier following a terrible decision by the referee to award a penalty to Celtic, even though the challenge happened some 2 yards outside of the box. United’s defeat allowed Hearts to jump into third spot following their narrow win over Inverness Caley up in the Highlands. Csaba Laszlo’s Hearts take on a Falkirk side slowly finding its feet in this seasons competition. Motherwell play Hibs, who did well to come back from 2 goals down against Aberdeen last weekend. The club have signed striker Jonatan Johansson, perhaps reinforcing the view (held by the club themselves) that star player Steven Fletcher is on his way out of Easter Road come the Januari transfer window. Inverness Caley make the longest journey in the SPL when they travel down to Kilmarnock, while Celtic will be hoping for an unlikely Aberdeen win at Ibrox to help them through against St. Mirren. The Parkhead side are struggling with injuries which might give Gus McPherson a window of opportunity to claim his second Old Firm scalp of the season. Celtic lead the table by four points from Rangers.
Division One Game of the Day: Airdrie vs Ross County
It’s another bite at the cherry for Ross County as they take on Airdrie for the second time in a week. Last Saturday’s defeat in Perth came after a thrilling game that featured two own goals and a penalty shoot-out, which was eventually won by Airdrie United.
Remaining Fixtures
There’s only a few games on this weekend. Second placed Dunfermline take on Morton at East End Park. The Pars, winners of a thrilling 3-2 game against Livingston the other week are on good form at the moment and lie only three points behind leaders St. Johnstone. With the Saints not playing this weekend, Dunfermline have a chance to go equal top. Morton currently share bottom place with Clyde. The ‘Ton had wee run of good luck with wins against then-troubled Dundee and Clyde, but it all came crashing down again the following weeks when defeats to Livingston and Queen of the South put Morton back in their place.
Partick Thistle take on a team that has been causing a stir in the papers lately for all the wrong reasons. Livingston are being hit from all sides with requests from creditors for payment of debts. These include the Inland Revenue, owed £100,000 as well as Scottish Power, who are reportedly owed some £50,000. On the park, Livingston are still performing well, though the gap between themselves and St. Johnstone is starting to widen. Thistle are just two points behind the Almondvale side and a win would see them jump into third spot.
Queen of the South’s season started well but recent results has seen them drop down the table. They play bottom side Clyde who managed to pull of a cracking 2-2 draw with St. Johnstone last weekend. It was a point the Bully Wee desperately needed following two heavy defeats in which they failed to score.
Division Two Game of the Day: Raith Rovers vs Brechin City
A top of the table clash between two on-form teams. Raith and Brechin are level on points in the Second division and lead the rest of the table by some margin. Clearly, something has to give here, and defeat for either team, combined with a win for Ayr United could see the loser drop to third place. Although Brechin won this fixture earlier on in the season, our money is on Raith for this game. The Rovers are playing well and, more importantly, scoring like it’s going out of fashion: they’ve netted 16 goals in six games since that defeat up in Brechin.
Remaining Fixtures
Alloa and Queens Park lie in seventh and eight place in the table, with Alloa leading the Spiders by two points. Arbroath’s miserable season was put on hold last week with their 2-0 win over Stirling Albion though there is still a lot of work to do for John McGlashan and his Lichties. They take on Stranraer, a point above them in the league. Third placed Ayr welcome East Fife to the West Coast. Neale Cooper’s Peterhead entertain last years relegated team Stirling Albion at the Balmoor. Peterhead are fourth in the table, some seven points behind third placed Ayr United while Stirling are sitting safe in mid-table. The last game of the day features Ayr United who take on last years Third Division champions East Fife.
Division Three Game of the Day: Stenhousemuir vs East Stirling
An interesting game between two sides in good form. Stenhousemuir lead the Third division by some distance, while East Stirling are unbeaten in seven outings, a run which included a 5-2 win over Dumbarton and a creditable draw with Cowdenbeath. Stenhousemuir won the first meeting between the two sides earlier on in the season thanks to top scorer Kevin Motion netting twice.
Remaining Fixtures
Annan Athletic won their first game since September against Albion Rovers last week and this week hope to build on that when they take on bottom side Elgin. Berwick Rangers - now run by a supporters trust – take on the Blue Brazil, Cowdenbeath. Dumbarton, no doubt still smarting from the 5-2 defeat last week against East Stirling will try and close the gap between themselves and Stenhousemuir by beating Albion Rovers, while there’s another Angus derby when Montrose entertain Forfar.
Ok, that’s it. Join us again on Monday for all the weekend news.
Related posts:
- The SPL Weekend Preview
- Inside Left’s Weekend SPL Fixture Preview
- Scottish Football Weekend Preview
- Scottish Football Midweek Preview
- Norway v Scotland Preview (or: the art of self-destruction)
Tags: SFL, SPL, Weekend Roundup
in 1995 aberdeen beat rangers at hampden not at ibrox,get your facts right nugget