Performance of the Week - Week 48

It’s Monday morning, which means it is Performance of the Week time. This week, we have a bit of a first, in that all our nominations come from the lower leagues. That’s not to say that the SPL didn’t have any noteworthy performances. Take Hibernian for example, who eased past a very poor Motherwell side, ending a run of six games without winning. Hamilton Accies where within seconds of getting a nomination for this weeks ‘Performance of the Week’, had it not been for Brian Easton’s own goal right at the death of the match which earned opponents Dundee United a valuable point. Or how’s about Ross County, who took revenge on Airdrie United for that Alba Cup final defeat the other week - they won 2-0. A week too late, but never mind.

No, this week we’re going to focus on Scottish football’s struggling teams, the ones propping up the tables.

We begin with Morton’s win at Dunfermline. The Greenock side have been near the bottom of the league for most of the season, but they’ve on a run of results that has seen them get off the bottom and into the middle of the table. OK, so they’re still level on points with Clyde - of whom more later - but at least it’s a positive trend. Last week they smashed their way past a very poor Queen of the South side, winning 4-1 away from home. Against title-chasing Dunfermline they were probably not expecting the same sort of result, but sure, you never know right? Well, in the end it took a single goal from Australian midfielder Erik Paartalu in the 20th minute to secure another valuable three points, possibly taking off some of the pressure from manager Davie Irons. Morton next play Airdrie - the team now occupying bottom slot in the First division. A win there could move them into 7th place and mid-table safety.

Another one of the First divisions strugglers, Clyde, bagged themselves their first win in three attempts when they rather surprisingly beat Queen of the South 2-0 down in Dumfries. The Bully Wee earned their three points thanks to the club’s top scorers goals after half time. Patrick Clarke scored both of Clyde’s goals last week in their draw with league leaders St. Johnstone - a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man? The win lifts Clyde off the bottom of the First division and they’re now level on points with Morton. A twist in the fixture list has Clyde playing Airdrie in the next round of fixtures and another win there could see the club reaching some degree of safety. We’ve tipped Clyde for the drop, but if they keep putting together the results, and Clarke keeps scoring, who knows where it might end for the Cumbernauld club?

Two more struggling teams for your consideration. Arbroath have now won two games on the trot, something they’ve not done since the start of the season. Last week they beat Stirling Albion away, this week they beat Stranraer. Brian Scott got the winning goal for the Red Lichties early on in the game. Another team with back-to-back wins are Annan Athletic. The Galabankies got off to a cracking start, but recent performances have seen them drop down the table like a lead zeppelin. Their recent wins came against teams from the bottom half of the table (Elgin City and Albion Rovers) suggesting perhaps that they’ve found their level - there’s a long way to go yet but there are poorer teams in the league, so maybe, just maybe Annan might get into the middle of the bottom half of the table, if you can follow that.

Ok, that’s it for this week. We’re back next Monday with more nominations. If you can suggest anyone else worthy of a special mention, drop us a comment.