(Scottish) Season (2008/09) Greetings

Aye aye everyone.

Just a quick note before we depart for foreign shores. The football might not stop up in Scotland despite the weather or the time of year, but here at Inside Left we like to take a break at this time of year to spend time recovering from our injuries and so on. Before we go though, here's a quick round-up of all the things you can expect over the next few weeks while we're gone.

In the SPL, we have one Old Firm derby coming up. On the 27th December, Celtic travel across the river for the second clash of the season. Celtic's lead over Rangers has been cut to four points, making this game all the more exciting. Celtic of course got trounced 4-2 earlier on in the season in the first Old Firm derby - it was their worst loss to Rangers in years. Celtic still battle with injuries and the rather distracting kerfuffle around the row between Strachan and McGeady is not the sort of thing they need right now as they head towards the end of the year.

Before all that happens though, the game of this weekend is up at Tynecastle where the teams in third, Hearts and Dundee United meet up. There's another Lanarkshire derby between two sides struggling this season. Hamilton are bottom of the league, while their opponents Motherwell are suffering from second-season blues.

Down in the lower divisions, it´s top versus bottom as St. Johnstone travel to Airdrie. For both sides this is a must-win game; the Saints need to keep that lead they've built up going, while Airdrie need to start winning games to keep up with the rest of the league.

In the Second Division, the game to watch is the one happening on the 30th December, when two teams who have been pretty close this season, Brechin and Ayr play each other. With these teams a clear distance away from the team in fourth, they need to win this game to keep up with leaders Raith who themselves face tricky ties away to Arbroath and fourth-placed Peterhead.

In the Third, the game we're going to watch out for is the derby game between Stenhousemuir and the team with which they're currently sharing Ochillview Park, East Stirlingshire. The Shire of course are current holders of our prestigious Performance of the Week award - their run of form has gotten our attention and should certainly be catching yours. By the way, if  you're interested in the fortunes of a team once called  "Britain's Worst Team", get yourself along to their website and register for Shire TV, through which you can get all the match highlights for free!

Other than the football, the transfer window opens up again on the 1st January. We're all keen to know how your clubs will fare in this seasons scrum for players. If you're not a fan of one of the Old Firm teams, you'll no doubt be anxiously awaiting which obscure player your clubs has managed to unearth from some other never-heard-of-before competition. Unless you're a Hearts fan, in which case your next signing will be from Kaunas. Hibs fans - what are the odds of Fletcher still being at the club come the end of January?

From a personal point of view, we hope you like the new Inside Left. To think we nearly did a Gretna and go under a few weeks ago. After some soul searching and honest appraisal we decided to keep going with it. We've discovered a new-found enthusiasm for keeping the site going and hell,  a new lick of paint does wonders.

As we approach our first year in existence, we genuinely think we've built up one of the best Scottish footie sites on the net. Hopefully you think so too, and who knows, maybe next year we'll get some of you writing for the site. No pressure though!

We're back on January 4th, so  all that remains is for us all to wish you, dear readers, a happy Christmas, and a happy and healthy 2009 from all the staff at Inside Left.

 

 

George Burley names Scotland squad

Scotland manager George Burley has left Davie Weir out of his squad for the friendly with Argentina on November 19. The absence of Weir is the biggest surprise in a squad that can boast the return of captain Barry Ferguson. Also returning are Stephen McManus and Alan Hutton, who missed out on facing Norway through suspension and injury respectively.

The squad for the match against Diego Maradona’s side:

Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon, Allan McGregor, David Marshall.

Defenders: Graham Alexander, Darren Barr, Christophe Berra, Kirk Broadfoot, Gary Caldwell, Alan Hutton, Jamie McAllister, Stephen McManus, Gary Naysmith.

Midfielders: Scott Brown, Kris Commons, Barry Ferguson, Darren Fletcher, Paul Hartley, Shaun Maloney, James Morrison, Barry Robson.

Strikers: David Clarkson, Steven Fletcher, Chris Iwelumo, Ross McCormack, James McFadden, Kenny Mille

The Weekends Action In Scotland - November 1st

Jings, it's November already. We're three months into the season, we've played three World Cup qualifiers, the League Cup is at the semi-final stage, the Scottish Cup at the third round point and we've already lost two managers - where the hell did the time go?

The SPL league table is taking on a familiar pattern. Celtic and Rangers at the top by some margin, then come a chasing pack from 3rd down to 12th all separated by seven points. In the First division, Queen of the South still rule, chased by a resurgent St. Johnstone who have not lost in six outings. At the other end, Dundee appoint Jocky Scott for the third time hoping he can breathe life into Dundee's troubled season so far. Brechin lead the way in the Second division, while in the Third Stenhousemuir are still on top, two points ahead of the teams in second and third, Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath.

Up in the Highland League, Deveronvale still lead Inverurie Locos by a single point (though the Locies have a game in hand). Even Fort William can say that at this early stage there is a team worse than them in Scotland, namely Rothes FC, with whom the Fort share bottom place, although Fort William have two games in hand and their goal difference of -16 is slightly better than that of Rothes, who post a goal difference of -20.

So, there's still all to play for at this early stage of the season, starting with the fixtures around Scotland tomorrow. Now, we're going to be slightly lazy and let someone else do the SPL previews for us this week - we've been mad busy at work and just haven't had time to get our act together. So, for this weekend, and this weekend only, check out The Offside for Celtic, Rangers, Caley and of course the Aberdeen game previews (the Aberdeen one is written by yours truly by the way, hence the pure quality of the writing on offer). The Arab Blog will probably be providing a United preview as they take on Falkirk, a team they'll no doubt not be meeting in the semi-finals of the League Cup. And if that doesn't satisfy your lust for all things Scottish football, there's always Setanta and the BBC of course.

In the First division, new manager Jocky Scott will open his third spell in charge at Dundee with a home game against Airdrie United. The Dee, currently second bottom of the First division where many pundits (including us) favourites for promotion, but it's all gone horribly wrong so far. Dundee have won only three games so far this season and where knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Second division Alloa before the 2008/09 season had even begun. Manager Alex Rae was sacked after the Ross County defeat but a new manager had not been found in time for the defeat away to bottom club Morton last week.

Can Jocky make a difference?

Well, he's certainly been around the block: in Scotland, Aberdeen, Dunfermline, Arbroath, Raith Rovers and Hibernian have all had the pleasure of Mr Scott at the helm, with generally positive results. Aberdeen-born Scott was in charge at Pittodrie together with Alex Smith following the departure of Ian Porterfield (who in turn had succeeded some no-mark called Alex Ferguson, or something).  Following his (and Smith's) sacking he went on to Dunfermline (whom he relegated, but did make the semi-final of the Skol Cup).  A brief spell at Hibernian followed (P13, won 3, lost 6, drawn 4) before he made his second appearance at Dens Park (he first being before he came to Aberdeen FC) where he lost only 18 out of the 95 games he was in charge, won the team promotion to the SPL and a fifth placed finish. Sacked to make way for Ivano Bonetti (who managed to bankrupt the club), Scott then had spells at Raith Rovers, Notts County and Plymouth where he was assistant to Paul Sturrock. It'll be tough task to salvage anything from this season - the First division is a notoriously tough one to get out of.

Elsewhere in the First division, St. Johnstone can go top if they beat Dunfermline and league leaders Queen of the South lose away to Partick Thistle. The Doonhamers must be glad that they're not going to be losing manager Gordon Chisholm to Dundee after all, despite much speculation earlier this month. Morton are looking to make it three wins in a row when they take on Livingston at the Almondvale while Ross County are hoping to get back to winning ways when they take on third-bottom Clyde.

In the Second division none of the top 4 play each other this weekend, so expect little to change at the top of the table. Brechin travel north to Peterhead, a team that started well under the guidance of former Aberdeen player Neale Cooper, but whose form has taken a downward trend of late: the Blue Toon have not won since their 4-0 win over Stanraer back in September. Raith Rovers take on third bottom Alloa at home. The Blues are in good form, winning their last three games while Alloa have won their last two games, a series of wins that has taken them off the bottom of the table. The team now occupying that spot, Arbroath, welcome Ayr United to Gayfield Park. Arbroath have only won one game at home all season (the 4-1 against Alloa in the second week). There's middle-of-the-table fare as well as Stirling, relegated from the First division last year take on Stranraer who seems to be surviving thanks to some higher home gates, and the Corinthians of Queens Park take on East Fife in front of 600 people at Hampden Park.

Third division leaders Stenhousemuir take on fourth placed Montrose who yesterday appointed former Celtic and Dundee United midfielder David Hannah as caretaker player-manager. The 35 year-old had been managing in that cauldron of European football excellence Iceland but fancied a return to Scotland after the country went bankrupt. Stenhousemuir will be ready for a more stern test against the Angus side than they go from East of Scotland side Threave Rovers, who they beat 5-0 in last Saturday's Scottish Cup. It's second top against second bottom when Dumbarton take on Berwick Rangers. Berwick manager Alan McGonigal and his assistant Martin Mooney had stints at Dumbarton as assistant manager and player respectively and returning to the Rock will be players John Dillon and Stevie Bonar. Elgin City might climb above Berwick should the Borders side lose at Dumbarton, providing the former Highland League winners can get past Forfar.

The game between Annan Athletic and Albion Rovers that was due to take place tomorrow has been postponed to make way for the Scottish cup game that was supposed to take place last Saturday and which was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

And guess what?

The pitch at the Galabank was still waterlogged today, so that game has also been cancelled. A weekend off then for both sides right? Wrong! Read Annan Athletic's Chris Jardine's blog on the BBC for a cracking insight into life at the arse-end of Scottish football.

Four of the Highland League sides are in Scottish Cup action tomorrow: Keith and Forres Mechanics meet up in the only all-HFL game of the round, while Wick Academy will be hoping the 257 mile trip that their opponents Edinburgh City have to make for this game will knacker them out and make the vulnerable to a thorough seeing-to.  Away from the glamour of the Cup, Fort William take on Fraserburgh at Claggan Park, Cove Rangers will be taking advantage of the fact that Deveronvale are not playing this weekend. The defending champions and Aberdeenshire Cup finalists (where they'll play another Aberdeen city team, Junior side Banks O' Dee, who in an earlier round of the Scottish Cup knocked out Fort William 10-0 and who also demolished another Highland League side, Huntly, 6-1) take on Lossiemouth. This years losing Aberdeenshire semi-finalists Buckie Thistle (who got knocked out by the aforementioned Bank O' Dee) take on Clachnacuddin. Inverurie Locos can go top of the table if they overcome bottom side Rothes and in the final game of the day, Huntly take on Nairn County.

Phew, that was some update. As always, if you're going to any of the games, drop us a line afterwards to tell us how your team got on.

The Midweek Update

It's Wednesday, which means there's only another few days until we get to swear and generally shout abuse at people we don't know from behind the safety of a thick line of polis and a great big fence. Ah, we can taste the meaty chunks in our half-time cup of tea already.

Speaking of swearing, abuse and police, the BBC reports that a game between MSP's (Members of the Scottish Parliament, for those unfamiliar with the acronym) and sports journalists had to be abandoned after half-time when an on-pitch steamie had tempers boiling over. The incident apparently followed a series of 'contentious' challenges by both sides, which resulted in BBC journalist Chick Young getting crocked. The MSP team included such luminaries as Ken Macintosh, Andy Kerr and Frank McAveety, while facing them where a team of journalists including the aforementioned Chick Young and Radio Clyde commentator Peter Martin. Normally we'd all chuckle at this but given that we're always being reminded about the issues that permeate football today (the 'famine song' and sectarianism in general, the whole concept of 'footballers as role models', managers getting banned from the touchline for abusive behavior to referees, coins being thrown from the crowd as in the recent game at Portsmouth) you'd expect better from those who sit in their ivory towers tutting at the scenes below. The journalists involved will no doubt fill a page in their papers, but you cant help but think that the whole incident was a spectacular own goal.

OK, back to the football. There where a few games in the League Cup last night. Holders Rangers eased past Hamilton for the second time in five days as Kris Boyd and Kyle Lafferty scored to put the Ibrox side into the semi-final hat. They'll be joined there by Dundee United and Falkirk, who also progressed: United won 1-0 at home to First division Dunfermline, while a Neil McCann header was enough for Falkirk as they beat Inverness Caley.

Slightly disappointing was the attendance at the various games; we appreciate it's a midweek game, but 32000 at Ibrox, 5300 at Tannadice and 3000 at the Falkirk Stadium is not great. So apart from Falkirk beating Caley, the results went pretty much as you'd expect. We even got a score prediction right when we said United would win 1-0. Actually, it was a bit of reverse psychology. We were secretly hoping that United would lose, so given our history of getting score predictions wildly wrong we figured that predicting a United win would actually see them losing ... or something like that. Anyway, it back-fired and now the Arabs and the Bairns are in the next round, where no doubt they'll get either Celtic or Rangers to ensure that no pish sides with a support that between them wouldn't fill Hampden in a month of Sundays get into the final. And you can interpret that any way you want.

All round Aberdeen legend and director of football Willie Miller has criticised reputable news sites as well as blogs for spreading rumours about the impending (or not, as the case turned out to be) sacking of manager Jimmy Calderwood. Miller, no doubt still furious at the recent theft of his trademark mustache, went on a bit of rant about fans sites and forums that

"come up with dozens of rumours every single day, the vast majority of which are rubbish, and I would not be at all surprised if this is where this one originated from".

All quite correct possibly, but that is an interesting choice of words: "the majority of rumours are rubbish". Now, that implies that a minority of the rumours are, in fact, true. Now, Calderwood is not in any danger in my opinion, but where there's smoke there's fire, as I wittily told the fire brigade while they doused the flames on my H-reg Nova Diamond (with alloy wheels) a few years ago. We're wondering if this is a case of "the lady doth protest too much" ..

It must be something about Edinburgh. The maroon half of Auld Reekie will also have to struggle on without their manager shouting profanities at them from the touchline for the next two games. Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo had to be restrained by Midlothian polis to prevent him lamping referee Steve Conroy following the final whistle. Laszlo was upset - to put it mildly - at Conroy's reversal of his earlier decision to award Hearts a penalty where it looked as if Jamie Langfield brought down midfielder Michael Stewart inside the box but, after consultation with his linesman, referee Conroy awarded a goal kick to Aberdeen instead and a bronze medal to Stewart for his tremendous dive. For his protests, Laszlo has received a two-game touchline ban, two fewer than Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen who went spare after his side's 4-3 defeat at Morton in the League cup a while back.

Speaking of managers, Dundee are still on the hunt for someone to lead the Dee back to the top of the table. Options are fast running out, with Brechin's Michael O'Neill and Queen of the South's Gordon Chisholm all ruling themselves out. If negotiations with Jocky Scott and Kenny Black, so far the only names to get an interview fail, there's always Juande Ramos and Terry Venables, whose name seems to come up with any managers job going these days and who are both probably quite open to a season or two in Dundee, the city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

Mind you, given the fact that Inside Left has just managed to get Dumbarton promoted to the SPL in his FM2008 game, perhaps we should give them a ring. Has anyone got a number for Dens Park?

Performance of the Week - Week 44

Aye aye all, and fit like theday? It's Monday, which means it's Performance of the Week time. This week we have thee nominations for you to choose from. You know the deal - we like to recognize those teams, players and events in the week just passed that deserve a special mention for services rendered in the name of Scottish football. So without further waffling, here are the nominations, each one lovingly hand-picked by the staff of Inside Left.

East Fife and Arbroath. Perhaps it's sending out the wrong message when we reward a team for battling against the odds with nine men for an entire half, but it has to be said that it is a remarkable victory in a remarkable game. Twice ahead in the game, and twice pulled back to level pegging by Arbroath, Steven Tweed, the former Dundee, Hibs, Stoke and Livingston player got the winning goal four minutes from the end to secure all three points for the East Fife. The game was played in conditions that can only be described as 'testing', with both goalkeepers conceding soft goals due to the elements, not to mention school boy errors. Scott Morrison in the Arbroath goal misjudged a cross that had a fair bit of help from the windy conditions and then let the ball go under his body for East Fife's second goal, while at the other end Willie McCulloch first fumbled the ball to allow Arbroath to equalise for the first time, and was then lobbed for the Red Lichties second equaliser. For the 677 people who turned up to watch the game, an entertaining game with all the drama (lots of goals) and controversy (two sendings off), as well as a dose of toe-curling blunders (effectively four goalkeeping errors) that we'd expect from our football. The weather was gash, but sure, what else are you going to do on a Saturday?

The Magic of the Scottish Cup. As you know if you've been reading Inside Left, the second round of the Scottish Cup took place this weekend. As usual, the Highland League acquitted itself rather well, with only three of the competing teams not making the next round. Rather like the English FA Cup which always brings in teams you've possibly never heard of, this round of the Cup introduced us to teams like Dalbeattie Star, Banks O' Dee, Civil Service Strollers, Lochee United, Threave Rovers and Crichton, to name but a few. You often forget that outside of the 40 teams in the top league, there's a whole world of grass-roots football, supported by small but devoted fans who get involved in all aspects of the running of those clubs, from the tea lady to the stewards, on to the man who checks your tickets at the turnstiles. Inside Left fondly remembers standing on the terraces at (in those days) Third Division Arbroath and Forfar, or Ellon United and Cove Rangers, watching some of the best football to be seen anywhere in Scotland. It sounds strange perhaps, but many of those clubs are so far removed from the glitz and glamour of the top leagues but they do more to stay connected with their fans and the communities they serve than all the SPL teams put together. So, for reminding us that football is, and always will be, for the supporters and not the mega corporations: the magic of the preliminary rounds of the Scottish Cup.

Now, we know the last thing you expected to read here was a diatribe on communism and the evils of the corporate state, so for balance we give you our last nominee.

The Homecoming Cup. We know this was technically not last week, but it's our blog, so we can do what we like, awright pal? Keeping the Scottish Cup in mind, the SFA announced a new two-year sponsorship deal for the Scottish Cup in partnership with businessman (and former Celtic director) Willie Haughey and the Scottish Government last week. The deal, worth some £1m ties in with the Homecoming festival that marks the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns's birth and which seeks to attract tourists to Scotland. The Scottish Cup will be renamed the 'Homecoming Scottish Cup' until after the festival. So that's the corporate lingo out of the way, why do we think it deserves a 'Performance of the Week' award? Well, anything which promotes Scotland and Scottish football (and in particular, the Scottish Cup, the second oldest national cup competition in the world) is worthy of an award. Secondly, the attention that the Homecoming festival brings with it will be used to tackle some of the most serious issues affecting not just football, but also Scottish society in general, namely sectarianism, alcohol and drug misuse and domestic abuse and violence. Lastly, the name 'Homecoming Cup' is just a great name, awaking sentiments in Inside Left that can best be described by listening to 'Letter From America', a song by Leith's finest, The Proclaimers. And if that's not worthy of an award, we don't know what is.

The Weekend Action in Scotland - 25th October

As the economy flaps around our ankles like a pair of wet Y-fronts, for ninety-minutes (or ninety-five if you're Rangers and you're a goal behind) we forget all about the impending collapse of capitalism and the rise of world communism and put on our scarves and rosettes and head down to the stadiums around the country. It's not quite a full league card tomorrow - the teams in the Third division and the Highland League are in action in the second round of the Scottish Cup which also kicks off tomorrow.

There's a few interesting fixtures elsewhere though. It'll be an emotionally charged game at Tannadice tomorrow when St. Mirren come for a visit. Derek Riordan, should his injury heal in time, returns to Parkhead with his new side Hibs. We all remember how well another former Celtic player did when Kenny Miller returned to the East End of Glasgow in the first Old Firm game of the season. Dundee, still without a manager following the sacking of Alex Rae earlier this week travel to bottom of the table Morton hoping to get their season back on track. And in the Scottish Cup, Annan Athletic take on Spartans in a third-division-election grudge match. Possibly.

Right, let's get cracking then.

Celtic v Hibernian
Celtic have had a pretty tiresome week. A heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester United in midweek will no doubt have taken the shine of the season so far. With realistically only the Uefa Cup to look forward to in terms of European football, the knives have been out again on some football sites for Strachan's dismissal. It's all slightly unfair we think - Manchester United are one of the best sides in the World and lets not forget there are many teams even in the EPL that regularly get beaten by Ferguson's side. In other words, we shouldn't read too much into that defeat and Strachan has been, in modern terms, a successful Celtic manager.

Hibernian are not without their own problems. Manager Mixu Paatelainen has failed in his bid to get his latest touchline ban overturned (he was sent off by referee Ian Brines in the 4-3 defeat at Morton) and so will be watching the next four games from the comfort of the directors box. We're too lazy to look it up, but it just seems to us that the Big Finn seems to be spending an awful lot of time watching the game the stands. Likewise, Celtic's Artur Boruc (aka 'the holy goalie') has been making headlines again - he's been fined by the SFA for giving the Rangers fans the one fingered salute during an Old Firm game earlier this year. It adds to a list of misdemeanour's that would make Joey Barton blush. We hope the massive £500 he's been fined will make him think twice before committing another buttock-clenching clanger.

Hibs won the first game between the two sides last season 3-2, but a 1-1 draw aside, that would be the summit of their achievement against the eventual league champions. It'll be a good game we reckon. we're very excited by the combination of Fletcher-Nish-Riordan at Hibs. An imposing strike force (on paper anyway) that puts us in mind of the 'Famous Five', a forward line of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond that dominated Hibs in the early 50's. Celtic are out to put the midweek defeat behind them and extend their lead over Rangers at the top of the table, while Hibs will be hoping a result at Parkhead, together with an Aberdeen win at Tynecastle will help them overtake rivals Hearts.

Dundee United v St Mirren
It's been three weeks since Dundee United played a game of football (the 2-1 win at home to Caley). The Arabs had turned around a pretty poor start to the season to notch up four wins in a row and push themselves up the table. Sadly, the day before the game against Rangers, United chairman Eddie Thompson died following his long battle against prostate cancer; the game was called off and the club, as well as the town went into mourning for a man who was well-liked by all associated with the club. The impact the loss of the chairman will have on tomorrows game will be hard to gauge: either the team responds to thrash their opponents, or the genuine outpouring of grief will put a dampener on their performance. For St. Mirren, it'll be an awkward situation on a day when they're largely incidental - it is after all the first home game United have since the death of Thompson.

Before last weekends events, both teams had been on good form. Like we said, United had won their last four (Aberdeen, Airdrie, Hearts, Inverness), St. Mirren their last two (becoming the first team this season to beat Rangers). Two teams with solid wins behind them should make for an entertaining game, but given the weeks events who knows what might happen. Go and visit the excellent Arab Blog for a good preview to this game. They reckon United will win 2-0, we reckon St. Mirren might sneak a 1-0 win here.

Hamilton v Rangers
Rangers are another team that have not played in three weeks, but despite the long lay-off, expect Rangers to come out guns a-blazin'. The furore around Kris Boyd's resignation from the Scotland squad did not die down when some of his team mates backed up his decision not to play for the national side again while George Burley was in charge. Accies meanwhile are beginning to find that life in the SPL is long and hard. From a good start to the season, the team are now in 11th place, two points ahead of bottom side Falkirk (although they are a win away from 6th place). Manager Billy Reid (in common with most other SPL managers) probably doesn't expect much from tomorrows game: a point perhaps, nothing more. Indeed, history has not been kind to Accies in this fixture. In the 80 meetings between the two sides, Accies have won just nine, and their last win was in 1938. Along the way, Rangers have knocked up some terrific scores (6-0, 7-1, 8-1, 8-0). That said, St. Mirren probably didn't expect much from their game with Rangers either and look what they did. The key - defend like buggery, hit 'em on the break and defend like buggery again. Last season's Division One top scorer Richard Offiong has only scored once so far for Hamilton, suggesting the step-up to the higher division is bigger than we'd like to think. In contrast, Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd between them have scored seven times in the league so far. We expect them to add to that tally tomorrow - even home advantage wont save Hamilton from a thorough seeing-to.

Hearts v Aberdeen
Last season, Inside Left had the distinct misfortune to be at Tynecastle to see at first hand just what Hearts are capable of. A combination of some shocking defending and dreadful goalkeeping led to a heavy 4-1 defeat, the temporary failure of the floodlights not enough to stop the game after groundstaff put another 50p in the meter. Ah sure, that was then, this is now. Aberdeen finally won a game last week at Falkirk, their first in six attempts, and continued their good run of form away from home. Hearts have not won a game in their last three attempts, though the point last weekend against Hibs in another pulsating Edinburgh derby was welcome relief for Hearts coach Csaba Lazslo. Aberdeen could in theory move into the top six tomorrow with a win, but Calderwood faces selection problems as the cold north-east wind has seen several first team members (Diamond, McDonald, Kerr) go down with flu, meaning the Aberdeen team selection will be decided as the players turn up to get on the Citylink bus in Guild Street.

Mind now and check out the Aberdeen page at The Offside for a more in-depth preview of this game.

The final two games in the SPL feature three teams in the lower half of the league, and one that's exceeding all expectations so far.

Kilmarnock take on a Falkirk side that have never managed to get out of the bottom half of the table. John Hughes' men are propping up the table and trail Jim Jefferies' side by nine points (and league leaders Celtic by a massive 15). Kilmarnock are doing their typical yo-yo routine: a crap season followed by good season followed, inevitably by another shocker. Last season they finished second bottom (granted, 27 points ahead of Gretna) so given their pattern, things are going according to schedule at Rugby Park. Kilmarnock's home form has been pretty good so far (the only blot in their copybook being the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Celtic) while Falkirk are the only team in the SPL not to have won away from home this season. Dont expect that to change tomorrow, unfortunately.

The final game has Motherwell travelling north to Inverness. When we where researching this preview, we had the impression that Caley where a good home team, but looking at the table that's not actually the case: Thistle have only won once at home, compared to two wins away from home. Likewise, we where going to put the word 'struggling' in front of 'Motherwell', but in fact, McGhee's side have knocking out some decent results (United, St. Mirren, Falkirk) whilst not doing badly against Rangers back at the end of September - just don't mention Celtic. Motherwell are certainly a shadow of the last-season self. Somehow, we just cant see them repeating their 3rd place finish this year. David Clarkson and John Sutton are good for nine goals between them, but imagine how they'd have done if Ross McCormack (good for eight goals in 11 for new club Cardiff so far ) had stayed with the club.

Scottish First Division

Dundee could welcome back former Scotland manager and Dundee player Craig Brown as manager, if the rumours are to be believed. For now though, they'll have to do with assistant manager David Farrell handing out the half-time oranges when they travel to Greenock to take on bottom side Morton. Morton won their first game of the season last week against Clyde, so there's a lot to play for for both teams. Queen of the South, surprisingly beaten by Airdrie last week travel to Dingwall for the encounter with Ross County, a team that has hit a run of form and reached a domestic cup final. Doonhamers boss Gordon Chisholm has been linked with the vacancy at Dens Park - hopefully that wont unsettle the team too much. A cracking game possibly at McDiarmid Park, Perth when Partick Thistle take on St. Johnstone, another team that has suddenly hit their stride. In fourth place, one point behind the three teams that occupy the top spots, the Saints have not lost in four games. Livingston take on Clyde, while Dunfermline take on Airdrie, two top teams taking on two bottom teams - expect some easy wins there.

Scottish Second Division

Two teams promoted from the Third Division meet up: East Fife and Arbroath. East Fife are comfortable so far in the league, Arbroath are bottom and really not doing very well. Peterhead will be hoping for a valuable three points to keep in touch with the teams above them when they play second-bottom Alloa. League leaders Brechin take on the part-timers of Queens Park, third placed Ayr meet Stirling while Stranraer welcome second-placed Raith Rovers.

Scottish Cup

There's lots of games in the second round of the Scottish Cup this weekend. The stand out tie is the one at the Galabank when Annan take on Spartans, one of the teams they beat to the Third division spot left vacant with the demise of Gretna. The only tie to feature two teams in the senior league is at Berwick, who take on Albion Rovers.

The full fixture list is as follows (with all games kicking off at 3pm, except Lochee Utd against Buckie, which kicks off at 2pm, though possibly not to accommodate Setanta).

Annan Athletic v Spartans
Berwick v Albion
Brora v Forfar
Civil Service Strollers v Vale Of Leithen
Clachnacuddin v Crichton
Cove Rangers v Whitehill Welfare
Cowdenbeath v Elgin
Dalbeattie Star v Selkirk
East Stirling v Preston Ath
Edinburgh City v Wick Academy
Forres Mechanics v Keith
Fraserburgh v Dumbarton
Inverurie Locos v Banks O'Dee
Lochee Utd v Buckie Thistle
Montrose v Huntly
Stenhousemuir v Threave Rovers

If you're going to any of these games - or indeed any of the games in Scotland today - please let us know how your team did. Enjoy the games!

17.10// The Weekend's Fitba Preview

It seems like ages since we've done one of these match previews.

Despite all the excitement and talking points that the international break has brought, league football is really what we're into here at Inside Left, so where glad to be talking about the action taking place across the country. There's not that many games on this weekend that stand out particularly - there's three 'basement battles' on this weekend, starting in the SPL as Falkirk and Aberdeen meet, Morton and Clyde play in the First division while down in the Second division, bottom club Alloa take on 9th places Arbroath. We have the first Edinburgh derby of the season on Sunday, but other than that, much barrel scraping to find something worthy of note failed to turn up anything at Inside Left HQ.

Oh, some housekeeping first: the game between Dundee United and Rangers has been called off following the death of United chairman Eddie Thompson on Wednesday. No date has been announced so far, but we hope we're not going to hear Rangers bleating on about fixture congestion come the end of the season. So, where to start ...

Falkirk v Aberdeen
Two sides struggling with form. One that can only win at home (Falkirk) and one that can only win away from home (Aberdeen). Manager Jimmy Calderwood travels south without influential left-back Charlie Mulgrew, suspended following his sending off against Hibs last match-weekend and reserve keeper Bertrand Bossu, who has a calf strain: third-choice keeper Johnathan Bateman has been added to the squad. No Falkirk omissions have been reported so far. Last season's encounters had the Dons coming out on top twice, with two draws.

The Bairns lost their last league game (to Motherwell), before which they recorded a cracking win against Hamilton while Aberdeen have not won a game since the end of August, so the pressure is on. In a week of 'must win' games, here we have another one. Falkirk could do with some more points to lift them out of the basement and Aberdeen have to win, or at least not lose, to keep the season on track. It's not beyond them and three points and good results elsewhere could see the Dons up as high as 8th place. Remember Dundee United where bottom of the league only a few weeks ago - a few good results, and look at them now.

Check out our more in-depth preview of this game over at The Offside!

Hamilton Accies v St Mirren
The Accies' season seems to be coming apart a wee bit. Three back-to-back defeats, including two heavy thumpings against Falkirk and Celtic, means the SPL new boys are heading down the table. Topping the table in the first two weeks their current position, 7th, is their lowest this season. St. Mirren recorded a famous win against Rangers in their last game, a win that took them off the bottom of the table into 10th place. Richard Offiong returns for Hamilton meaning manager Billy Reid has pretty much a full strength squad to chose from. St. Mirren, they'll have to do without striker Jim Hamilton. It's the first time the sides have met since they where both in the First division, in season 2005-06, when two wins and two defeats each (and one 0-0 draw) was the sum total of their efforts. Done expect too much from this game we reckon, but we could be wrong.

Inverness CT v Celtic
A chance for Celtic to extend their lead at the top of the SPL, as Rangers are not playing this weekend. The 12th meeting between these two sides in the league has Celtic winning nine so far, with Caley's only win so far against the Hoops coming in the second match-up last season, notable for the fact that Caley came from two Vennegoor of Hesselink goals behind to win 3-2 ...

Caley are back in mid-table following a short period (well, one week) at the top of the table following their opening day win against the Dons. Celtic, aside from the 2-4 defeat at home to Rangers have been cruising the league so far, and Strachan should take solace from the fact that Caley's only have one home win this season.

Kilmarnock v Motherwell
Killie have had a reasonably good start to their season, keeping under the radar as they put together some steady form to push them into the top half of the table. Good wins against last seasons league split teams Hibs, Dundee United and Aberdeen where offset by heavy-ish defeats to Celtic, Rangers and Caley. Motherwell are another side from whom you'd expect better. Pretty much the same team that finished 3rd last year, results have been harder to come by than a bus on a rainy day. Only three league wins so far and seemingly finding it hard to keep the ball out of their own net, Mark McGhee has work to do. Motherwell narrowly beat Killie at Rugby Park last year - the goal scored by the late Phill O'Donnell.

Scottish Football League

Down in the First division, league leaders Queen of the South take on Airdrie United, one half of this years Alba Challenge Cup finalists. The Doonhamers are undefeated since they lost to Dumbarton on the second game of the season. Before the international break, Gordon Chisholm's men thumped Livingston 6-1, so he'll be hoping his charges can carry on that form.

Dundee, no longer subject of a take-over face the other half of the Challenge Cup final, Ross County. The Dingwall side are slowly  climbing up the table and living up to expectations following a series of solid results against Airdrie and Morton. It's 3rd against 4th when Dunfermline take on Partick Thistle, Livingston will be hoping to put that heavy defeat against Queen of the South behind them to force a result against a stuttering  St Johnstone, while at the bottom of the table, Morton will try to close the gap between them and their opponents, 9th placed Clyde, when the two sides meet in Greenock.

Second division basement boys Alloa take on Arbroath, high flying Peterhead take on Third Division champions East Fife (who've already knocked Ayr off the top of the table). League leaders Brechin travel south to take on Stirling Albion. The Glebe Park outfit are one of only two teams in Scotland yet to lose a game (Third division Stenhousemuir being the other). Cash-strapped Stranraer take on the team above them in the league, Queens Park, while third placed Raith Rovers welcome second placed Ayr to Kircaldy.

Third division's top team Stenhousemuir face an easy trip to bottom placed Elgin, hoping the teams directly below them, Dumbarton and managerless Montrose share the points. East Stirling take on Berwick, Forfar welcome Albion Rovers to Station Park while in the final game, it's back to where it all started for Annan Athletic.

The SFL new-boys, elected to the league before the start of the season welcome the team they played in their first ever senior league game, Cowdenbeath. The Galabankies won 4-1 on that day, but since then the form has taken a dip and the team now find themselves in mid-table.

The Highland League

The game of the weekend in the Highland League is the SFA North Region Challenge Cup Final between Cove Rangers and Inverurie Locos. The game will be played at Deveronvale's Princess Royal Park in Banff. A bit of a local derby this one and should be a cracking game - the two teams lie in third and second place respectively, some distance behind the team at whose ground they're playing the final tomorrow!

Elsewhere, Buckie Thistle take on Keith, mid-table rivals Forres and Lossiemouth lock horns while Fraserburgh against Nairn County, Huntly against Brora and Wick versus Clachnacuddin complete the activities up north. Remember to get yourself down to Fort William for the friendly against a Skye select and a chance to meet the 'America's Team', ehm, team who will be in and around the town. Get along and ask the questions, meet the team and to find out more about the exciting times ahead for the Fort.

Right, that's the round-up of the weekends action for you. We'll be back tomorrow with the Edinburgh Derby update, as well as bring you the score from the final up in Banff.

The Midweek Update

Jings, listening to the news these days, you'd think the world has fallen in on itself. Banks are being nationalised (if they're not already bankrupt), inflation and unemployment are on the rise and even the Scottish Parliament is asking for a handout. We're not watching the news anymore at Inside Left HQ until something nice happens that'll cheer us up, otherwise you'd top yourself. Thank God we've always got football to fall back on eh?

It's been another gala week for the followers of the round-ball game. We're not one to gossip of course, but we reckon (OK, the BBC reckons) that there are at least three football clubs in England that are in serious doo-doo if the banks and other lenders to which they own trillions of pounds decide to call in those loans. Examples include (but may not necessarily be, likesay, it's a guess as the BBC are not giving away names) Manchester United (who still owe the bank £453m), Liverpool (£43m), Arsenal (£268m) and Chelsea (£620m), to name but four.

Look, pretty much every club is in hock to some degree, so in theory every club is in danger of getting a letter from the bank saying that their overdraft exceeds the £1,000 agreed previously, and would they mind coming in for a chat.

Why does this matter to us in Scotland? The answer is "not that much really", apart perhaps from some cheap transfers from cash strapped English clubs over the summer (Ronaldo at Pittodrie anyone? Wayne Rooney to join Adam Rooney up in Inverness?) because it is business as usual north of the border. And by that we mean that most Scottish clubs have been in financial crisis since the day they where formed, so the idea of a credit crunch is not new to us.

Reports filtered through early in the week that East European investors might be interested in purchasing Glasgow Rangers. And why not, to quote Arnold Brown. They're the most successful club in football history (in terms of domestic league and cup wins), a fanatical and loyal (with a small 'l') support and one of the finest stadiums in Britain. Safe in a mickey-mouse league from which they'll never get relegated, they only have one rival for league honours and though they have the tendency to self-destruct every now and then, they're always in the top two come the end of the season. We're not huge fans of foreign investment in football, believing instead that football clubs belong to the communities and the fans, and as such should be run along those lines. But hey, it's not 1883 anymore and we've got to get with the programme, however much we don't like it. Mind you, imagine this  nightmare scenario - the East European investor is really one 'V. Romanov' and he's looking for another outlet for his Lithuanian 'talent'.

In a seamless segue from one paragraph to another, one club who are about to reap the benefits of some tasty foreign investment are Inside Left favourites Fort William. The crew from America's Team will be in the town of Fort William for a friendly against a select team from Skye on October 18th. The match will be played at Claggan Park or an all-weather pitch at Mallaig in case of a "soggy pitch."

This is an open invitation to watch the match - ask some questions - and even take part in an on-camera interviews. Elements from the match will be used for a "pilot episode" to show to the networks in the US. We urge you all to go along and view the game and find out more about what Paul McDonald, the driving force behind this venture, is planning to do at the club. Whether you agree with it or not, it's going to be a gala day out and give yourself, the wife and the weans a chance to get on the telly. We'll have an interview with Paul McDonald on the site over the weekend.

The debate rages on about Kris Boyd and his tantrums. Most of Scotland thinks he should have played on Saturday and that he should never be let near a Scotland jersey as long as there is breath left in his body, but we say fuck it, let him back in.

Let's be honest here, Boyd will be around longer than Burley and we know who we'd rather have sitting on the bench in a tracksuit. Like we said in a comment yesterday, we are Scotland, not Brazil, and as such, we don't exactly have the agony of choice when it comes to our strikers. Plus, that shiter of a result on Saturday puts the team in an awful pickle and right now, we need un-pickling. And who better than Kris Boyd. So, this is what should happen:

SCENE: A press conference, somewhere in Scotland. KRIS BOYD and GEORGE BURLEY are sat behind a table. Between them sits SFA Chief Executive GORDON SMITH

SMITH: There will now be a short announcement on behalf of the nation.

BURLEY adjusts his tie, stands up.

BURLEY: <mumbling> I'd like to apologise to the nation for playing a 4-5-1 formation against a team we had to beat at Hampden. I also apologise for not arranging a friendly game on Wednesday to give ourselves some more time together to get the team bonded a bit better. I also acknowledge that saying that Boyd needs to prove himself at Rangers was a load of shite and is inconsistent with me picking him in the first place. Lastly, I know I'm new to the job and one win in six is not exactly good, but I promise to do better. Thank you.

BURLEY sits down. BOYD stands up.

BOYD: <staring at shoes, hands in pockets> Right, ahm jist wantin' tae say 'sorry' tae the gaffer and the Tartan Army for acting a total fanny. Ah want tae play fir Scotland and ahm willin' tae prove my worth by fighting fir my place oan the training ground and givin' it laldy when the gaffer picks me, starting with me gittin' stuck intae thae Argies in November.

BURLEY stands up and hugs BOYD. The exit stage left, hand in hand. SMITH wipes a tear from his eye.

Hey, it could happen, right?

Some sad news to round of the day - Dundee United chairman Eddie Thompson died earlier today after a long battle with prostate cancer. The 67 year-old, who made his fortune through a convenience store chain has been the major shareholder in the club since 2002, and turned a £2.7m loss into an operating profit. Much liked by the United support, at the suggestion of whom one of the stands at Tannadice was named in his honour, and thousands of United fans wore "One Eddie Thompson" T-shirts at the CIS Cup final against Rangers in March.

Out of respect, the weekends fixture between Dundee United and Rangers has been postponed until a later date. On behalf of all at Inside Left, our condolences go out to Eddie Thompson's family and friends.

Still to come this week: the weekend fixture review, our game of the week (when Cowdenbeath take on Annan) and a whole host of other goodies (possibly).

Oh, one last thing: the Aberdeen page on the Offside is now active and, if you dont mind us saying this, looks rather grand. The writing is incisive and of high quality and obviously written by someone who knows what they're doing. Go check it out!

Match Day: Scotland 0 - 0 Norway

Scotland top group 9 this evening, but a staggering miss from three yards out from Chris Iwelumo - making his debut for Scotland - may well come back to haunt George Burley's side. The Netherlands, Scotland's next opponents in March next year, play Iceland this evening in Rotterdam and will overtake the Scots should they win.

In an exciting end-to-end game with many chances, Wolves player Chris Iwelumo missed probably the easiest goal he would ever score. The 30 year-old striker, who came on for James Morrison to partner Hib's Stephen Fletcher (in place of lone striker James McFadden) in a two-man attack somehow managed to sidefoot Gary Naysmith's cross past the post from three yards out.

At this stage, we'd have expected Scotland to have had at least six points from a possible nine, a points total that would have seen them go into the international break with some comfort before they Holland game. But the defeat to Macedonia and the points dropped against Norway may make Scotland's qualification changes that bit harder. There's no need to panic just yet - Scotland still have to play our Iceland, Holland and Macedonia at Hampden and Burley should be looking to get six points from those games. Holland will be tough to beat (though not impossible, the Dutch where lucky to come away with a win in Macedonia) and no one is expecting too much from those games but let the two lessons be learned from tonight's performance: Scotland play better with two up front, and you cannot afford to drop points at home.

 

05.10// The Weekend’s Fitba

Following on from yesterday's games which saw 13 goals scored in the SPL and a further 39 in the SPL, there where two more games in Scotland this afternoon to complete the weekend fixtures before we go on our international break.

At Fir Park, Motherwell take on Falkirk, while in the early kick-off, St. Mirren welcomed Rangers to Love Street.

A single Stephen McGinn goal late in the second half earns St. Mirren a hard earned victory against League leaders Rangers at Love Street this afternoon- the three points, their first win over Rangers since the mid-80's, lifts Gus McPherson's side off the bottom of the table and consigns a luckless Aberdeen to 12th spot in the league.

In the late game at Fir Park, Motherwell and Falkirk played out a cracking game, with Mark McGhee´s men coming out 3-2 winners. Goals from Motherwell´s Jamie Murphy, Chris Porter and John Sutton where enough to edge out the Bairns, for whom former Aberdeen striker Stevie Lovell scored, together with Graham Barrett. Motherwell move up to eight spot, Falkirk remain in danger zone on seven points.

04.10// The Weekend’s Fitba

The Saturday action is over for another week. The scores are in, the points tallied up and the tables adjusted. On a weekend with lots of goals, there where big wins for Celtic and Queen of the South (undoubtedly the result of the day), St. Johnstone, Ross County, Dumbarton and Brechin. The only game without any goals came at Firhill where Partick and Dundee played out a 0-0 draw.

In the SPL, there where wins for Hibernian who overcame Aberdeen 2-1, thanks to goals from Derek Riordan. He pounced on a mistake from Aberdeen defender Lee Mair to poke the ball past Langfield. Lee Miller equalised for Aberdeen from the penalty spot and with the Dons having most of the possession and chances in the second half, it looked as if an Aberdeen win (or at least, not another defeat at home) might be on the cards. It was not to be however - Charlie Mulgrew, an important player for Aberdeen in recent games - was adjudged to have handled the ball on the goal line. The former Celtic left-back was sent off, and Derek Riordan converted the spot kick. The win leaves Aberdeen in second bottom place. Should St. Mirren beat Rangers at Love Street tomorrow, the Dons will drop into 12th place.

Elsewhere, Lee Wilkie scored twice in Dundee United´s 2-1 win over Inverness CT - albeit his second being an own goal. It was not enough though to prevent United taking all three points and a jump back into the top 6 of the league. As always, The Arab Blog has a good review of the game.

Kilmarnock record a 2-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle wih goals from Mehdi Taouil and Craig Bryson. Celtic overcame Hamilton 4-0 in front of 55,000 at Parkhead. Shunsuke Nakamura, Georgios Samaras (on as a substitute for Hesselink), Scott McDonald and Aiden McGeady getting the goals.

Queen of the South moved to the top of the First Division following their remarkable 6-1 demolition of previous league leaders Livingston. A screamer from Jamie McQuilken, two goals each from Stephen Dobbie  David Weatherston sank the Livi Lions, Paul Burns adding the sixth. Dingwall side Ross County scored three times in 10 minutes late in the second half to beat bottom side Morton 3-0. The win moves them three points clear of the Greenock side who have not won a game this season. Dunfermline and St. Johnstone both record wins against Clyde and Airdrie respectively.

In the Second Division, Peterhead lose out to Ayr United, who move back into second spot. Brechin remain on top thanks to their 3-1 win over bottom side Alloa. New boys Annan Athletic rack up another heavy defeat, this time 4-1 away to Dumbarton. The Galabankies remain in 6th place, but with 10 goals in three games conceded, manager Harry Cairney will need to turn it around soon. Elgin City needed a penalty from Darren Shalliker to salvage a point in their game against Berwick Rangers.

Tomorrow Rangers take on St. Mirren at Love Street, while Motherwell entertain Falkirk. After that, the league takes a break until the 18th of October as the Scotland side plays Norway in the World Cup 2010 qualifier at Hampden. When we return to league action, we have another tasty tie to look forward to - the first Edinburgh Derby of the season.

03.10// The Weekend’s Fita

Aye aye, fit like theday? There's another full card of fixtures this weekend across every division in Scotland, so without further messing about, let's get to it.

Probably the game to keep an eye out for is the one taking place at Pittodrie as Aberdeen take on Hibernian. Following a poor set of results which has seen the Dons slump to second bottom of the table without a home win to their name, the pressure is starting to build on Jimmy Calderwood.  The game against Hibernian is seen by some of the Aberdeen faithful as a vote of confidence in Calderwood's management of the club and a win is badly needed to raise morale amongst the players and the fans. Games between these two sides tend to produce a lot of goals. Last seasons five encounters produced seventeen; in three of the games, one or both teams scored three goals with the Dons edging out the Hibees with 2 wins, 1 defeat and an entertaining 3-3 draw in the first meeting between the two last season. But Aberdeen's home form has been appalling so far. Just two goals scored at home (against Rangers and Hamilton) and six conceded. Hibernian's heavy defeat to Rangers in last weekends tie will spur on the team to get at least something here, and they'll be banking on Aberdeen's home form continuing.

Elsewhere, Dundee United and Inverness Caley are both hoping to keep their seasons going when they face each other in Dundee. Both United and Thistle recorded wins last weekend, so confidence is high for both teams.

Hearts take on the team with which they swapped third spot the other week, Kilmarnock. Both teams lost heavily last week, to Dundee United and Inverness respectively. For Hearts, a win tomorrow will be their first against Jim Jefferies' men since April 2007 while Killie will be hoping to continue a run of form that had them drop only two points against the Jambo's last season.

Motherwell go into their fifth fixture in two weeks as they try and put the disappointment of Thursday's Uefa Cup exit behind them. Motherwell lie in 10th spot, level on points with tomorrows opponents Falkirk. Both sides won last weekend - Motherwell came from behind to beat St. Mirren while Falkirk trounced Hamilton 4-1. Motherwell have not won a game against Falkirk since February 2007, while Falkirk look to be hitting a run of form. They're undefeated in four games so far (three of those in the league), so an interesting game could be on the cards there.

Bottom side St. Mirren welcome top of the table Rangers to Love Street. The Buddies failed to score against Rangers in the three games last season (conceding 9 along the way) and in fact have not beaten the Ibrox side since 1985. Rangers are in good form as their win against Hibs last week showed. St. Mirren's Billy Mehmet has scored seven so far this season for Gus McPherson's men, but you just fear that with the record St. Mirren have against Rangers, that it'll be Mark Howard and the Rangers strikers that'll have a busier afternoon.

In the First Division, its second against first as Queen of the South play Livingston, and ninth against tenth as Morton travel north to Dingwall and a game against Ross County. Peterhead will be hoping to put some distance between themselves and third placed Ayr United when the teams meet tomorrow afternoon's Division Two fixture.  League leaders Brechin take on bottom side Alloa.

There are no stand out fixtures in the Third division other than perhaps the game between Dumbarton and Annan Athletic. The Galabankies had set a cracking pace in the opening weeks of the campaign, but back-to-back losses against Forfar and Berwick have seen the team move down the table. Hopefully a win will get the season back on track.

If you're going to the games, we'd love to hear your views and reviews of the match. Leave us a note when you get back and we'll put it up on the site.

Performance of the Week - Week 40

It’s Monday, which means it’s Performance of the Week time, Inside Left’s opportunity to give recognition to those teams, players and events in the week just passed that deserve a special mention for services rendered in the name of Scottish football. As always we have three nominations for you to choose from, so without further waffling, here are this weeks nominations, each one carefully hand-picked by the staff of Inside Left.

East Fife, for their continued good run in the second division. Undefeated in the league since the 2-1 defeat at home to Queens Park five games ago, they beat league leaders Ayr 3-0 at the weekend. The Fifers have only lost three times in the league so far but their season has not been too bad. Their cracking form at the end of last season had them go 11 games undefeated and which led to eventual promotion to the Second division. Certainly, compared to their fellow promotees (Stranraer, currently second bottom and in financial crisis, and Arbroath, in bit of a free-fall at the minute are third bottom), East Fife are doing well thank you very much. In fifth spot, one behind the play-off places, we had East Fife doing well this season, and so far they've not let us down.

The Scottish Football authorities, for somehow keeping Rangers and Celtic apart for another League Cup  round, something they're actually quite good at. In another closed-door, non-televised draw, the powers that be have paired up Celtic with Kilmarnock, a team they've already beaten, while Rangers get a home game against Hamilton, another side whose form has taken somewhat of a dip. Not that we're implying anything of course, we know it makes sound financial sense to have the Old Firm in the final rather than say, Dundee, but really, you'd think that these two sides would meet more regularly in the Cup other than in the final. In the last few years (2007/08, 2006/07, 2003/04, 1999/00, 1996/97 and 1991/92) they've avoided each other at the Quarter Final stages of the competition. Alright, there have been some years when the teams met (2005/06 and 2004/05 they met with Celtic and Rangers winning one each) but it was only in 2002/03 that the league struck gold by having both halves of the Old Firm in the final. Occasionally it does go wrong mind you. We've had Hibs in the final twice in the last few years playing non Old Firm opposition (Livingston and Kilmarnock), but these finals are few and far between. Anyway, like we said, we're not implying anything, and calls from Donald Findlay QC on behalf of the Scottish Football League in relation to this article are not appreciated.

Inverness Caley, for finally getting a home win. It's taken a while but Caley are no longer a member of the 'zero home wins' league, leaving only St. Mirren and Aberdeen, along with powerhouses such as Clyde, Morton, Forfar and Elgin to keep the flame of home-game ineptitude burning. Their 3-1 win over Kilmarnock, their first home win since the 6-1 demolition of Gretna back in May pushed Thistle into fourth spot.

That’s it for this week. Leave a comment with your choice or, better yet, nominate your own. See you all next week!

28.09// The Weekend Roundup

Aye aye and welcome to another round-up of Scotland's football action.

We've got a batch of SPL games to get through, there is the action in the Scottish Football League to tell you about as well as some interesting scores and stats from the First Round of the Scottish Cup. Fort William, a regular name to appear on Inside Left where also in action and, as usual, they didn't disappoint. Keep reading on to find out how they got on.

But we start with a promise to you, dear readers.

We've said it before, but we really must stop doing predictions. We're fine with the match previews, but then we just wont let it rest would we? No, we have to go that extra bit and guess the scoreline. Once again, Inside Left shames itself with it's atrocious predictions: of the six we made, we got two right. The rest ... dear oh dear. So we pledge never, ever to do predictions again.

So, which ones did we get right? Easy: the two Old Firm scores. A bit like shooting fish in a barrel really, what else did we expect would happen? Well, for one we didn't think we'd find Aberdeen leading Celtic at Parkhead. Former Celtic player Charlie Mulgrew scored twice to give the Dons a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes to go, but it was not to be: Aberdeen eventually went down 3-2 and another three league places. Although we're disappointed with the result, the score line, and the fact that Celtic had to come from behind says more about their performance than it does about Aberdeen's.

Rangers won comfortably at Easter Road to consolidate their position at the top of the SPL. Kenny Miller's two goals will go a long way in helping the Rangers faithful to overcome their initial doubts about the Scotland international place at Ibrox. Madjid Bougherra completed the scoring as Rangers win 3-0.

Elsewhere, Dundee United trounced Hearts at Tannadice. A good write-up can be found courtesy of the Arab Blog, so you can get all the details there (just make sure you come back here). We had Hearts winning here on the basis of United's performance in the game against Aberdeen together with the sheer joy the Hearts players must have been feeling on being paid (at last) which would be reflected on the pitch in a tour de force of free flowing attacking football. But no, once again we get it completely arseways, and instead of a United pounding, we get a cracking victory.

Falkirk and Hamilton. Away win we said. Wrong. Low scoring game? Wrong again. A cracking 4-1 win, the equal highest scoring game in the SPL this weekend. We're happy for John Hughes and the Bairns for finally getting off the bottom of the table. Hamilton might feel a bit unlucky as they where by far the better side in the first half, but aye well, if you cant get the ball in the net, it doesn't do you much good.

We shudder to think what we said about the Caley versus Kilmarnock game, but we bet it wasn't the way this game actually turned out. A high scoring game (we did get that bit right), pretty much par for the course between these two sides. Are Killie starting the inevitable slide we had them down for at the start of the season? Time will tell, but well done to Caley for coming back from behind and for getting their first home win of the season.

Lastly,  Motherwell also had to come from behind to beat St. Mirren. Billy Mehmet had put the Paisley side ahead on the half-hour, but Motherwell recovered to take the three points and an all important morale boosting victory. The defeat puts St. Mirren back in their place, i.e. bottom.

So, twenty-three goals in six games, 21 yellow cards and three orderings off. Rangers and Celtic lead the table, Hearts in third, four points behind Celtic. It seems as if parity has returned to Scottish football.

Lower Division Round-up

Livingston go three points clear at the top of the First Division following their 3-1 win over Partick Thistle. Queen of the South move up into second thanks to their 2-0 win over Clyde, while there where much needed victories for Ross County and St. Johnstone, who beat close rivals Dundee 2-0 in an exciting game that saw the Saints denied two penalties. Paul Sheering and Steven Milne scored for the Perth side. Morton remain bottom, but where unlucky not to get all three points. Leading Dunfermline right into the last minute, Ross Campbell equalised for the Pars.

In the Second Division, only 228 people turned out in Stranraer to see an exciting game with 11 bookings and two remarkable come-backs by Arbroath. The game finished 2-2. Ayr United suffered a surprise defeat in Methil at the hands of East Fife. Both teams had where reduced to 10 men by the end of the game. The 3-0 defeat sees Ayr slip down to third place. Peterhead remain in second place despite only managing a goalless draw against Stirling Albion (their fourth in eight games).

Far be it for us to gossip like a daft fishwifey, but there's a few punters putting money on Peterhead's Neale Cooper being the next manager of Aberdeen. Just remember where you read it first.

Brechin City return to the top of the table. Their 2-0 win over Raith Rovers has them leading the table by one point from Peterhead and Ayr. Alloa remain bottom as they lost 1-0 away to Queen's Park.

Down in the Third Division, Stenhousemuir survived a scare at Albion Rovers, but take the three points thanks to an own goal by Albion's Michael McGowan. Annan Athletic lose again, this time 3-0 away to Berwick Rangers. Two penalties in the second half killed of the game which saw Annan's Gary Brown sent off for deliberate handball. Cowdenbeath beat Montrose 2-1 to remain in second place. The Gable Endies had Chris McLeod sent off for dangerous play. Elgin get another dose of 'Goals Against' as they go down 5-2 to East Stirling - at least they managed to complete the game with all 11 players on the pitch (they had three sent off in the 6-1 defeat to Albion last week).

The final game saw Forfar and Dumbarton sharing the points. An own goal from Forfar's Stephen Tulloch opened the days scoring and Paul McLeod's goal just after the restart looked as if it would be enough for Dumbarton. But Forfar fought back thanks to goals from Johnny Russell and Graham Gibson.

Scottish Cup, First Round

There where a lot of goals in the First-round of this years Scottish Cup. 72 goals in 18 games or an average of four per game. Ten of those 72 goals came in one game, the one at Spain Park, Aberdeen between Junior North Premier League side Banks O' Dee and - who else - Fort William FC. For most teams, a 10-0 gubbing would be a record of some sort but, as regular readers of Inside Left will know, not for Fort William. For the Fort, it's just another Saturday. Ritchie Taylor scored a hat-trick for the The Rechabites.

There were wins for Highland League sides Fraserburgh, Clachnacuddin, Huntly, Inverurie Locos (who beat fellow league side Deveronvale), Buckie Thistle and Wick Academy. Lossiemouth and Nairn County both lost (Nairn to Third Division applicants Edinburgh City), while Brora Rangers and Forres Mechanics all face a replay.

Right, that's it for another weekend! We told you it'd be good!

25.09// The Midweek Update

Not quite midweek but, aye well.  So that's another exciting Scottish League Cup round out of the way, thank God.  Note that we're refusing to call it by it's proper name, the somewhat long-winded Co-Operative Insurance Cup, because it sounds a little vague and doesn't convey any of the weight and gravitas that a domestic Cup competition ought to bring with it. At least with the 'Scottish League Cup', you know where you are; the name "Co-Operative Insurance Cup" makes it sound like it should be up there with other diddy competitions like the Johnstone's Paint trophy and the FA Community Shield.

Perhaps this explains why some teams just don't take it altogether seriously, because they forget it's actually an important trophy that just could lead to European qualification, instead treating it as a nice opportunity to try out some youngsters, or to give those players you cant shift for love nor money a run-out in the first team in the vain hope that club scouts might have decided that there was nothing better on the telly and decided to go to the game instead.

And not taking it seriously is something that you could certainly accuse Aberdeen FC of. In what was something akin to a shit-fest of epic proportions, Jimmy Calderwood's team succumbed to another defeat (a heavy one at that) at the hands of Kilmarnock and another glorious early-round exit. A goal behind before Calderwood et al even had a chance to sit down, the Dons responded with an equalizer soon after, but it all went downhill from there. Another quality display saw three goals in half an hour go in at the Red end and once again the defensive partnership of Severin (a midfielder really) and Diamond was left wanting. Aberdeen play Celtic on Saturday - God help them. A good victory for Killie though, who showed the class that has seen them lose only 2 games this season (and that to the Old Firm).

Elsewhere, Rangers made heavy work of their game against Partick Thistle, needing an extra-time goal from Pedro Mendes four minutes before penalties, while the eagerly anticipated (well, to us anyway) Lanarkshire derby saw Hamilton emerge the winners in an exciting game against Motherwell that also needed to go to extra-time. Two sending's off ('Wells Chris Porter and Accies' Simon Mensing) and a flurry of yellow cards ensured that the next meeting of these two sides on the 1st November will be another cracking affair.

The next round of games takes place at the end of October, with only Dunfermline left to represent the great unwashed masses of the lower leagues. The lineup of fixtures sees Rangers avoiding Celtic (the 'square' ball trick worked again):  Rangers are rewarded with (yet) another home game against Hamilton, Falkirk travel north to Inverness, Kilmarnock get another crack at Celtic while it's the battle of the dun's as Dunfermline take on Dundee United.

In the context of our current financial climate, you could forgive the Hearts players and fans for skipping a heart(s) beat when news broke of the staff not getting paid. It looks like the panic is over - for now. The players will have been paid their wages, the 'technical hitch' having been resolved. Regular readers of Inside Left know how we feel about Hearts, so it's with tongue firmly in cheek that we say that "technical hitch" is probably pseudo-speak for "completely slipped Romanov's mind". This is an opinion shared by the great Charles 'Chick' Young who on his BBC blog dusts off all his old cliches and asserts that Romanov has probably lost all interest in Hearts now that his other club Kaunus are a major European force. With the credit crunch in full force, Romanov might be thinking about cutting costs - remember that Hearts have larger debts than the Old Firm combined. Talks of a players strike if wages continue to be unpaid where dismissed by captain Christope Berra earlier in the week but we're not altogether confident that Hearts are out of the woods just yet. The Tynecastle side need Romanov more than Romanov needs them and should his company get into difficulties, the possible effect that would have on Hearts - and Scottish football - would be catastrophic.

And speaking of finances - at the other end of the league (and scale), Stranraer this week voted to change from Stranraer FC to The Stranraer Football Club Limited. The club are in debt to the tune of £250k and need to raise the cash in order to ensure their survival. Currently in bottom place in the Second Division, signs of cost-cutting have included not paying for overnight stay following the game away to Peterhead, players packing their own sandwiches for journeys to away games, and the sale of two to three players.  With low attendances also not covering players wages (just over 300 turned up for the game against Stirling Albion and only 279 for the game against Brechin City) the club are in serious trouble and a solution to ensure the future of football in Stranraer needs to be found urgently.

Congratulations go out to Keith and Nairn County. Keith where crowned Aberdeenshire Cup champions when they beat Huntly 5-2, a low score by Highland League standards. It was the Morayshire sides first win in the competition since 1980. The final started out on a sour note for Keith, with goalkeeper Ross Bremner getting injured in the warm-up. Also celebrating silverware this week are Nairn County, who beat an Inverness Caley U19 side to lift the ITP Solutions' North Cup.

Right, that's it for now. Back tomorrow with our look-ahead to the weekend's action.

Scottish League Cup Third-round Preview

The magic of the cup sometimes throws up some interesting fixtures.

With only SPL and First Division teams remaining in the competition, there's many a senior team that looks upon a game against lower league opposition with some trepidation. Witness for example Hibs and Hearts' exit in the last round, or Aberdeen's exit on penalties to Queens Park two years ago in the same competition. Of the five SPL teams in last nights round of games, only one - St. Mirren - didn't make it into the next round, beaten 2-0 away at Dunfermline.  Celtic, Falkirk, Dundee United and Inverness Caley all progressed.

Tonight sees the conclusion to the games in this third-round, when Rangers travel across the river to Firhill and their game against Partick Thistle and Aberdeen travel south to Kilmarnock. Of most interest though is the tie at Motherwell's Fir Park for the game against their rivals from across the motorway, Hamilton Academicals.

If you threw a stone hard enough across the motorway that divides the two towns, you'd probably make the other side. As derby games go, this is not on the same level as say, an Old Firm derby but given the proximity and the infrequency with which these teams face each other, tonight is something of a special evening. Their last meeting was in August 2005, ironically in the same competition. Motherwell came out 2-1 winners on the night thanks to goals from Scott McDonald and James Hamilton. Accies, then in the First Division having been promoted from the Second Division the year before, finished third in the season that brought St. Mirren to the SPL.

Motherwell find themselves near the foot of the table, pretty much the complete opposite of where they spent most of last season. Disappointing results such as the opening day loss to Hearts, the narrow defeats to Aberdeen and Rangers, as well as the 2-4 thumping by Celtic the week before last have made for an uncomfortable start to this latest campaign. Hamilton on the other hand have so far exceeded expectations by forging a set of results that saw them top the table after two games. Currently in sixth place, the Accies can look back on a good fightback against Aberdeen the other week for an example of the kind of form that saw them crowned First Division champions with several weeks of the season still to go. While last weeks defeat to Hibs and, before that, Hearts and Kilmarnock, came against teams above them in the league, worthy of note is that the Accies only two wins this season came against teams that are below them in the league (Caley, Aberdeen and United). Given that kind of form, you'd expect the Accies to pull off another win tonight. But wins against their more illustrious Lanarkshire cousins are hard to come by. In their 117 meetings, Motherwell have emerged winners on 60 occasions while Hamilton can claim 32 scalps. In fact, you'd have to go back to the last meeting between the two in the 1988/89 season for Accies last win against Motherwell.

But Motherwell are hurting after those back to back defeats to Rangers, Nancy and Celtic and their standing as, according to manager Mark McGhee anyway, the 'senior' club in the area is at stake (along with any bragging rights) should they lose tonight. So with more than just the next round of a largely insignificant Cup at stake, this is going to be one of those games that's either going to turn into a classic 6-6 after penalties, or a dreary encounter following a simple tap-in in the first minute. Neither team have reported any additional injuries since the weekend, so a nearly full selection will be available to both Reid and McGhee.

Aberdeen make another long journey south for their game against Kilmarnock. Following on from last weeks poor display against Dundee United (the Dons have yet to win a game at home this season), Jimmy Calderwood will be hoping to get a win against a Kilmarnock side that have been impressive so far this season. If nothing else, Aberdeen are lucky to be playing Kilmarnock; a defeat against a fellow SPL team would not be as bad as a defeat to lower league opposition (Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup last season for example) and while the pressure on Calderwood and Nicholl continues unabated, they might be forgiven for losing against an in-form side.  Aberdeen head south without the injured Andrew Considine, while both Darren Mackie, who picked up a knock in Saturdays game, as well as Richard Forster who had an unusually good game at right back against United are expected to be fit. For Killie, Danny Invincible and David Hay are both unavailable for selection, having picked up injuries in Saturdays 3-1 defeat to Celtic.

It took two attempts for Rangers to get past Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup last season, so everyone at Ibrox is aware of another potential banana-skin moment. Rangers however are flying in the league at the minute while Thistle are second in the First division following their 2-1 win at bottom club Morton at the weekend. Doubts remain over keeper Alan McGregor and the exact reasons for his exclusion from the first team. The back-up to Craig Gordon in the Scotland goal was controversially dropped after his clanger against Kilmarnock two weeks ago, though stories have begun to leak out that Smith dropped the 26 year-old because of his somewhat unsavoury off-field antics. Whichever it is, Neil Alexander will take up position between the posts tonight.

22.09// The Week In Football

Aye aye again. We just wanted to update you with all that's happening in Scottish football this week, along with a wee site update.

This week sees the next round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup (better known as the League Cup). This round sees Celtic in action against First Division league leaders Livingston, but the tie of the round is undoubtedly the one taking pace at Fir Park tomorrow night when Motherwell take on Hamilton. The only other all-SPL game is between Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.

SPL leaders Rangers take on Partick Thistle while elsewhere there are home ties for Dundee United (against Airdrie), Dunfermline, who take on St. Mirren, Falkirk, who host Queen of the South and Division One bottom side Morton welcome Inverness Caley to Greenock.  The games take place this Tuesday and Wednesday, with all fixtures kicking off at 19:45.

This week we'll be launching a new sister site on Inside Left: The Northern Lights  will be dedicated to all things related to Aberdeen FC and will allow us to vent our spleen without compromising the neutrality of Inside Left.  We will also complete our countdown to the greatest Scottish European club nights when we reveal the No. 1 game, and we have two new 'Who Are Ya?' profiles we'd like to share with you.

Along with our other regular features - Off The Ball, If You Know Your History and our tasty Meat Pies - just remember where to come for the best in Scottish football: Inside Left.

Performance of the Week - Week 39

It’s Monday, which means it’s Performance of the Week time, Inside Left's opportunity to give recognition to those teams, players and events in the week just passed that deserve a special mention for services rendered in the name of Scottish football. As always we have four nominations for you to choose from, so without further waffling, here are this weeks nominations, each one carefully hand-picked by the staff of Inside Left.

Dundee United, for their first win of the season.  It's been a long time coming, but they've finally done it. After a series of poor results and poor performances, it took a match against their New Firm rivals to bring home the first three-pointer of the season. In truth, it was a poor match and where it not for Tommy Wright's moment of lunacy just after the restart we doubt very much United would have scored; a draw would have been a fairer result. But sure, don't listen to me - I'm just a bitter and twisted Aberdeen supporter frustrated at his teams inability to win a game at home. Francisco Sandaza looks a class act and defensively United looked pretty solid. On their few forays into Aberdeen's penalty area, they certainly looked a lot more dangerous. Next week they take on Hearts, their gaffer's old team at Tannadice; can United use this win as a springboard to greater things?

The two Edinburgh teams for sneaking up on the rest of the league. We've not been kind to Hibs and Hearts (Scotland's very own comedy duo) here at Inside Left, mainly because they've just been so crap this season. Or at least, we thought so until a sobering look at the league table wiped the smile of our faces. There's the New Firm propping up the table,  while the Old Firm are joined by two of Edina's finest in third and fourth spot.  How in the hell did that happen? Well, partly thanks to other results (Killie and Hamilton losing), but also due to both Hibs and Hearts grinding out the results. Hearts are the only team other than Rangers not to have lost at home this season, while Hibs have managed to limit the damage away from home with a win, a draw and a loss. The possible blips on the horizon? Well, Hearts are financed by a man who runs a large investment bank. We live in interesting times - if Lehman Brothers can go bust, what's to stop Romanov's bank going the same way? Tales last week from Tynecastle about the players not getting paid should not be dismissed lightly. Does anyone remember Gretna?

Albion Rovers for the highest scoring game of the week. Just to prove that it's not just the Highland League that has a monopoly on high scoring games, on a Saturday where the top division produced a miserly 5 goals in four games (the highest scoring game was the 1-1 at Love Street) it took Coatbridge's finest to get the blood racing. A cracking six goals courtesy of two hat-tricks took their away goals tally to 11, a number they share with fellow division team Forfar. And to emphasise just how good that is, consider that the team with the next highest away goals tally in Scotland's top league is Celtic, with a rather poor eight. Elgin City had three players sent off in that game which takes a wee bit of the shine off the result, but nevertheless, well done Albion. The result moves the Wee Rovers up to 7th. Elgin stay bottom on just four points.

Derek Riordan, on his dramatic comeback. Lost in the Parkhead wilderness since his move there in 2006 (he made just over 20 appearances, scoring five times), his full debut against St. Mirren came in a team that consisted mainly of reserves and other Strachan cast-offs. Caught between a rock and a hard place - a manager that wouldn't play him or sell him (Celtic turned down a £400k offer from Burnley) - Riordan's public frustration at not being selected was not doing him any good. With the likes of Scott McDonald, Georgios Samaras, Vennegoor of Hesselink ahead of him in the pecking order, he was never going to get selected for first team duties. Courted by Hearts during the summer, he opted instead to go back to Hibs, his first team for whom he made more than 120 appearances, scoring 54 goals along the way. His return to the side as a substitute in the second half last week against Dundee United (in the number '01' shirt, his old shirt 10 having been given to Colin Nish), was his first game for quite some time. Warmly welcomed by the Hibs following, he was clearly short of match fitness and lacked the sharpness the Hibees where used to. But it all came good this week when he came on for Stephen Fletcher early in the second half and fired in a cracker of a goal from outside the area. It all reads a bit like an extra-cheesy Roy Of The Rovers  story - "local boy returns to his old club to score the winner". 

The magic of football indeed.

That's it for this week. Leave a comment with your choice or, better yet, nominate your own. See you all next week!