Inside Left.net

Welcome to this weeks Four to Follow. We’ve picked four games for you that we think are worth keeping an eye out for, for a variety of reasons.

Rangers v Aberdeen

Easily the biggest game of the weekend, fixtures between these two sides are probably the most eagerly anticipated games in the Scottish football calendar after the Old Firm derby itself.   It’s a fixture that’s seen some great on-field battles as well as some less pleasant off-field encounters,  so if nothing else you’re always assured of an exciting time.

Aberdeen travel to Ibrox on a real downer. Defeat to Dundee in the Cup was followed by some scathing condemnation from Aberdeen legend and record goal-scorer Joe Harper who added some more fuel to the spreading fire when he described the Dons midfield as ‘bottlers’. Aberdeen gaffer McGhee has been struggling to get his charges into any kind of shape and cohesion with poor displays from midfield and an unsettled defence. There have been some signs of encouragement however; a crop of the younger players at Pittodrie have been breaking through with the likes of Maguire, Paton (who scored both of Aberdeen’s goals at Dens), Stewart  and Fyvie making some useful contributions. The conundrum is whether you want to blood them at Ibrox, one of the most intimidating stadiums in Scotland.

Rangers won at Queen of the South in mid-week, but the 2-1 scoreline was tighter than the as-good-as full strength Rangers squad out on the field and manager Walter Smith would have liked. Some uncharacteristic draws away at Motherwell and Kilmarnock have seen arch-rivals Celtic ( lead the table by a slender two points) slip Rangers by.

Celtic are away to St Mirren in the early game, so by the time the game at Ibrox kicks off, the pressure on Rangers to win and overtake Celtic, or to win to keep up with Celtic will be on. An added incentive for a win is that the first Old Firm game of the season is next Saturday and clearly Rangers would rather go into that game two points behind than five.

Aberdeen will be without the influential Sone Aluko (he’s with the Nigeria squad in Egypt for the U20 World Cup), while recent signing Davide Grassi – a replacement for Aloko on the left – has been ruled out for “an extended period” after suffering a triple cheekbone fracturein the game against Dundee.

Rangers will be without the suspended Pedro Mendes, while Sasa Papac looks to be out with a hamstring injury. Also missing will be Kyle Lafferty who was involved in one of the more ridiculous and cynical episodes of diving which got Aberdeen’s Charlie Mulgrew sent off when the sides met last May.

It’s hard to see Aberdeen come out with anything in this game. Games between these two are hard fought contests, but we can’t help thinking back to Joe Harper’s comments about the Aberdeen midfield who, if Harper is correct, will need to find their courage and determination to get something out of this game. Prediction 3-1 Rangers.

Dundee v Ross County

Dundee are on a bit of a high after their win against Aberdeen in the League Cup earlier this week. The win took some of the attention from a stuttering league campaign so far. The Dee are 6th in the table, some 4 points behind Ross County, the team travelling south to Dundee tomorrow. The Staggies are top of the league and playing well, recording back-to-back victories over Queen of the South as well as beating great rivals Inverness Caley 3-1 in Inverness. Whether they can hold the pace remains to be seen – it’s a long season, and in a division that’s notoriously difficult to get out of (in contrast to the Second and Third divisons, the First division only sends 1 team up), County will need all their luck to keep ahead of the pack.

Dundee have invested heavily in their squad, showing the kind of ambition in the face of financial risk that some more senior clubs could benefit from. Whether it works remains to be seen. We tipped Dundee to come up this season and we’ve not changed our mind. Their performance against Aberdeen showed that Dundee could do alright in the SPL. They’ve brought in goalkeeper Derek Soutar in on loan to cover for veteran keepers Rab Douglas (37) and Tony Bullock (38) as both are out injured.  Former Ross County players Sean Higgins and Richard Hart should make this game between the league leaders and the league favourites more interesting. Prediction: too tight to call, we’ll go for a draw.

Livingston v Queens Park

One of the youngest side in the league (after Stirling and Annan) take on the oldest team in the league. Livi have finally kicked off their campaign to regain Division 1 status by focussing their activities on the big green area at the Almondvale and beyond, rather than the sports arbritration courts. Getting knocked out of the League Cup and the Challenge Cup to Albion Rovers and Queen of the South respectively in the first rounds is probably a good thing, allowing them to concentrate on league football. Following a wee blip where they lost twice in a row against Berwick and Albion Rovers they’ve now gone two games unbeaten to move themselves into 4th place in the division. We reckon promotion should be a formality really, but it’ll come after a long testing campaign. Queens Park, relegated last season are in 7th place wth only 1 win so far, against Elgin.

There’s only been 5 meetings between these two sides. In season 1995/96, as Livi started their climb that would end in third place in the SPL only a few years later, The Spiders managed to get 1 point from 4 league meetings, while in 2003 two penalties from Lee Makel  and one goal from Spanish midfielder Quino saw Livi through to the Third round of that seasons League Cup. Prediction: a 2-0 win for Livi

Auchinleck Talbot v Fort William (Scottish Cup)

In May of next year, the Scottish Cup reaches its dramatic climax at Hampden. Before all that though, we have to plough our way through various rounds, the first of which starts this Saturday. This round features the leading lights of the Highland and various Junior leagues, but the tie that stick out for us is the one over in Auchinleck.

Auchinleck lies rougly at the point of a triangle drawn from Kilmarnock to the north and Ayr to the west, near the town of Cumnock.  Eight times winners of the Scottish Junior Cup, 10 times winners of the West of Scotland Cup and the Ayrshire League Cup, 11 times winners of the Ayrshire Cup and West Region Superleague Premier Division in 2006 (runners up in 2007), Auchinleck Talbot are one of the giants of Junior football, the only club to have won the Scottish Junior Cup three times in a row. They play in the West Region Superleague Premier Division.

In contrast, their opposition in tomorrow’s game are also infamous in Scottish football circles, but sadly for all the wrong reasons. Fort William, the whipping boys of The Highland League, a team that’s not won a game for 2 years and a perenial favourite here at Inside Left will hope to do a little better than the 10-0 drubbing from Aberdeenshire side Banks ‘O Dee at this stage of the competition last year, though looking at Auchinleck’s form and history, 10-0 might come as a relief. Prediction: 7-0 for Auchinleck Talbot.

The other Scottish Cup games on tomorrow are:

Brora v Irvine Meadow
Buckie Thistle v Forres Mechanics
Civil Service Strollers v Gala Fairydean
Clachnacuddin v Wick Academy
Coldstream v Edinburgh City
Dalbeattie Star v Keith
Edinburgh Univ v Vale Of Leithen
Fraserburgh v Bonnyrigg Rose
Glasgow Univ v Girvan
Hawick Royal Albert v Huntly
Inverurie Locos v St Cuthbert Wndrs
Lossiemouth v Newton Stewart
Nairn County v Golspie Sutherland
Rothes v Banks O’Dee
Selkirk v Preston Ath
Whitehill Welfare v Wigtown & Bladnoch

Related posts:

1. The Scottish Football Four to Follow
2. Four to Follow Weekend Round-up
3. The Ballbag’s Scottish Football Four to Follow
4. Scottish Football’s Four to Follow
5. The Ballbag: Scottish Football’s Four to Follow

Tags: Aberdeen, Auchinleck Talbot, Dundee, Fort William, Four to Follow, Livingston, Queen's Park, Rangers, Ross County, Scottish Cup, SPL

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Four to Follow, Front Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.