Jings. We really, really, really must stop doing this. Our predictions are pure gash folks! To wit: this week, we continue with what is fast becoming a tradition by getting none of our predictions right.
Posts Tagged ‘Four to Follow’
Four to Follow Round-up
Monday, November 30th, 2009Four to Follow – Week 40
Friday, October 2nd, 2009Welcome to another Four To Follow, Inside Left’s pick of the weekend’s action. This week sees a mixture of league and Cup games, with Scottish Cup replays and the semi-final of this years ALBA Challenge Cup taking place. We begin though with arguably the finest football derby game in the world.
Rangers v Celtic
There are many great derby games in the world of football. In Portugal, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. In Italy, it’s AS Roma and Lazio. Argentina’s Boca Juniors against River Plate is always a fiery encounter, and there’s no love lost between Rio’s Flamengo en Fluminense, or for that matter, between the two giants of Turkish football, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. In Holland, they even have the ‘Klassieker’ between Rotterdam’s Feyenoord and Ajax of Amsterdam.
But it is in Glasgow that you’ll find one of the oldest, and most fiercely contested games derby games in world football today. The two teams involved are no longer the power they once where in world football, when, in the sixties and seventies Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers won European silverware as well as added to their already heady collection of domestic honours, but the rivalry that was created in the earlier part of the century has certainly not abated.
What makes the Glasgow derby stand out from the others is that the rivalry is based not just on economics (such as the Flamengo and Fluminense derby) or political (right-wing Lazio against left-wing Roma) or cultural (CSKA Sofia, the team of the intellectuals against Levski, the team of the working man), but a combination of some of those, with a dash of religion thrown in. Celtic, the team with the poor Irish, Catholic and republican background, against the rich Scots of Rangers, proudly protestant and nationalistic. East Glasgow against West Glasgow. Two successful teams in a large city, in a league they dominate totally and alternatively make for an extra bit of tension: getting one over the other side.
Its hard to believe that from the very first fixture, played in 1888 in such good spirit that one commentator at the time was inspired to write that the teams “got on so well that you would believe that they were old firm friends”, the game has somehow mutated into the game it is now. The teams certainly started out with quite a close relationship playing many friendlies in front of huge gates. But like all good things, this relationship came to an end as the games became bitter, hard-fought encounters with pitch invasions, mass brawls, arrests and even deaths. An activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, admissions to hospital emergency rooms increase nine-fold over normal levels, and journalist Franklin Foer noted that in the period from 1996 to 2003, eight deaths in Glasgow were directly linked to Old Firm matches.
This weekend’s fixture comes on the back of two disappointing evenings in European football for both halves of the Old Firm. Rangers where stuffed 4-1 by Spanish side Sevilla, while Celtic only managed a 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna.
In the league, both Rangers and Celtic have assumed their traditional places at the top of the table. But a quick glance will tell you that Rangers are already trailing Celtic by four points, a gap that could increase to seven should Walter Smith and his men lose. It’s even possible for Rangers to slip down to third place if Hibs beat United on Saturday.
While Rangers have been struggling to score (three 0-0 draws in a row), Celtic on the other hand have been finding the net a lot easier; The Bhoys have scored 11 goals in their last six matches , compared to Ranger’s 4 (measuring from the first of the three 0-0 draws with Motherwell).
But the stats only tell half the story. It took a goal in injury time to beat Hearts, a draw with Dundee United at Parkhead was far from convincing and it took a lot of work to hang on to that 1-0 lead against Hibs. Tony Mowbray was far from happy with the 2-0 win against St Mirren.
Last season, Rangers just about edged out Celtic in this fixture in the league, beginning with that 4-2 win in October and ending with a 1-0 win at Ibrox in May of 2009 – i between, a 0-0 draw and a 1-0 win for Celtic completed the series. But if there was ever a match where the form guide means nothing, it’s this one.
It is early in the season, so even a loss for Rangers at this stage wouldn’t be the end of the world. Last season, they trailed Celtic by as many points several times during the season but still kept on Celtic’s coat-tails to pip them at the post.
With home advantage and arguably more to play for, you’d back Rangers to win this, but the misfiring forwards are going to be a problem for Walter Smith. Tony Mowbray’s first Old Firm derby as manager will be a tight affair as always, but he needs to worry about his defence, in particular Stephen McManus, who made the blunder that led to Rapid’s goal alongside the less than impressive Gary Caldwell.
At the end of the day, we think Cetic are going to be just that wee bit stronger, so we back them for a win: 0-1.
Queen of the South v Morton
High-flying Queen of the South take on less than high-flying Morton. The Doonhamers are currently top of the First division having put together a string of fine results that included wins against Dundee, Dunfermline and Partick Thistle. Only Ross County have beaten this season, recording back-to-back wins in the League and the Challenge Cup. Their recent League Cup exit to Rangers was a closer run affair than you might expect, and Queen of the South received much praise for their performance.
Morton on the other hand are floundering somewhat. When Raith’s Mark Ferry scored the third goal in their recent 3-0 win over Morton, manager Davie Irons probably felt that this weekend couldn’t get any worse. Knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Ross County and the League Cup by Kilmarnock, and rooted to the bottom of the table after 5 games, the First Division table told a sorry tale: played 6, lost 6, goals for 0, goals against 16.
He was swiftly fired after the game, the club feeling that Irons had done as much as he can, but that things would not be allowed to continue as it had been. The following week, Morton, under caretaker manager James Grady finally recorded their first league win over Airdrie United, the 1-0 lifting the ‘Ton off the bottom of the table.
A league campaign is long hard fight to the finish line for most teams. The mark of a true champion is consistency not only against the top sides in their division, but also the bottom sides. Many a team have beaten the best, only to lose embarrasingly against the lower ranked sides. So Queen of the South need to keep up their outsanding form and not take this game for granted. For Morton, it’s a chance to build upon that win last week and get themselves back to the party, and for James Grady and assistant Allan McMannus a chance to stake their claim on getting the job full-time.
Dundee v Annan Athletic
Annan Athletic have a chance to reach their first final since coming up from the Juniors. OK, so it’s the ALBA Challenge Cup, but silverware nevertheless. It’s a remarkable achievement for the little side from the Borders. As captain Chris Jardine says on his blog, it’s not that long ago since the Galabankies where lining up against Easthouses and Selkirk.
On their way to this fixture, Annan battled their way past Queens Park, East Stirling and Elgin City Standing in their way to the final re Dundee, one of the favourites for promotion to the SPL this season. Dundee beat Cowdenbeath and Stirling to set up this game and should be considered favourites to progress.
You’ve got to back Dundee to win this, but football is a funny old game and a shock might be on the cards here. Awaiting the winner of this game is a tie against either Ross County or Inverness Caley, who also play their semi-final tie on Sunday.
Inverurie Locos v Cove Rangers
In the second tasty derby of the weekend, second placed Cove Rangers take on third placed Inverurie Locos in the Highland League game of the day at Harlaw Park.
Cove Rangers will be keen to record a victory here to reclaim top spot, snatched from them last week by Deveronvale after their 3-1 win over Turriff. Inverurie Locos go into the game on the back of progress in the Aberdeenshire Shield and the Active Nations Scottish Cup, scoring 11 goals over the two games (against St Cuthbert Wanderers and Aberdeen University respectively).
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
Score Prediction Bawbaggery
Sunday, August 30th, 2009Score Prediction Bawbaggery.
30.08// Inside Left plumbs new depths of football prediction incorrectness, failing to pick so much as one winner in its Four To Follow.
Hearts drew 2-2 with St Johnstone (we tipped Hearts to win), Inverness Caley suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Ross County (again, we went for Caley) and in the other Fife derby, Cowdenbeath and East Fife’s game ended in a 1-1 draw (And guess what? We went for Cowdenbeath win).
Our final prediction, like all the others we made, seemed such a sure thing we even placed a cheeky bet on it. We reckoned that Livingston where going to overturn Albion Rovers by an enormous margin that our £2.50 stake would return a healthy £6.56 in winnings, or £4.06 profit.
Enough for 6 Aberdeen butteries.
But alas poor Livi: ‘t was not to be, Albion Rovers won 1-0. When we heard that Livi defender Ewan Moyes had put the ball through his own net, a new internet acronym was created: LALAL. Lets All Laugh At Livingston.
Predicting the outcome of a football game is a tricky business.
You can look at league form, a particular player’s form, the head-to-head fixtures from the past and so on. But really, you just have no idea how it’s going to turn out. You might as well sacrifice chickens to read their innards or gather round the ouija board for all the insight it’ll give you.
I mean, he may have predicted the assassination of JFK, but I reckon even Nostradamus would be sitting in front of the telly on a Saturday evening, scratching his head going “Whit?!? Dundee only drew with Airdrie? I was sure they where due a win.”
So how did we do?
Well, Hearts drew 2-2 with St Johnstone (we tipped Hearts to win), Inverness Caley suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Ross County (again, we went for Caley) and in the other Fife derby, Cowdenbeath and East Fife’s game ended in a 1-1 draw (And guess what? Yes, we went for a Cowdenbeath win).
Our final prediction, like all the others we made, seemed such a sure thing we even placed a cheeky bet on it. We reckoned that Livingston where going to thoroughly pump Albion Rovers by an enormous margin that our £2.50 stake would return a healthy £6.56 in winnings, or £4.06 profit.
Enough for 6 Aberdeen butteries.
But alas poor Livi: ‘t was not to be, Albion Rovers won 1-0. When we heard that Livi defender Ewan Moyes had put the ball through his own net, a new internet acronym was created: LALAL. Lets All Laugh At Livingston.
So, complete shite then. At least the one football certainty we know of didn’t disappoint: Fort William lost again. 1-0. To Brora Rangers.
