Except for some teams it nearly always does, and this week has been no exception as our top teams struggle against lower league opposition.
Dundee United finished off the Irish legs of their pre-season preparations when they narrowly beat part-timers Tolka Rovers 3-2 in Dublin (in fairness to United, there is no professional football in Ireland, so every team are technically part-timers). Levein's side where 2-1 down at one point, and it took two late goals from Lee Wilkie and Noel Hunt to spare United's blushes. The Taysiders had already lost their first fixture on Irish soil against UCD a few days previously, and while you should not read much into a friendly fixture, you would expect a bit more from a side that finished fifth in the league last year (and that's Dundee United we're talking about, in case you where wondering).
New Hearts coach Csaba Lazlo is probably not too worried about what he has seen so far following yesterdays defeat to Dunfermline (1-0) in only his second game in charge. Although there's less than a month to go before they take on Motherwell in the league, there's plenty of games coming up in which the team can get used to Csaba's style of play. Admittedly, Dunfermline are a stronger side than Glentoran, to whom Hearts lost 6-5 on penalties after the teams finished one goal apiece after regular time, but given the volatility of his boss, along with the expectations of the fans (of which one thousand traveled to Dunfermline to be at the first game under their new manager) he's going to want to book some positive results real soon.
Rangers also had a wee scare when German side Lotte scored in the third minute. Thankfully, the lead only lasted sixty-seven minutes, when Kris Boyd scored to equalize. He scored his second shortly afterwards and John Fleck sealed the 3-1 victory just before full-time. In the end it was an easy win, but Rangers will need to raise their game when they face a sterner test in the shape of FC Schalke 04 on Friday.
A pretty strong Hamilton side featuring last seasons Division One top scorer and Player of the Year Richard Offiong as well as persistent transfer target and Republic of Ireland U19 international James McCarthy went down 1-0 away to Airdrie United. Airdrie's goal was scored by the unusually named A Trailist, who had several other members of his family playing for the North Lanarkshire side. Hamilton play Berwick Rangers tonight while Airdrie are the opposition in Kilmarnock's first game of the pre-season at the Excelsior Stadium on Friday.
On the subject of Ireland, I was surpised to find that there's quite a few Scots who ply their trade in the Emerald Isle. Former Motherwell and Albion Rovers goalkeeper Jamie Ewings plays for Drogheda United. Stuart Malcolm played for St Johnstone and Cowdenbeath before moving to his current team Finn Harps in 2006. Another former St Johnstone player, Marc McCulloch, now plays for Eircom League 1 side Galway United (Mrs Inside Left's home team, where disgraced trader Nick Leason is now commercial manager). Jamie McKenzie plays for Sligo Rovers having previously played at Hibernian, while goalkeeper Chris Bennion had a brief spell at Hearts and Middlesbrough before moving to Ireland with Dundalk (where Aberdeen legend John Hewitt also played and managed). It's been a long time since we shipped Jordan, Souness, Black and so on off to foreign shores, so it is nice to see that our players are still in demand abroad.
Just to remind you, some other friendlies taking place this week include Celtic's game against Southampton tomorrow, Peterhead welcome Aberdeen to Balmoor and Dundee United take on Raith Rovers. Inverness Caley continue their tour of former Highland League opposition against Rothes.
Some other news then. At the risk of turning this into the Aberdeen FC blog (look, it is my blog so I can have as many Aberdeen stories as I like), former Reds goalie Ryan Esson joins Inverness Caley Thistle while striker Chris McGuire signs up for another three years. Esson had spells at Hereford and Shrewsbury Town and had been considered for a move back to Pittodrie when it looked like Jamie Langfield had ended his career after he verbally abused manager Jimmy Calderwood on holiday last year (it's a long story, go Google it for more details), but the the two kissed and made up, and Esson's hopes for a return to the north-east disappeared. Coventry and QPR had been interested in the 19-year-old Chris McGuire, who scored four goals in twenty-five appearances last season, but he opted to extend his time at Pittodrie to beyond 2011.
Finally, two stories to make you smile. BBC Gaelic are going to be showing one SPL game 'live' every Saturday. Inside Left did a course in Gaelic at the College of Commerce in the town, and while we can tell shopkeepers in South Uist that we work in an office in Aberdeen, that we prefer coffee to tea and that we are going to the mainland for our shopping, our textbooks don't teach us useful phrases that every Scottish football fan needs to know, phrases such as "you're a cheating Orange cunt, referee". If anyone out there is more familiar with Gaelic, we'd appreciate a translation.
And things have gone quiet on Paul McDonald/Fort William story, so here's an interesting set of statistics from last season to keep you going until the fun kicks off: the Highland League sides form guide:
LDLDLLLWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
To save you counting, there's twenty-five "L"'s at the end. Bloody 'L, as Alf Garnett might have said. Ok, thats all for today, we're back tomorrow with more Scottish football guffery. Until then, comments to the usual place!
Well - lost out temporarily on Duncan Shearer. Fort cannot pay his wages and salary demands for the first six months (i had made the offer to take it up in January) but he will give spiritual guidance to Calum for the rest of the year. Doesn't mean we won't pull a few surprises this year. This time - I will shut the hell up until I have it in writing though! And I still plan on getting the fiery red head when his contract with ICT expires next spring.
ReplyDeleteWe plan a major party for the match 9/8 v shetland. i will be there.
He who hath lesson learned. - paul