In another action-packed weekend of Scottish football, Aberdeen fail to capitalise on last week’s epic win against Rangers, Hamilton record a rare win but a tunnel fracas after their game with Hearts will keep the SFA busy this week. And it’s a sign that all is not well in Scottish football when only 16 goals are scored in the Highland League and Fort William win again. Strange days indeed…
Ballbag
15
Oct 09
The Thursday Ballbag
It’s been a while, but fear not dear reader(s), we’re still here. Inside Left has spent most of the last week with the fysio working on a nasty shoulder injury as well as trying to get his back, well, back in order. The ravages of old age on this otherwise athletic body are being to play their part and every day things like walking, bending, moving and so on sure ‘aint as easy as they used to be. Continue reading →
14
Sep 09
The Ballbag Contractual Obligation Update
Aye aye all, welcome to another week in the wonderful world of Scottish football.
Sorry for the somewhat prolonged absence since we last posted on Thursday. I sat down with good intentions on Friday morning to select fixtures in our Four To Follow series, but, ah well – it just didn’t happen. As the popular saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions…
Given our shocking track record in score predictions it’s probably not a bad thing either. One of the games I was going to pick was the Celtic/Dundee United game, which to us had a Celtic win written all over it. But when I checked the score midway through the afternoon to see United had taken the lead, I knew another upset was on the cards. In the end Celtic drew level shortly afterwards and the points where shared, but standing in the queue in the supermarket muttering “no more predictions, no more predictions” certainly drew a few stares.
Something else that was drawn a lot this weekend where the other scores in the SPL. Rangers and Motherwell drew nil-nil, and the game in Paisley between St Mirren and St Johnstone ended in an entertaining 1-1 draw. As befitting a St Mirren game, there was more refereeing controversy when St Mirren’s Stephen McGinn was brought down in the box by Dave Mackay. McKay accused McGinn of diving but the referee was having none of it.
The only team to actually record a win in the top flight where Hamilton Accies, who, somewhat against current form beat Hibs 2-0 at home. Mickael Antoine-Curier scored on his debut as Hamilton picked up their first Scottish Premier League points of the season.
The only other interesting nugget of information to come out of this weekends fixtures was that, with one exception, all the away teams ended up with 10-men before the end of the game: Colin Nish was sent off for Hibs, Bougherra for Rangers and Scott Robertson for Dundee United. St Johnstone managed to finish the game with the same number that started it, but with 6 players booked they came pretty close.
A lorry fire on the M80 took care of two games this weekend. The Kilmarnock team bus, on their way to play Hearts couldn’t make it past the carnage near Shotts. Right behind them was Stranraer’s mini-van, who where on another epic journey from one end of the country to the other (or, in this case, a completely other country altogether) – their game against Berwick was also called off.
Ross County completed their double of Queen of the South with a 3-2 win in Dingwall: this victory takes County to the top of the First Division. Elsewhere, Annan Athletic finally win a game(just ask Chris Jardine) against League leaders Forfar no less, and Livingston finally get some more points as their campaign to Escape to Victory continues when they beat Elgin City 3-2.
So aye, I had a strange dream last night.
I dreamt the BBC news was on, and Mishal Hussein was telling me all about a new record high-scoring football game, namely a 47-0 win for Wick Academy over Rothes. The Highland League is renowned for its high-scoring games, but even this one scaled new heights. Imagine my disappointment then when I woke up to check the scores to find it was only 7-1.
So, that’s it then. Rangers remain top of the SPL, level on points with Celtic but with a better goal difference. Ross County take the lead in the First division, taking advantage of Raith’s 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle. Alloa are three points clear in the Second Division thanks to a 1-0 win at home against Stirling Albion and Forfar stay in pole position in the Third Division despite that surprise defeat against Annan Athletic. Berwick, who didn’t play this weekend can overtake the Loons once their rearranged fixture against Stranraer is played.
In the Highland League, Cove Rangers remain top (their game against Fort William was postponed). Deveronvale leapfrog Fraserburgh into second place; the two sides played out an entertaining game which the Banff side won 3-2. The chasing pack all won – Huntly beat Forres Mechanics and Inverurie defeated Brora Rangers, both by 3 goals to 1. The games between Nairn and Strathspey and Turriff and Buckie Thistle fell foul to the weather.
14
Aug 09
The Ballbag: Scottish Football’s Four to Follow
Aye aye, and welcome to another season of Scottish football.
There’s a lot to look forward to this season, we hope, but given the national side’s dismal display against Norway on Wednesday, it’s safe to assume that none of us will be booking flights to South Africa anytime soon. Miracles do happen of course, but we’re talking Walt Disney-esque miracles here, the ones involving fairies and rainbows and so on.
Sure, who wants to go to South Africa anyway? Too hot, too dangerous and the wine is pure pish. Nah, once George Burley get’s the auld heave-ho moments after the final whistle blows following the game against Holland in September, we can look forward to getting ourselves to Rio in 2014.
So, away from international humiliation, there’s the start of the SPL season tomorrow to get ready for. We’ve got four clubs with new managers all making their season debuts: two of those meet in the early game at Pittodrie as Celtic travel to Aberdeen.
The SFL season started last Saturday of course. Judging by the number of yellow cards handed out, the players where more than eager to get stuck in. In total 45 yellow cards where handed out and 7 players where sent off. Cowdenbeath, back in the Second division thanks to Livingston’s free-fall through the divisions celebrated their return by having two of their players sent off and losing 2-1 at home to Arbroath.
Futher north in the Highland League, we’re into game 3 already. Now, regular readers of Inside Left will know that we like to keep an eye on Fort William, arguably the worst team in senior football. Generally bottom of the table for most of the season and regularly on the end of heavy defeats, a casual glance at the table tells you that there’s currently a team even worse than Fort William. Strathspey Thistle, one of the three new teams in the Highland League this season are propping up the table. On goal difference mind you, having lost their two games so far 8-1 and 3-0, as opposed to Fort William’s 6-0 and narrow 3-4 defeats.
And now, we’re pleased to introduce our new regular feature, the Ballbag. Every week, rather than write up every game (which takes too long, and we’re quite lazy), we’ll pick four of the top games across Scotland that you need to know about.
Aberdeen v Celtic
What better way to open up your term as manager of your new club than against a club you not only played for but also expressed more than eager interest in managing. Mark McGhee, the Aberdeen manager faces a stern test when Celtic come to town. Aberdeen’s problems in their pre-season campaign have been described elsewere on this site, but suffice to say it’s not exactly been covered in glory. Between struggling to get players and struggling to get wins, you’d be forgiven for thinking Aberdeen are in for a long and rocky season.
Celtic, by comparison are full of beans. They also have a new manager, former West Brom coach and Celtic player Tony Mowbray, and have a pretty good pre-season under their belt. The win away to Dinamo Moscow in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League them claw back a 1-0 deficit in Glasgow to a stunning 2-1 aggregate win. Celtic are more than ready for the start of the season, strengthened by Marc-Antoine Fortune and Landry N’Guemo from Nancy.
It’ll be interesting to see if McGhee fields a 4-3-3 against Celtic at home, or if he’ll go for a more conservative and traditional 4-4-2. Aberdeen should get on the scoreboard, but should Zander Diamond not play (he’s been out with an injury, amid speculation of a possible move to Celtic) then Aberdeen might be in for a tough afternoon – the defence has been a cause for concern given recent displays. New signing from Swindon Town, defender Jerel Ifil is in for a baptism of fire, while Mark Kerr might have wished for an easier game than this to begin his spell as the new captain of Aberdeen.
Prediction: A win for Celtic: 1-3
Raith v Dundee
Raith Rovers, last seasons Second division champions came within seconds of recording an opening day victory against Queen of the South. A late equalizer from Derek Holmes, in a game in wich both teams where reduced to 10 men saw a share of the points. Dundee meanwhile had a tough enough time against a spirited Morton side. Sean Higgins scored after the break to give the Dens side all three points, but they had to defend for most of the second half to fight back a Morton comeback. Prediction: tough to call, but I’ll go for a Raith win: 1-0.
Alloa v Peterhead
Peterhead came so close to a play-off place last season, only falling behind at the final run-in to the season. They gave Aberdeen a run for their money during the off-season, Neale Cooper’s men 2-0 up at halftime before an Aberdeen comeback saw them lose 3-2. Clearly things are afoot in Peterhead, who opened their 2009/10 campaign with a 2-0 win over troubled Clyde.
Alloa, also known as the Wasps got off to a buzzing start when John Grant, Brian Carrigan and Stuart Noble helped them to a 3-1 win over Dumbarton. Prediction: home advantage, got to go with Alloa: 2-1.
Livingston v Montrose
The only really intersting thing about this game is the fact that Livingston are going to turn up at all. The club are mightily pissed at being relegated to the Third divison following their administration earlier on and are launching an appeal to have their relegation overturned and themselves returned to the First Division. The club are arguing that since they’ve come out of adminstration, there’s no real reason to be in the Third and refused to play their opening game against East Stirlingshire on the grounds it might “prejudice their appeal” to the SFA.
It’s hard to see an organisation as stuck in their ways as the SFA overturning their earlier decision, especially given that the games involving the other impacted teams (Cowdenbeath and Airdrie, both promoted as Livingston where demoted) have already played their games.
Experience, mixed in with a little indignant anger should see Livi emerging from this game with all three points. Prediction: Livi to win 3-0.
