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…
Posts Tagged: HFL
16
Nov 09
The continuing saga of Scottish football
About a week or so ago, I wrote two articles on this site about the perilous state the Scottish game finds itself in. Back then, I bemoaned the fact that the game north of the border was being haunted by events on and off the field, from financial troubles to crowd troubles, from declining standards to declining credibility, and from a lack of competition to a lack of crowds.
6
Feb 09
The Gala Weekend Scottish Football Preview
The fifth round of the Scottish Cup takes place this weekend. As you’d expect at this stage of the competition, there’s no fewer than four all-SPL ties. For those of you following teams in the SFL, there’s three interesting games for you too; East Fife, Queens Park and Forfar all take on SPL opposition.
We preview the weekends action, and the staff at Inside Left give us their views and predictions on the weekends action (standard disclaimers apply). We begin this weekends preview with the Fifth round Scottish Cup fixtures.
The Homecoming Scottish Cup
Aberdeen v East Fife
A win for Aberdeen in this game should be the end result, but you just never know. Aberdeen are one of those sides that can surprise you and as we’ve already seen in this years Cup competition, they’re not always comfortable playing lower league opposition. The Dons are in good form, now having won seven games in a row at Pittodrie. East Fife have won quite impressively in recent weeks (Stenhousemuir, Arbroath and Queen’s Park), but the 3-0 defeat against Peterhead last Saturday put an end to that run. My prediction: possibly tight, a car crash waiting to happen. 2-0 to Aberdeen (SG)
Airdrie v Dunfermline
(postponed, frozen pitch)
A nice all First Division tie. The Pars lost, somewhat surprisingly, at home to Queen of the South last week. Despite a good start to the season, Dunfermline now lie six points behind St Johnstone (who have two games in hand). Against Airdrie then, I fancy them to get a result. (DG)
Celtic v Queen’s Park
A clash of two of the giants of the Scottish game, and the first one since 1986. The days when Queen’s Park regularly beat their Glasgow rivals are long gone – we’re talking the 1890’s – and I don’t see anything other than a thumping Celtic win here tomorrow either. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has already come out saying he wont underestimate Queen’s, and will be putting out a strong side to make sure of a victory. My prediction: a gala day out for Queen’s, a comfortable win for Celtic. (AK)
Forfar v Rangers
(Sunday)
Provided this game goes ahead, expect Rangers to cruise to an easy victory here. That’s not to take anything away from Forfar, but Rangers are simply going to be too strong. If I was Walter Smith, I’d put out a full strength team, and try and break some scoring records. Nothing boosts morale like a good double-digit victory against some hapless opponents. In the past Rangers have come close (9-1, 7-0, 5-2, 6-0), but no cigar. Player lower league teams comes with a certain degree of risk – mainly injuries to fragile SPL players not accustomed to the pitch and the more heavy-handed approach commonly found the lower down you go in the leagues – but the Quarter Final beckons for Rangers. (SG)
Throw Ins : Scottish Cup news from the BBC
Hamilton v Dundee United
Hamilton have yet to lose to United in the League this season, and their fortunes have taken a bit of a turn of late. Recent wins against Hearts, Inverness Kilmarnock and Aberdeen have seen the team rise into mid-table safety, defying our pre-season predictions of a swift return to the First division. United lost to Rangers last weekend, the first time they’ve been beaten by either half of the Old Firm this season. Both United and Hamilton survived the January transfer window reasonably intact; United lost Willo Flood to Celtic, but got Paul Caddis and Cillian Sheridan in return on loan, while Hamilton got aonther Celtic youngster, Rocco Quinn (loan) as well as former Gretna hitman Kenny Deuchar. It should be an interesting game; I’ve got to go for a United win. (AK)
In the other games, Hearts take on Falkirk (Hearts win), Inverness go for their first win under Terry Butcher when they take on Kilmarnock (a 1-1 draw, Killie to win the replay), while St Mirren travel the short distance to Motherwell (a St Mirren win)
Scottish First Division
Livingston v Dundee
The Livingston bandwagon rolls on. The much-rumoured players strike over unpaid wages failed to materialise which was just as well really – the 4-2 win over Ross County, coupled with Partick Thistle’s home defeat against bottom side Airdrie now puts Livi only 1 point behind Thistle. Following the departure of James McPake to Coventry in the January transfer window, Chris Innes has been named as new club captain. Innes, who arrived on a free transfer over the summer was previously captain at Gretna. Dundee will be going for their first back-to-back win this season; the Dee beat Clyde 2-1 last weekend.
Ross County v St Johnstone
Ross County, with new player-coach Craig Brewster welcome title contenders St Johnstone to Dingwall. The Saints good run of form has come to a bit of a halt of late, with goalless draws against Thistle and Morton. In fact, Derek McInnes’ men haven’t won a game since the end of December. Weather played a large part of that (they’ve got two games in hand) but only four goals in seven outings is not the sort of form that’ll keep you at the top of the table for too long. Admittedly they’re not losing, but you’d have to wonder how all those dropped points are going to impact them come May.
Scottish Second Division
Alloa narrowly lost to Arbroath last weekend, a second-half penalty proving to be the difference. The Wasps face another tricky tie this weekend when Ayr United visit. Ayr United had a cracking game against league leaders Raith Rovers last weekend (2-2), doing well to come back from 2-0 down to earn a share of the points. Peterhead, who won 3-0 away at East Fife, welcome Arbroath while struggling Stranraer (who drew 1-1 with Queens Park) will play Brechin.
Scottish Third Division
Aside from Forfar and Cowdenbeath, there’s a full fixture card in the Third division. Montrose will be looking for a win to keep them in the play-off places; they take on second from bottom Berwick Rangers. East Stirling could jump into fourth spot should Montrose lose, but they’ll need to beat Albion Rovers to do so. Stenhousemuir will move to within a point of Cowdenbeath with a win over Annan, but there’s little Elgin City can do to prevent them from finishing bottom of the league. Adrift by some 19 points, they take on third placed Dumbarton.
Highland Football League
It remains to be seen how many of these games will get the go-ahead, but the games to keep an eye out for are the local derby up in Buckie, as well as the game up at Bellslea Park when second placed Keith take on a much improved Fraserburgh side, currently lying four points behind the Maroons. Defending champions Cove Rangers take on Nairn County. Inverurie Locos will hope to put the disappointment of their Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Motherwell behind them when Clachnacuddin come to Harlaw Park. Lossiemouth make a relatively short trip (some 143 miles each way) to play Wick Academy.
The full fixture lists looks like this:
Buckie Thistle v Deveronvale
Cove Rangers v Nairn County
Fort William v Rothes
Fraserburgh v Keith
Huntly v Forres Mechanics
Inverurie Loco Works v Clachnacuddin
Wick Academy v Lossiemouth
The Inside Left Predictions
Doug Gillman
The meeting between Forfar and Rangers will be a slaughter so it’s probably best to stay away from Station Park if you’re of a nervous disposition – or a Forfar fan. Like our erstwhile Editor, I believe the Aberdeen-East Fife game has upset written all over it. In the league, Dumbarton are in action this weekend against bottom side Elgin City – an easy three points by any standards given our respective league positions, though it took a Ray Logan goal 15 minutes from time to salvage a point back in August. With Cowdenbeath not playing, second placed Stenhousemuir have a good opportunity to close the gap with a win over Annan Athletic.
Elaine Garrow
Who needs the Scottish Cup for thrills when without doubt the biggest game this weekend is the meeting between Buckie Thistle and Deveronvale at the Victoria Ground. Deveronvale are unbeaten away from home in the league this season though of course they’ll be out to avenge that 2-0 defeat up in Banff back in November – it was the first win for new Buckie boss Gregg Carrol and set them off on a run of results that now has the Jags in fourth place – seven points behind league leaders Deveronvale. Given the proximity of the teams in the Highland League, practically every fixture is a derby game, but this one is one of the more keenly contested.
As for the other games – I reckon Fort William might win this weekend. They play third from bottom Rothes at home (weather permitting of course) a team to whom they lost 3-0 in August, but only 1-0 in their second meeting back in November. They’ve got to win sometime – perhaps this is the one? Craig Brewser, the ‘Peter Pan’ of football, puts on his boots once again as he takes to the field in the dark blue of Ross County. The 42 year-old has signed on as player-coach with the Dingwall team following his sacking from Inverness Caley the other week. He’s on the team sheet for the league game against St Johnstone, but whether he’ll actually get on remains to be seen.
Andy Kennedy
Clearly the game of the weekend is up at Pittodrie. And I say that not just as an Aberdeen fan, but because if there’s going to be any shocks or upsets this weekend, you can bet the barn that this is where it’s going to happen. Surprisingly (or perhaps ominously) East Fife have a good Scottish Cup record against the Dons, having won the majority of the Cup fixtures the two teams have played. The most recent meeting was back in 1965, when East Fife won 1-0 in a replay with Aberdeen’s only(!) Cup win against East Fife was back in 1959. On paper of course, Aberdeen are easy favourites but our performances against Ayr United and Alloa in the previous rounds would suggest that we’re not comfortable against lower league opposition. Jimmy Calderwood has already said he’ll put out a strong squad, no doubt hoping to avoid the Queen of the South incident from last year.
Elsewhere, I fear for Forfar – history is not on their side in this fixture. A full house at Station Park should spur the team on, but you cant help feeling it’s going to be a long afternoon. Terry Butcher faces another stern test in the form of Kilmarnock. They did well last week to get that draw with Celtic and the confidence it must have given them will do them well against Killie. The results went against Thistle (both Falkirk and Hamilton won), making the task that Butcher faces to keep Caley from the drop much harder still but the point (any point) is welcome at this stage.
3
Feb 09
End of the tracks for Loco
The town of Inverurie lies about 20 miles to the north-west of Aberdeen, in the Don Valley at the centre of Aberdeenshire, is surrounded by farmland and lies only four miles from the imposing mountain of Bennachie. Its football team, Highland League outfit Inverurie Locos plays its home games at Harlaw Park (capacity 2400), a stadium on the outskirts of the north side of the town, hemmed in by the railway line, the river Urie and the B1970 further beyond.
Having beaten Junior side (and Highland League applicants) Banks O’ Dee and Vale of Leithen in the previous round, Loco’s where landed with a plum tie against SPL side Motherwell.
It is a truism to say that history occasionally does favour the underdog; Berwick Rangers beating the mighty Glasgow Rangers in 1967 and Dundee getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup by another team from the Highland League, Fraserburgh, back in 1959 for example. But in recent times (most notably this very competition), tells a different story. Fellow Highland League side Forres Mechanics where dumped 6-1 in the same round earlier on in the competition by Third division Forfar. On paper at least, Inverurie didn’t stand a chance; Motherwell’s season has started to pick up following a poor start to the campaign by their standards, and despite the loss of top scorer Chris Porter to Derby County earlier on in the day, the SPL side had plenty of talent on show to make this game a formality at least – a drubbing at worst.
The fixture, which had been called of four times previously, was finally given the go-ahead following an early morning pitch inspection. That the game went ahead must have come as a relief to both sides, not least Motherwell, whose manager, Mark McGhee was said to be getting frustrated with the number of call-offs and had been calling for a future change in the rules whereby a Cup tie is called off only two or three times maximum before being switched to another venue.
A minor disagreement between Locos and Motherwell had flared up during the week: Motherwell had offered Locos the use of their state-of-the-art defrosting equipment. However, when the Inverurie club where told they’d have to pay Motherwell 5,000 for the privilege, they declined the offer. Motherwell General Manager Leanne Dempster then branded the club “mad” several times for refusing the proposal at which point the Inverurie officials broke off all discussions with the SPL side.
Against this backdrop then, and with snow falling gently onto the pitch, a good crowd (including Alex Salmond) was inside Harlaw Park to witness the last surviving Highland League side take on the Goliaths of the SPL.
It took Motherwell all of a minute to get on the scoresheet. A Jim O’ Brien freekick was converted by John Sutton, who rose above the Loco defence to drill the ball past Andy Reid. Motherwell pressed for another goal to put the tie beyond their opponents, but a mixture of good goalkeeping and defending kept John Sutton and David Clarkson from adding to the score; at half time, the score remained, somewhat miraculously at 1-0.
Right after the restart, Locos came close to getting an equalizer. Tommy Wilson, a former Celtic Boys player, passed the ball out to Neil McLean who worked his way past two Motherwell defenders before finally putting his 18-yard effort inches past the post. Sadly, it would be Motherwell who took their chances better. With fifteen minutes played in the second half, it was David Clarkson who once again managed to get above the Locos defence to head the ball into the net from a Jim O’Brien cross. Tommy Wilson came close to getting a goal back for Locos, but Grieg Pirie will be kicking himself for glancing his header past the post from six yards after Danny Milne had done all the hard work. The game was finally killed off when, in the 65th minute, John Sutton, unmarked, got on the end of a Steven Craigen drive across goal to put the ball into the net from close range.
Locos played well, created plenty of chances and should have scored at least the one goal had Pirie not missed from close range. The dream may be over, but Locos should be rightly proud of their performance. The enormous gulf between the two sides was not always evident – Motherwell’s passing was crisper, their final ball and finish perhaps making the difference. It’s back to Highland League business for Locos on Saturday when, weather depending, Clachnacuddin travel to Harlaw Park.
Final score: Inverurie Locos 0-3 Motherwell
