Inside Left highlights the four games in this weekends Scottish fixture card that you need to keep your eye on. This week we feature a tough fixture for both teams at Pittodrie, a bottom-of-the-table clash in Granton, a mid-table affair in the First division and lastly, the pick of the Scottish Cup games taking place this weekend as Clyde take on Livingston.
Posts Tagged ‘Auchinleck Talbot’
Four to Follow Weekend Round-up
Monday, September 28th, 2009So there was Inside Left, sat down on Saturday afternoon in complete Aberdeen regalia to watch the fixture against Rangers on the computer.
There’s no substitute for actually sitting in the stand of course, but geography and economics meant that we’d have to make do with a wee 40cmx40cm screen and a poor network connection. At times watching the footage coming from Ibrox was not too dissimilar from playing 80’s computer game Manic Miner, i.e. very blocky and slow.
Mind you, given Aberdeen performances of late we thought it was probably better to see the horror unfolding in little blocky pixels rather than in full glorious Trounce-O-Vision.
In the end, Aberdeen did a lot better than we thought and hoped for and indeed could have won the game had McDonald put more pace on the header and McGregor not made a truly fantastic save. The opening 20 minutes was slightly scary but once Aberdeen survived the onslaught, the game opened up a lot more.
By no means the hard-tackling end-to-end viciousness that this game usually degenerates into, there wasn’t much in the way of controversy, other than Lee McCulloch’s assault on Paton which only got a yellow card.
Mark McGhee said afterwards he wasn’t happy with the point, but he should be. These days coming away with anything from Glasgow is a blessing. Walter Smith will probably be the unhappier of the two managers, his side now drawing three games in a row, failing to score in any of them. And with Celtic now leading the table by a massive 5 points, the pressure is on next week when Rangers welcome Celtic to Ibrox in the first Old Firm steamie of the season.
In the top game in the First Division, we had Ross County and Dundee drawing valiantly, based on Dundee being on a high after beating Aberdeen in mid-week and Ross County’s continuing good league form. As normal in these predictions, we where quite wrong of course. Two goals from Leigh Griffiths ensured a long sought-after victory for Jocky Scott. Ross County remain in second place, bumped off the top by Queen of the South who crushed Dunfermline 1-4.
Livingston made hard work of their 2-1 win over 10-man Queens Park. Barry Douglas put the Spiders ahead just after the half-hour, but goals from Liam Fox and former Dundee United and Aberdeen striker Robbie Winters won it for Livi.
In the last game on our Four to Follow coupon, we finally made some money. Auchinleck Talbot, the Real Madrid of the Juniors won 7-0 (as we predicted) against Fort William, the, well, Fort William of the Highland League. We’ve not seen the footage yet, but it was probably a total nightmare for the Lochaber outfit.
Just like every other Saturday then.
Scottish Football’s Four to Follow
Friday, September 25th, 2009Welcome 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
2009/10 Scottish Cup First Round draw
Friday, September 4th, 2009This round sees teams from the three leagues underneath the Scottish Third Division (the Highland League, the East of Scotland and the South of Scotland football leagues) begin their Cup run. Although none of these teams will get close to reaching the final, a few of these did make it to the Fourth round last year.
Highland League side Forres Mechanics eased their way past Wigtown & Bladnoch, Keith and Dalbeattie Star, before they finally succumbed 6-1 to Third Division side Forfar.
Another Highland League side made it to the Fourth round. Of all the teams that made it this far, Inverurie Loco Works where rewarded for their progress against Deveronvale, Banks O’ Dee (who earlier knocked out Fort William 10-0) and Vale of Leithen in the previous rounds with a game against SPL side Motherwell. It took five re-scheduled dates before this game finally took place with Motherwell emerging, somewhat unsurprisingly, 3-0 winners.
The final side to make it to the Fourth round where Edinburgh-based Spartans. Their road to their Fourth Round exit was a little more rocky than most. Having dispatched Pollok and Annan Athletic (to which they’d lost their application to join the Third Division), their Third Round fixture against Elgin City was ordered to be replayed after it was discovered that Elgin had fielded an ineligible player, Joe Malin, a loanee from Ross County.
Elgin City where not amused – they won the original game 2-1!
Despite appeals, the game was replayed and this time it was Spartans who emerged as winners. Somewhat ironically, it was later discovered that Spartans had also fielded an ineligible player, Dean Hoskins, in the first game against Elgin City after what Spartans called ‘an administrative error’.
Spartans got their come-uppance in the next round however – they where knocked out by First Division side Airdrie United.
Scottish Cup First Round
Saturday 26 September 2009
Selkirk v Preston Athletic
Clachnacuddin v Wick Academy
Auchinleck Talbot v Fort William
Nairn County v Golspie Sutherland
Edinburgh University v Vale of Leithen
Inverurie Loco Works v St Cuthbert Wanderers
Coldstream v Edinburgh City
Brora Rangers v Irvine Meadow
Buckie Thistle v Forres Mechanics
Whitehill Welfare v Wigtown & Bladnoch
Fraserburgh v Bonnyrigg Rose
Glasgow University v Girvan
Lossiemouth v Newton Stewart
Rothes v Banks O Dee
Civil Service Strollers v Gala Fairydean
Hawick Royal Albert v Huntly
Dalbeattie Star v Keith
