Match Day: Celtic 2:4 Rangers - The Prodigal Son Returns

Kenny Miller's controversial return to Parkhead ends with the former Celtic striker, now in his second spell at Rangers, scoring twice as he helps his new team beat Celtic 4-2, the first time Rangers have scored this many goals at Parkhead since 1994.

Pedro Mendes added a third and Daniel Cousin, a surprise choice in the Walter Smith's line-up for today's game added another, but, in a scrappy game full of the sort of incident we're used to from these games, is sent off shortly afterwards; Celtics' Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink follows him to the dressing room not long after. Georgios Samaras and Shunsuke Nakamura scored the Hoops' consolation goals. The victory puts Rangers back on top of the SPL, and any talk of a crisis at the club has been firmly put to rest.

Match Reports
BBC | ESPN | TEAMTalk | Rangers FC | Celtic FC | Football365.com | Scotzine

Picture Source: BBC

Match Day: Scottish Football 30th August Round-up

It's been another cracking day across all the leagues in Scotland. In the Scottish Premier League, a rather unique set of results sees every home team losing, we have new league leaders in all but one of the Scottish Divisions, while up in the Highland League, the call for more goals was answered with a stunning 34 goals in the seven games played.

We have round-ups of all the games in the Scottish First, Second and Third Divisions, but we start, as always, in the Scottish Premier League and a game between two sides struggling to find regular form.

Match of The Week: The Old Firm Derby - Celtic vs Rangers

There are many great derby games in the world of football. In Portugal, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. In Italy, it's AS Roma and Lazio. Argentina's Boca Juniors against River Plate is always a fiery encounter, and there's no love lost between Rio's Flamengo en Fluminense, or for that matter, between the two giants of Turkish football, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. In Holland, they even have a klassieker, literally a 'classic' between the top two sides, Feyenoord and Ajax.

But it is in Glasgow that you'll find one of the oldest, and most fiercely contested games derby games in world football today. The two teams involved are no longer the power they once where in world football, when, in the sixties and seventies Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers won European silverware as well as added to their already heady collection of domestic honours, but the rivalry that was created in the earlier part of the century has certainly not abated.

What makes the Glasgow derby stand out from the others is that the rivalry is based not just on economics (such as the Flamengo and Fluminense derby) or political (right-wing Lazio against left-wing Roma) or cultural (CSKA Sofia, the team of the intellectuals against Levski, the team of the working man), but a combination of some of those, with a dash of religion thrown in. Celtic, the team with the poor Irish, Catholic and republican background, against the rich Scots of Rangers, proudly protestant and nationalistic. East Glasgow against West Glasgow. Two successful teams in a large city, in a league they dominate alternately make for an extra bit of tension: getting one over the other side.

Its hard to believe that from the very first fixture, played in 1888 in such good spirit that one commentator at the time was inspired to write that the teams "got on so well that you would believe that they were old firm friends", the game has somehow mutated into the game it is now. The teams certainly started out with quite a close relationship playing many friendlies in front of huge gates. But like all good things, this relationship came to an end as the games became bitter, hard-fought encounters with pitch invasions, mass brawls, arrests and even deaths. An activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, admissions to hospital emergency rooms increase nine-fold over normal levels, and journalist Franklin Foer* noted that in the period from 1996 to 2003, eight deaths in Glasgow were directly linked to Old Firm matches.

With both of the sides back on top of the table, it's business as usual. Celtic won 3:0 last week against Falkirk while Rangers where unlucky to come away with only 1 point against Aberdeen on Saturday. Neither team is playing particularly well - Celtic's season only really got of to a start last week, while Rangers are grinding out results against teams they'd normally not have had too much bother with last season. Today's game is the 380th game between the two sides. Overall, Rangers have more wins (151) than Celtic (136), and last seasons games ended with two wins and two losses each with the wins coming for the home side on each occasion.

There's always something to make each game unique, and this one is no exception. In tomorrows game there will be two players on the pitch will be sure to get both sets of fans going. For Rangers, striker Kenny Miller will be expecting a tough time from the Celtic fans. Miller, a former Celtic as well as Rangers player is back in his second spell at the Gers. He is the first player to play for both sides of the Old Firm. Celtic will have Glenn Loovens playing for them today, a player that Rangers had been courting as a replacement for the departed Carlos Cuellar, but the 21-year-old Dutch defender decided to sign for Celtic in the aftermath of Rangers' exit from Europe, much to the annoyance of Walter Smith.

Old Firm games are not really noted for the quality of the football - rather, the games are physical and scrappy, with hard tackling and end-to-end excitement. Expect the usual flurry of yellow (and possibly the odd red) cards. It's hard to predict a winner, so we'll leave that to you. Leave a comment with your score prediction; we'll have a full review of the game on Monday.

Celtic vs Rangers
Celtic Park, Glasgow
Sunday, 31 August Kick-off: 1230

* Source: Wikipedia

Match Programme: The Weekend's Action in Scotland (30th August)

It's week four in the SPL, week five in the SFL and we have another busy programme of games to get through. This weekend sees the first Old Firm derby of the season on Sunday as Rangers come to Parkhead, looking to maintain their run of form that has seen them recover from early disappointments in the season - we'll have a preview of that game tomorrow.

In the First Division, league leaders Dundee take on Queen of the South though the game of the week is undoubtedly the one at East End Park between the sides in third and fourth spot, Dunfermline against Livingston. Down in the Second, Peterhead and Raith, two of the four sides filling positions one through four meet up, while in the Third Division, Cowdenbeath face a tough game against Stenhousemuir as Annan Athletic look to go five games unbeaten as they take on second bottom side Albion Rovers.

So much for the highlights, lets look at the games and we begin, as usual, in the SPL, but keep reading for our Division One, Division Two , Division Three and Scot-Ads Highland League previews as well.

Off The Ball - The Friday Round-up

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday.  One of the Inside Left Under-5 squad needed to go into hospital for something Holby-esque, but he's grand now. A few weeks in the reserves and he'll be right as rain. It's going to be a quick Off The Ball, our look at the news in and around the game in Scotland, as we've got another busy weekend of football to get ready for, including the very first Old Firm Derby of the season at Parkhead. So without further flanneling, let us get right down to the action.

Edinburgh must be a pure miserable place to be this weekend if you're a Jambo or a Hibee. For the rest of us it's just one great big laugh-a-thon. First, Hibs get knocked out of the CIS Cup by Morton and then, just a day later, Hearts go out to Airdrie United. Just how funny is that? Mixu's season, already not one of the best for a manager making his first full debut in the league, is surely a lot better though than his fellow manager down Gorgie Road. For one, Mixu's not got some looper director/owner giving him grief about team selection or racking up enormous fines (£30,000 for his rant during the Heart's AGM the other week) and generally getting his club condemned for bringing the game into disrepute. At Inside Left we feel there should be a "bringing a laugh to the game" award where the SFA hand out money to clubs who give us all a good laugh, just to lighten the burden of our futile existence - personally, there's not been a story about Hearts in the last, oh, three months or so that hasn't made us pull our head out of the oven and bring a smile to our face. We feel another smile-of-the-week moment coming on as Csaba has been in the paper again (this time the Scotsman) telling one and all that "he will be the sole arbiter of who becomes the first-choice goalkeeper". Keep believing that Csaba, you'll be league champion soon - at your next club in August 2009. We can only imagine that as the Hungarian was showing the reporters the door after the press conference, in stepped an Anonymous Player.

Csaba:  Sorry, who are you?
Anonymous Player:  I'm your new signing, Adrian Mrowiec
Csaba:  New signing? I didn't make any new signings. Signed from where?
Anonymous Player: FBK Kaunas
Csaba:  Do'h!

Mind you, it's not all roses and chocolates for Mixu as he was sent to the stand during his side's exit to Greenock Morton. The pressure is piling up for Mixu as Hibs have been spectacularly awful so far, or at least inconsistent, something that wont sit well with Hibs fans expecting greater things. Perhaps also worth mentioning is that the side that knocked them out of Europe, IF Elfsborg, where themselves knocked out by St. Partrick's Athletic, a plucky amateur side from Dublin.

Ok, enough Edinburgh bashing. For now. The six other SPL sides left in the competition didn't let us down though. Hamilton, Killie, Falkirk, Dundee United and Aberdeen all had relatively easy wins over lower league opposition, while St. Mirren tripped the light fantastic with a 7:0 win over Dumbarton. Speaking of lower leagues, did anyone see the Queen of the South game against FC Thingy? What a shame for the Doonhamers right enough and Scottish footie in general.

The result was kind of a foregone conclusion (here's a tip for all budding managers: even though you're desperate to win, don't score too soon, it tends to backfire) but their defeat has left Scottish teams in something of a pickle. You see, the wise-men that rule our game, Uefa, keep a record of how teams (and hence, national Football Associations) perform in European competitions, and every now and then they get together and re-shuffle the names about on the fridge-door to see which country did the best. It's all very complicated but the end-result is that thanks to Queen of the South, Celtic need to win the Champions League and Motherwell the Uefa Cup, otherwise we can whistle for our automatic Champions League qualification spots, and the top four teams in Scotland will all be playing in the Qualifying rounds for the European Cup competitions next year. Go Doonhamers!

Ok, a wee Old Firm story for you. News leaked out this week that confirmed something we've always known. Yes, Rangers and Celtic did have plans to leave Scotland and enter themselves into the English Leagues. It turns out that Dick "I'll have an" Advocaat and Martin O'Neill, together with the boards of both clubs got together at some top secret location to discuss the possibility of joining the 'Third Tier' down in Englandshire. The third tier, what, that would be the English League Division One now, right? Some class teams in there right enough: Northampton, Tranmere, Oldham. The list is endless. Ironically, the move was vetoed by the English League for fear of loss of revenue, which is exactly the same reason that the Scottish clubs would hate to see the Old Firm leave. This must all be very frustrating for Celtic and Rangers, but at Inside Left we have a solution that suits everyone: move Celtic and Rangers down to the Scottish Second division! That way, the Old Firm get their dream move by playing in the third tier of football and the clubs down there will get loads of money. Sorted!

Lastly, some dull accountant types published a statement telling us all about the huge sums of money the Scottish clubs made in 2006. Quote "Eight of 12 Scottish Premier League clubs recorded positive earnings in season 2006/07 and for the first time in over a decade a collective profit of £3million was posted. This is an improvement on last year's combined loss of £9million, when just six clubs were shown to have made a profit." (The Scotsman). Well done lads, good going we say, give yourself a pat on the back. "Even those clubs who made a loss", continues the report, "Aberdeen, for example, posted £500,000, and Dundee United just under £1m – they are not ridiculous figures". Phew. Nearly there, one last paragraph, then we can all get back to the Franz Kafka novels, and the Joy Division and Smith's albums to cheer us up. "It is really only Hearts who buck the trend. The club's debt peaked at £36m, which is more than the Old Firm combined."

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. See you next week!

Match Day: Co-Operative Insurance Cup (Part 2)

The next round of the CIS Cup provided another upset, while a below-par performance from Aberdeen provided plenty of drama on another exciting evening of Scottish football.

There will be no Edinburgh teams in the next round as Hearts where knocked out on penalties by Airdrie United this evening (3:4 pen). Inverness Caley Thistle also needed extra time and penalties before they finally got past Second Division Arbroath (2:4 pen). Neither Aberdeen nor Kilmarnock needed extra time to progress, but the Dons should consider themselves lucky as a Chris Maguire goal proved enough against Ayr United (1:0). Two goals by Frazer Wright and Craig Bryson in the second-half where enough to see Kilmarnock through to the next round as they beat Brechin City (2:0).

[caption id="attachment_1837" align="aligncenter" width="203" caption="Chris Maguire celebrates, but Aberdeen make hard work of their win over Ayr United."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1834" align="aligncenter" width="203" caption="Joy for Kilmarnock as they knock out Brechin"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1835" align="aligncenter" width="203" caption="Airdrie celebrate, but it's more heartache for Hearts as they go out on penalties."][/caption]

Picture source: BBC

Profile: Russell Anderson

It's about time we did another Meat Pie feature about the best team in Scotland. Now, we know that statement should come with a standard disclaimer, but as we exclusively revealed in an earlier Meat Pie article a few weeks back, had it not been for the Old Firm last season the mighty Aberdeen FC would have been league champions. So with that indisputable fact out of the way, let us proceed.

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood is still looking to bring in some more players, mainly defenders, before the transfer window closes at the end of this month. CSKA Sofia's Quido Lanzaat has returned to Bulgaria following his trail period which, according to Calderwood anyway, seemed to have gone pretty well. Also in the frame is Alan Maybury, the Republic of Ireland international who spent most of last season on loan at Pittodrie but who turned down the offer of a full-time contract at the end of the season. Despite a trail at Bristol City, no deals are on the table for the 30 year-old right-back, potentially leading to Aberdeen making another move for a player who performed well for the Dons last season and who could secure the right-back position where Richard Foster has been struggling recently.

All of which brings us neatly to the subject of today's Meat Pie. We were somewhat disappointed, but not surprised, to read that Sunderland's Russell Anderson has been sent on loan to Owen Coyle's Burnley for the rest of the season. He'll join up there with a growing Scottish contingent including Steven Caldwell, Kevin McDonald and Graham Alexander.

Following on in a great tradition of Aberdeen central defenders such as Young, Clunie, Buchan, Rougvie, Miller and McLeish, Russell Anderson, sold to Sunderland before the start of the 2007/08 season for a not altogether unreasonable sum of £1m, had been with Aberdeen since 1996 and made over 300 appearances for the club. Capped 7 times for the national side, he was widely regarded as one of the best defenders in Scotland, and his move south left Aberdeen with a tremendous problem. Together with Zander Diamond, the Aberdeen central defence was just beginning to re-establish itself as one of the more resolute back-lines in the SPL. Still without an obvious replacement - Foster and Considine are too inexperienced while Scott Severin is a midfielder - Aberdeen's defence has looked shaky of late. The goal conceded against Rangers on Saturday came from a free-kick that should never have been given away and which showed Considine's inexperience at this level, while David Weir was able to turn and rise above striker Lee Miller to head the 'Gers into the lead. You'd have to wonder if that would have been allowed to happen had Anderson - or even Diamond, out with an injury - been in the centre of defence.

Anderson has only played once for Sunderland since his move from Pittodrie. His debut - and swan song - came against his new teams 3-0 defeat to Wigan in the first game of the season, when he came on for Paul McShane in the second half. We'd gotten so used to seeing Anderson in the red and white of Aberdeen that it was strange to see him in other colours, a feeling somewhat like the feeling you get when your girlfriend cheats on you with the ugly bloke from up the road. His first action in the game was to give away a penalty, following a bad tackle that brought down Emile Heskey. Anderson picked up an injury in that game and never played for Sunderland again that season; finding it hard to re-establish himself in the first-team squad, he was farmed out to Plymouth on a season long loan. With the imminent arrival of the experienced central defender Anton Ferdinand from West Ham, it looks increasingly unlikely that Russell will be seen in a Sunderland shirt any time soon.

The reason for the lament we suppose is because deep down we're disappointed that a player that was held with such high regard north of the border is slowly slipping down the English leagues and into possible obscurity; we'd hate for him to end up like local-boy Eoin Jess, another highly regarded player at Pittodrie who didn't do too well when he went down south (unless you call spells at teams such Coventry, Bradford, Nottingham Forrest and Northampton 'doing well'). Jess played for Aberdeen between '87 and '96, then left for Coventry before returning north again in '97. He stayed until 2001 when he left to go to Bradford and other assorted mid-table mediocrity. He scored 50 goals in his first spell with The Dons and 30 in his second; he's currently youth team coach at Nottingham Forest.

Anderson and Jess are not the only players who left Aberdeen to seek their fame and fortune elsewhere. Some of those who preceded them included:

Doug Rougvie, a central defender of some class, who played for Aberdeen between 1975 and 1984 and made 279 appearances, scoring 21 goals along the way. Sold to Chelsea in 1984 for £150k, his lack of pace and his cavalier approach to tackling the opposition (he was sent off for head-butting John Fashanu) meant few regular appearances. He did notch up 100 games for Chelsea, scoring three goals. He later played for Fulham, Shrewsbury Town and Dunfermline as well as briefly managing Montrose.

Jim Leighton, the bandy-legged goalie who made over 391 appearances for the  Dandies. Part of the team that won the Cup Winners Cup in '83, Leighton drew compliments from Peter Shilton and Brian Clough and became a rare breed - a Scottish goalkeeper that could be relied upon. He moved down south with Fergie in '88 and despite a good first season, things soon went downhill. His loss of form saw him fade from view before eventually turning up again at Pittodrie via Arsenal, Reading, Sheffield United, Dundee and Hibernian. He retired after a shocking Ally McCoist foul three minutes after kick-off in the 2000 Scottish Cup final. Robbie Winters took over and Aberdeen lost 4-0.

Another Gothenburg hero, Gordon Strachan was one of the first of Fergie's Babes to leave Aberdeen. He moved to Manchester United in 1984 in a £500,000 transfer. He was initially quite successful but then loss of form saw him lose his place in the team. He moved on to Leeds United and helped them win the old Second Division and promotion to the First Division. Voted Footballer of the Year in 1991 following a season in which Leeds finish fourth, he moved to Coventry in 1995 as player-coach, then Southampton, before coming back to Scotland as the new Celtic manager where he's now hoping to be the first manager since Jock Stein to win four league titles in a row.

Stevie Archibald, the only ex-Aberdeen player to appear on Top of the Pops not once, but twice, played at Aberdeen for four seasons, leaving for Tottenham Hotspur in 1980. He played in Spain for Barcelona and RCD Espanyol before coming back to Scotland with St Mirren, Clyde and East Fife. A desperate bid to buy Airdrie - a bid which seemed to involve buying loads of Spaniards - eventually failed and he scurried back to Spain where he currently lives.

Together with Stevie Archibald, Martin Buchan was the most successful of the ex-Aberdeen players to move south. Buchan was, like Anderson, a central defender, but it was at Manchester United for whom he signed in 1972 for £120,000 that he had his greatest successes.  He stayed on at United until 1983 when injuries caught up with him, bringing to an end a career which saw him rack up 456 games in total and 34 caps for Scotland.

Our last contender is Neale Cooper, another uncompromising defender (his  nickname was 'Godzilla' on account of his ferocious tackling) who played for Aston Villa and Reading as well as managing Gillingham, Hartlepool and Ross County. He's currently manager at Peterhead where he recently masterminded a 4-0 demolition of a full strength Aberdeen side.

Given the lack of confidence that most Aberdeen fans have in the current central defensive options at Pittodrie, it would have been good to see Russell come back north. It's hard to say how he'd have performed had he been given more run-outs for the Black Cats and perhaps had he not made that rash challenge in the game against Wigan, Sunderland might not be bringing in Ferdinand.  The change from the SPL to the EPL is a pretty big one and Anderson needed playing-time to adapt his game to suit the faster pace and skill-level of the English leagues.

We've not seem him play since that Wigan game, but we trust that he's improved substantially during his loan-spell in the Championship at Paul Sturrock's Plymouth and we'd welcome him back anytime he wants to move north, hopefully twice the player he was when he left Aberdeen.

Match Day: Uefa Cup & CIS Cup Round-up

It's been another busy evening in both European and domestic cup competitions for several of our sides. In an evening of high-scoring games, including a rampant performance by St. Mirren, the magic of the Cup has given us one shock result, while it's more bad news for St. Johnstone.

Queen of the South's European adventure came to an end in Denmark this evening as the Dumfries side went down 2:1 to FC Nordjaelland. Queens took an early lead through a Bob Harris free kick in only the second minute of the game  which brought the tie back to 2:2 on aggregate, meaning that another goal by the Scottish First Division side would see them to the next round. It was not to be however, as two goals in the last five minutes by Martin Bernburg, the second from a breakaway move as Queens pushed men forward to score another goal, killed off the Doonhamers challenge. Despite the 4:2 aggregate defeat, Gordon Chisholm should be proud of his team of young players, and the side's performance against Nordjaelland over the two legs has certainly shown Scottish football in a positive light.

[caption id="attachment_1779" align="aligncenter" width="246" caption="Disappointment for Queen of the South as their European adventure ends. Picture source: BBC"][/caption]

The result in Denmark does however have negative implications. With only two Scottish sides left in Europe (Motherwell and Celtic), Scotland's position in the Uefa Co-efficient ranking table - effectively a table that determines how many places are allocated to Uefa member countries -  is under threat from countries that still have teams in the various European competitions.  Belgium, Turkey and Denmark, among others, still have representatives in Europe and depending on their success,  could push Scotland into 12th place or lower in the rankings table, meaning that from next season, Scotland will lose the automatic place in the Champions League group stage or, should Scotland drop far enough down the rankings,  one of the additional Uefa Cup places.

Co-operative Insurance Cup

For Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen, life is certainly not easy. Poor pre-season performances where matched with an indifferent league campaign which has seen them win only one game so far. Going into tonight's game against second-bottom of the First Division table  Morton, the Fin must have fancied his side's chances of going through to the next round, but amazingly it is Morton that will be entered into the draw for the next round as the Greenock side emerged the winners. With the sides level after ninety minutes, the game required extra-time to decide the winner. Steven Pinua put Hibs in front, but an Ian Russell penalty in the 115th minute, and a Ryan Harding strike two minutes later sealed the Hibee's fate. Final score, Morton 4: 3 Hibernian.

John Daley's hat-trick for Dundee United sealed a comfortable win over Cowdenbeath (1:5), with David Goodwillie getting the other two goals. John Dempster scored a consolation goal for Cowdenbeath on 75 minutes, but by that stage the tie was effectively over; final score Cowdenbeath 1:5 Dundee United

Partick Thistle proved the stronger side in the clash of the First Division leaders. Their 2:1 victory over Dundee came at the end of a game with few goal attempts, and with all the goals scored in the last 15 minutes of the game. Ian Maxwell put Thistle ahead on 78 minutes before Paul McHale equalized for Dundee two minutes later. With three minutes left on the clock, Gary Harkins converted a penalty to send the Jags through. Not a thrilling game for the 2,500 spectators inside the ground , but one with which the Thistle fans will be happy as they go through to the next round. Final score from Dens Park, Dundee 1:2 Partick Thistle.

Hamilton progress to the next round at the expense of Clyde. Two early goals (Grady for Hamilton and Clarke for Clyde) had the scores level going into half-time. Shortly after the break, Clyde where reduced to 10-men as Michael Ohnesorge picked up his second yellow card for his challenge on Brian Easton. Hamilton capitalised on the numerical advantage as first Joel Thomas and then Tony Stevenson scored to seal the win for the Accies. Final score: Hamilton 3:1 Clyde

St. Johnstone's season took yet another turn for the worse as they went down 2:1 to Livingston at the Almondvale. In an exciting game with plenty of shots on goal it was the Saints who took the lead through Liam Craig just after the break. Leigh Griffiths levelled the tie on 58 minutes and with no more scoring in regular time, it took a Jean-Jose Cuenca tie to send Livingston through. Final score: Livingston 2:1 St. Johnstone

Raith Rovers where knocked out by SPL side Falkirk; Michael Higdon got the Bairns off to a flyer with a goal in the 16th minute. Falkirk doubled the lead 10 minutes later when some sloppy Raith defending led David McGurn to foul Falkirk's Mark McGurn; John Stewart made no mistake with the resulting penalty, slamming the ball high into the top corner. Things got worse for Raith when Allan Walker was sent off for his dangerous foul on Thomas Scobbie and despite getting a goal back through Mark Campbell, Mark Stewart scored for Falkirk with 6 minutes to go, giving Raith no room for recovery. Final score Raith Rovers 1:3 Falkirk

Dunfermline struggled through against Alloa in a bad-tempered game that saw 8 yellow cards and one sending off as Alloa's Steven McKeown was sent off for dangerous play. An early strike by Andy Kirk was to be the deciding goal, as his 20-yard drive flew past Raymond Jellema in the Alloa goal. Final score from East End Park: Dunfermline 1:0 Alloa

The performance of the night comes from St. Mirren who showed the kind of goal-scoring form that the Paisley side are so desperately lacking in the league. Their demolition of Third Division Dumbarton this evening must give Buddies manager Gus McPherson some hope that his front-line, misfiring in the league, do know how to find the net. A Billy Mehmet hat-trick was complemented by goals from Steven Robb, Andy Dorman, Craig Dargo and Gary Mason as Dumbarton where dumped 7:0. The 1,747 fans inside St Mirren Park must hope that their team can emulate this kind of form when league action resumes on Saturday against Aberdeen. For Dumbarton, about the only positive thing they can take from this match is that none of their players where booked, but with only 1 attempt at goal all evening, you have to wonder if they even bothered turning up. Final score, St. Mirren 7:0 Dumbarton

Match Programme: FC Nordsjaelland vs Queen of the South

Gordon Chisholm and his team travel to Farum this evening - along with about 1,000 Doonhamers who will hopefully arrive on time despite the delays at Midlands airport - hoping to overturn a 2:1 deficit from the first leg of their UEFA Cup game against FC Nordsjaelland. The Danish side have only played one game since their victory at New Broomfield (a 1:0 defeat), and still sit, as they did before the first leg, at the bottom of the division with one point from five games. But that's not to underestimate the opposition. As we saw in the first game, the Danes are a dangerous side, technically superior to their Scottish opponents and have players that can give the Queen of the South defense plenty of headaches.

Queen of the South can take comfort from the fact that turning around a first round defeat in Europe can - and has - been done. Three of their fellow First Division teams have managed this feat to progress to the next round. In 1962, Dundee lost their first round game to Sporting Lisbon in that years European Cup by 1:0, but a magnificent 4:1 win in the return leg - including a hat-trick from Alan Gilzean - saw The Dee progress. Dunfermline beat Everton 2:0 in the return leg of their 1962 Fair Cup game to reverse a 1:0 defeat at Goodison, while St. Johnstone lost their UEFA Cup first leg game to SV Hamburg in 1971, but a 3:0 win in the return leg saw them progress.

Perhaps luckily for the First Division side, with home advantage and two away goals, don't expect FC Nordsjaelland to come out attacking; rather, the pressure is on Gordon Chisholm's men to score, something the Doonhamers have not had too much trouble with since their game two weeks ago. Solid 2:0 wins at both Partick Thistle and Dunfermline in the league and Challenge Cup will boost their confidence - both Stewart Kean and Sean O'Connor have been chipping in with the goals. It'll be tough game, but football is a funny old game and we fancy the Doonhamers to do Scotland proud.

FC Nordsjaelland vs Queen of the South
Uefa Cup, second qualifying round, second leg
Date: Tuesday, 26 August Kick-off: 1800 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC Two Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland and Sport website

Match Programme: The Co-operative Insurance Cup

The second round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup (or Scottish League Cup) takes place this evening and tomorrow evening as we add First Division and SPL teams into the mix.

Perhaps the most interesting tie of the round is the one taking place at the Almondvale this evening, as Livingston entertain St. Johnstone. Having suffered heavy defeats in the league in the last two weeks, the Saints will hope to give their season a boost with a win. Times have changed for the Saints, though they can take heart from the fact that the last time these two teams met, on the opening day of the season, they won 2:0. Livingston are cruising, not having lost in five games. Dundee and Partick Thistle meet in the clash of the top two teams in the First Division.  Both sides are undefeated in the league so far and only one point separates the sides.  Dunfermline must be favourites in their fixture against Alloa, a team still looking for their first win the Second Division. Clyde meet up with Hamilton, the team to which they lost three of the four meetings in the First Division last year. Clyde have been struggling in the league so far while Hamilton have exceeded most pundit's expectations with solid performances in the SPL that saw them top of the table until their defeat to Kilmarnock this past weekend. Nevertheless, expect a Hamilton win.

There are four SPL sides in this evening's fixtures. Dundee United travel to Cowdenbeath, a side currently leading the Third Division with nine points from four games. Somewhat ominously for the Blue Brazil, Dundee United have scored four goals in each of the last four meetings between the sides, but the good news is that the last of those wins was in this same competition in 1995 (although Cowdenbeath inflicted a 6:1 and 6:0 defeats on the Terrors back in 1959). Falkirk make the short journey to Kircaldy to play Raith Rovers. Falkirk are not getting the rub of the green at the moment, their attractive play not translating into victories. Their heavy 3:0 defeat to Celtic at the weekend was not without controversy, and Falkirk manager John Hughes will be hoping to put aside his frustrations with a victory against Raith Rovers. Raith will be without captain Ian Davidson (suspended) while Falkirk will have to make do without Russell Latapy, injured in Saturdays clash with Celtic. Hibernian welcome Morton to Easter Road as they hope to emulate their CIS Cup win two years ago. Morton are second bottom in the First Division having lost to Dundee at the weekend, while Hibs drew 1:1 with Inverness. The last of the SPL sides in action this evening is St. Mirren who take on Third Division side Dumbarton at Love Street. Dumbarton have a lot of injury worries ahead of tonights game as Mick Dunlop, Mark Canning and strikers Derek Carcary are all out, while Andy Geggan is suspended for this game following his sending-off in the last round against Annan Athletic. St. Mirren's main worry will be the referee: the Buddies have been having a torrid time of it lately, with Gus McPherson speaking out again about the ref's performance after their defeat to Hearts at the weekend.

The fixture list in full then, is as follows:

Cowdenbeath vs Dundee Utd
Dundee vs Partick
Dunfermline vs Alloa
Hamilton vs Clyde
Hibernian vs Morton
Livingston vs St Johnstone
Raith vs Falkirk
St Mirren vs Dumbarton

All games kick off at 19:45 and we'll have all the results, as well as a preview to the remaining CIS Cup games tomorrow.

Inside Left Performance of the Week Award

This week we have another three candidates for "Performance of the Week" for you to chose from. Simply vote for your candidate by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

Fort William, for scoring their second goal in all competitions in the Highland League this weekend. Michael Gillespie's goal in Saturday's 3:1 defeat to Forres Mechanics has doubled the goals scored tally this season for The Fort in one fell swoop: Richard Finnie lays claim to the only other goal scored so far in the opening day defeat away to Lossiemouth. We've been a little flippant with the Fort this season, what with the whole "America's Team" thing, but judging by the results so far, Fort William are showing signs of improvement. This weekend's defeat is the lowest score of the season and, before you say "ah, but Forres Mechanics are guff", consider that they inflicted 6:0 and 7:0 defeats on the Fort last season. Fort William had already conceded 19 goals (including an 8:1 tanking by Cove Rangers) at this stage last year but, admittedly, they'd also scored more. But goal difference is what counts, and so far this season is turning out a little better, with a goal difference of -12, compared with -15 at the same stage last season.  It's still not quite the form that's going to win you trophies, but manager John Haggerty should take heart from this weeks result.

Scottish referees, who this week proved they're worth every penny of their pay rise, produced three decisions of such ineptitude that Inside Left is still tut-ting three days later. Things got off to a start in the early game of the day at Pittodrie where linesman Bill "Billy" Baxter, proved all those conspiracy theorists wrong: sometimes Rangers do get a taste of their own medicine. Baxter made a monumental clanger at the end of the game when he incorrectly flagged Demarcus Beasley offside despite the fact that the American was clearly about a foot onside. Baxter was probably confused by Kris Boyd, who was offside but not interfering with play, as it's so neatly called, and in the heat of the moment raised his orange flag and so incurred the wrath of mild-mannered Rangers manager Walter Smith. Not that we're implying anything of course, but with a name like Billy Baxter you'd have thought he'd have kept his flag down.

Later on in the day, Ian Brines got the entire Falkirk team riled when he allowed a Stephen McManus goal when the Celtic captain appeared to have used his arm to score. Falkirk's Michael Higdon claims that even McManus admitted the goal should not have stood, it was that blatantly obvious (according to Higdon). And if that wasn't bad enough, the same referee then wanted to report Falkirk gaffer John Hughes to the SFA for visiting his teams dressing room during half time. You see, Hughes is serving a 6-match touchline ban which, as Brines claimed, prevents him from even talking to his team. It took much fur and handbags-a-flying from Falkirk director George Craig to prove Brines wrong, even so far as getting the rule book out to prove his point. Remember folks that the referees are due another pay-rise next season, so if there are kids out there looking for a career that involves earning lots of money with little accountability or regard for the rules and for which you don't need to run the risk of being caught in a dark alley handing over tablets to undercover polis, then contact the SFA and ask for the brochure "Become a referee!"; they have plenty to spare, apparently.

Lastly, what do Scottish referees and Bobo Balde have in common? The answer is that both earn loads of  money for doing fuck-all.

Yes, our last nominee is Celtic's very own Bobo Balde, for wanting to stay on at Celtic when pretty much everyone involved with Celtic FC, from the manager to the lady who cleans the toilets wants rid of the money grabbing toe-rag. He's already turned down lucrative offers from Birmingham (and driven Alex McLeish demented with his procrastination), but the Guinea international claims to love it at Celtic and wants to honour his contract, even suggesting that Gordon Strachan might change his mind. Now, Inside Left has more chance of turning out in the center of defence for the Hoops than Balde has, so why he insists on hanging around and draining the resources of his employers is beyond us. OK, it might have something to do with getting paid loads for doing absolutely bugger-all, but who are we to judge that? Balde reckons that he's being 100% professional about the whole thing and says that "if Celtic don't want me they should let me know". Balde obviously doesn't spend his hard earned cash on newspapers, nor does he check the forums. In case you're reading this Bobo: Celtic don't want you!

Match Day : The Weekends Action In Scotland - 23rd August

Another exciting day of football in Scotland comes to a close.

A quick glance at the results tells us that Hamilton messed up a chance to go top of the SPL, while St. Mirren defy the odds and score a goal (but still lose). Dundee remain top of Division One and the pain continues for St. Johnstone as another four goals are added to their 'GA' column. Down in the Second,  Alloa and Stirling are still looking for their first win of the season, and in the Third, the Blue Brazil take pole position as Albion Rovers lose their title as 'no pointers' as they beat Berwick and move off the bottom of the table. And Fort William take to the field again up in the Highland League; will they finally win a game?

Scottish Premier League

It's everything back to normal in the SPL as Celtic sit proudly atop the table (thanks to goal difference) after they tanked Falkirk (3:0). Goals from Georgios Samaras and Stephen McManus had them dancing in the aisles at a packed Parkhead. All in all, good preparation for next weekends first Old Firm game of the season. It was not all good news though as Scott McDonald will be out with a groin injury. Hearts managed to get a win against St. Mirren (2:1) even though the Saints played with 10 men for most of the game. Spanish summer signing Tonet was sent off on the half-hour for a tackle that would have won him a Judo gold medal in Peking. Jamie Mole opened the scoring for Hearts, Billy Mehmet equalised on 70 minutes and when Miranda pulled back Andy Driver in the box, Michael Stewart was on hand to convert the penalty. Hamilton slipped down to fourth place as they lose away to Kilmarnock (1:0). Manuel Pascali headed in a Mehdi Taouil cross on half-time. Hamilton played well throughout and where unlucky not to get more out of the game. They didn't help their cause when David Graham was sent off towards the end of the game, the Hamilton being shown the red card after he fouled Pascali from behind. Motherwell and Dundee United fought out an entertaining draw (1:1) in a game where United only had three Scots in the starting line-up. Check out the Arab Blog for an in-depth review of this game.

Scottish Division One

Dundee remain top of the First Division after their win against Morton at Dens Park this afternoon (1:0). Eric Paton scored the only goal of the game on the half-hour, and fifteen fouls, seven offsides and ten shots on target later, Dundee get the three points. Dunfermline and Airdrie could only manage a goalless draw (0:0). The Pars had Nicky Phinn sent of after half time for his second bookable offence. The two points dropped sees Dunfermline drop down to fourth place. Airdrie moved to seventh. Livingston where made to work for their three points against Clyde (2:1). Goals by Anthony McPartland and Leigh Griffiths cancelled out an early Pat Clarke goal for Clyde. The win keeps Livingston in the top three while Clyde remain in eighth. Partick Thistle continue their good form with a convincing win over a hapless St. Johnstone who have now conceded seven goals in two games (4:0). John Robertson opened the scoring in the sixth minute, Ian Maxwell added a second just after the restart. The win was more or less assured when Paul Paton added a third. Gary Harkins drove the final nail in the St. Johnstone coffin when he added a fourth with twenty minutes to go. All the Saints had to show for their efforts was four yellow cards and plenty to think about for Derek McInnes as they travel back to Perth.

Scottish Division Two

Kevin Fotheringham's late free-kick snatched a narrow win for East Fife as they sneaked past Arbroath at Gayfield Park (0:1). Fotheringham fired in the 88th minute free-kick to give the visitors three points in a hard-fought encounter. A Stuart Anderson goal in the sixth minute secured the three points for Neale Cooper's Peterhead against Alloa (1:0). The defeat leaves Alloa at the bottom of the division looking for their first win. Queens Park needed a goal from Barry Douglas to secure a point against in-form side Brechin City (1:1). Gary Twigg scored for the Angus side, who now slip to fourth place. Raith Rovers beat Stranraer this afternoon thanks to a Kevin Smiths's injury time winner (2:1). Mark Campbell opened the scoring on seven minutes, Gregory Tadé equalised shortly afterwards when he fired in Andy Gibson's cross. The points looked to be shared, but then Kevin Smith popped up to head in the winner in injury time. League leaders Ayr United stay at the top of the table despite throwing away a two-goal lead against Stirling Albion (2:2). Bryan Prunty scored twice in as many minutes to give Ayr a comfortable lead with less than fifteen minutes on the clock, but Stirling responded first through Nathan Taggart and then via the penalty spot as Ian Harty converted the penalty that resulted from the foul made on him by Martyn Campbell.

Scottish Division Three

Pat Walker scored twice for Albion Rovers as they finally book their first win of the season against Berwick Rangers (2:0). The result lifts them over East Stirlingshire who lost at home to Forfar (0:3). John Russell scored twice for Forfar on his debut; Derek Lilley completed the scoring just after half-time. Russell was denied his hat-trick when Greg Mitchell in the East Stirlingshire goal saved from close range. Andrew Shirra scored in the last minute to give Stenhousemuir a hard-earned victory over Dumbarton (1:2) as the Warriors continue their unbeaten run. Cowdenbeath take over from Annan Athletic at the top of the division with their fine win over Elgin City (0:2). Elgin played with ten men for the second half when Steven MacKay was sent off after fouling Brian Fairbairn. The resulting penalty was saved, but the sending off was the cue Cowdenbeath needed: Darren McGregor put the Blue Brazil ahead on sixty minutes and John Gemmell secured the win direct from the kick-off when he put the ball past Andy McNulty. Annan Athletic remain unbeaten but their draw with Montrose today (1:1) sees them overtaken by Cowdenbeath. Scott Anson scored first for Montrose early in the first half, and the Gable Endies where unlucky not to extend that lead when John Baird drilled a penalty against the post. Annan got the equalizer through Graeme Bell with twenty minutes left on the clock. Montrose were down to ten men shortly afterwards when Hugh Davidson was sent for an early bath. Annan where unable to turn the advantage into a win and had to settle for a point.

Highland League Round-Up

Three remarkable events in the Highland League to tell you about: Fort William did something they've not done for a while, i.e. score, we've had the first goalless draw of the season, and only two  players where sent off in this weekends games.

In a day when league and Cup action combined, Fort William lost to Forres Mechanics (3:1) but they had many a fan wondering if Nairn County manager Les Fridge's prediction last week before his sides game against The Fort would come true. The two sides went in level at half-time, but two goals from Ricky Wardrop to complete his hat-trick secured the points for Forres. Lossiemouth edged out Rothes (1:0) with Mark Cody getting the winning goal while a forgettable game up at Brora, with Clachnacuddin the guests, ended 0:0.

In the SFA North Region Challenge Cup, both non-Highland League teams left in the competition, Golspie Sutherland and Shetland FA, where knocked out. Golspie lost away to Inverurie (2:0), while Shetland had a tougher game away to Cove Rangers. The defending champions showed their class as they won comfortably (6:2). Up in Banff, Deveronvale beat their rivals from along the coast, Buckie Thistle (2:1). Deveronvale had to come from behind however, and the it took a last minute winner from Grant Noble to advance his side into the next round. In the final game, it took extra time to separate Keith and Fraserburgh (2:3). Ryan Christie, sent off last week against Wick in the league popped up to fire in the winner for the Broch.

Match Report: Aberdeen 1:1 Rangers

A Derek Young strike in the last minute of the first half cancelled out a David Weir's 24th minute goal as Aberdeen and Rangers share the points in the early game at Pittodrie. A fair result at the end of the day, Aberdeen will be the happier side while Rangers should perhaps feel they deserved the points, especially given the controversial off-side decision at the end of the game.

Rangers where definitely on top in the first half with all the possession and the chances. Steven Davis and Pedro Mendes had been particularly tricky for the Aberdeen midfield to deal with and both Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd had made the Aberdeen defence work for their money. The goal from Rangers came from a free-kick on the Aberdeen left side, level with the 18-yard line, conceded by Andrew Considine. Steven Thomson fired in the cross and David Weir managed to get behind Lee Miller to head the ball powerfully past a diving Jamie Langfield. Aberdeen had few chances as Rangers continued their dominance throughout the first half. But with the first 45 minutes drawing to a close, Charlie Mulgrew put in a cross towards Lee Miller on the 6-yard area which was beaten out by Allan McGregor, but the Scotland keeper could only parry it into the path of Derek Young who drilled the ball into the roof of the net from 8-yards out: a possible goal of the month candidate?

A more assured Aberdeen performance came in the second half as they continued to contain Rangers. The defence certainly seemed to have settled down with captain Severin, playing back in the centre in the continued absence of Zander Diamond, in particular imposing himself. Langfield nearly lost Aberdeen a goal in the 70th minute when he failed to spot Boyd lurking on the edge of the area as the keeper was too casual in controlling the ball from a throw by Mulgrew - he recovered with a sliding tackle to deny Boyd, but the Pittodrie crowd let out a sigh of relief. Aberdeen nearly took the lead when on 77 minutes Darren Mackie escaped the attention of a hesitating Bougherra; it took brave goalkeeping from Allan McGregor, diving down at the feet of Mackie to keep the score level. There where few other chances in the last 15 minutes as the midfield slugged it out, Tommy Wright making an appearance for Aberdeen towards the end of the game, but his appearance came too late to make a difference for the Dons. Demarcus Beasley put the ball in the net on 90 minutes, but was - incorrectly - adjudged offside in a decision that will have Walter Smith and the Rangers fan's shaking their heads in disbelief.

Walter Smith's side drops two points, Aberdeen gain one. Celtic can draw level with Rangers if they beat Falkirk today, while Hamilton can go clear at the top if they beat Kilmarnock.

Final score: Aberdeen 1:1 Rangers

Picture source: BBC
Aberdeen	Rangers
01 Langfield 03 Foster 06 Severin 21 Considine 02 Mulgrew 14 Young 08 Kerr 04 McDonald 07 Smith (Wright, 87) 10 Mackie (Duff, 81) 09 Miller	01 McGregor 21 Broadfoot 03 Weir 24 Bougherra 05 Papac 10 Novo (Darcheville,74) 04 Pedro Mendes 35 Davis 08 Thomson 18 Miller (Beasley, 81) 09 Boyd

The Weekend's Action In Scotland

It's Friday and, as we've said before, Friday is hell for football blogs. This Friday is no exception as the weekend sees another bumper weekend of fixtures, with full cards across all three top divisions in Scotland, so without further ado lets get the ball rolling.

As usual there's a few cracking fixtures coming up. For example, in the SPL, we've got a rematch of one of last seasons title deciding games, and we've got two teams hotly tipped for great things this season slugging it out at the bottom of the table, both desperate for their first win of the season. Down in Division 3, Scotland's only team without a point in the league so far, Albion Rovers, try to make it fourth time lucky when they play Berwick Rangers, and up in the Highlands, a somewhat unsavoury record has some of the teams struggling to field teams as the suspensions mount up.

Keep reading to see our First, Second and Third division previews as well as our look at the games played in the Highland League. We begin the first part of our weekends round-up though in the SPL with our gala game of the week as Aberdeen take on a Rangers side fresh with new faces, optimism and a point to prove.

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen vs Rangers

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Lee McCulloch goes looper against Aberdeen, 2007"][/caption]

Outside of the Old Firm derby, this game is probably the most charged fixture in the Premier League. Some of this certainly stems back to the early to mid 80's when Aberdeen regularly beat Rangers to both league and cup wins. To illustrate, consider that between September 1980 to about September 1988, Aberdeen did not lose in 30 of  the 33 meetings between the sides. Since then it's been mostly one way traffic, but Aberdeen have a habit of pulling results out of the bag just when they need them; consider the last game of season 2007/08 when Aberdeen's 2:0 win at Pittodrie ended Rangers' title campaign and sent the trophy to Parkhead. Aberdeen are slowly creaking into form, getting their first win of the season last weekend against Motherwell, while Rangers are on a back-to-back winning streak and seem to be recovering from all the hoo-la around the departure of their European ambitions and Carlos Cuellar. This week sees Steven Davis making the move north to Ibrox to strengthen the midfield for Rangers; for Aberdeen, Charlie Mulgrew impressed for the Dons (he's doubtful for this game however having been stretchered off while in action in a mid-week U-21 game against Lithuania). Tommy Wright's no nonsense approach in his debut game will give Aberdeen that bite in midfield that the team so desperately lacks. But once again it's that defence that's looking rocky - Diamond is out, injured in last week's comeback game at Fir Park, while Foster and Considine are still not quite the rock on which a solid season is built and will certainly struggle against a Rangers team abundant with international midfielders and strikers. Prediction - got to go for a Rangers win here.

Celtic vs Falkirk
Falkirk have been somewhat unlucky so far this season. Every match review says the same thing: like Arsenal, they play pretty football, but unlike Arsenal, are struggling to find the net. The same could be said of Celtic of course. Two games in, a win and draw and only two goals scored so far. Lucky - or unlucky - to come away with a point last week against United, Celtic will be looking to get into their stride against a team against which they put 9 goals in three games last season. Celtic will be giving a start to new signing Glenn Loovens, signed for £2.5m from Cardiff City earlier in the week while rumours are abound that Shaun Maloney might be making a return to Parkhead before the end of the month. Falkirk have brought goalkeeper Scott Flinders on loan from Crystal Palace to strengthen a defence that many see as the Bairns' weak point; McNamara, Bullen, McCann - seasoned veterans or tired old has-beens. We'll see at the end of the season. Prediction - Celtic for the three points

Hearts vs St. Mirren
Is the rot setting in at Hearts already? You've got the owner bad-mouthing his goalkeeper in front of the players after the Rangers game, then demoting him to youth coach before finally getting - guess what - another Lithuanian in to replace him as goalkeeping coach. Trust us on this one folks, the battle of wills has begun at Tynecastle. Ugandan defender David Obua joined on Wednesday, the first possibly of a Ugandan influx of players to replace the Lithuanians?  Time will tell, but as we said in Monday's Off The Ball, the number of non-Lithuanians in the side is directly proportional to the influence Csaba Laszlo has over team affairs. There's not much to say about the game really: St Mirren are very dull, they cant score and their celebrity fan is Chick Young.  We tipped them to go down this season, and nothing we've seen so far has made us change our mind. Hearts continue to entertain (albeit mainly off the pitch) but we'll back them to win this game. Prediction - a comfortable Hearts victory.

Inverness CT vs Hibernian
Early leaders Caley lost the battle of the 4-5-1 to Hamilton last weekend in a performance that left Craig Brewster disappointed at his sides lack of effort despite playing at home where they generally have a good track record. Whatever was said at that 'clear the air' crisis meeting has worked because Hibernian have finally put their brutal pre-season behind them when they beat Falkirk 3:2 last weekend in a highly entertaining game at Easter Road. Relief for Mixu Paatelainen because things where looking a wee bit rocky there for a while. Games between these two sides take on a familiar pattern: mostly, one team scores on average 2 goals, the other one doesn't score at all. Dont believe us? Well, just look at the scores in all the games between Caley and Hibs: 2:0, 3:0, 2:0, 1:0, 3:0, 2:0, 2:0, 2:0, 1:2, 3:0, 2:1, 2:1. Hmm. Caley have only lost once to Hibs at home, in their first season in the SPL. Caley are good at home, Hibs are poor on the road: Got to be a Caley win.

Kilmarnock vs Hamilton
Hamilton maintained their place at the top of the table, one of only two teams in Scotland with a perfect record so far this season. Billy Reid's young side are playing football with all the swash-buckling gung-ho of a team that's clearly enjoying their moment in the limelight. It wont last, trust us, but so far it's been pretty heady stuff. In their 0:1 win at Caley last weekend, keeper Cerny didn't have much to do suggesting that Hamilton like to keep the ball up the other end. Killie are another desperately dull side, and Jim Jefferies is the SPL's longest-serving (or is it longest-suffering?) manager who has done well to keep Killie in the SPL despite having no money to spend. One of these seasons it's going to come unstuck, but as long as St. Mirren are in the SPL, Killie should be OK. Hamilton are on form, Kilmarnock are not, so we go for an Accies win. The kiss of death we know, but aye well ...

Motherwell vs Dundee United
Here are two teams that just about every pundit had near the top of the SPL. Not Inside Left. These two teams have sixth and fourth written all over them as far as we're concerned. Motherwell are just not getting the breaks. Losing 3:2 to Hearts on the first day despite taking the lead on two occasions, then a goal in the last five minutes against Aberdeen must have Mark McGhee pulling out his hair. Defensive slip-ups against Hearts where rectified in an ultra-defensive game against Aberdeen the following week which saw them concede just the one goal (from a free-kick). All very well, but not conceding goals is only half the battle; scoring them is what makes the difference. Dundee United, handsomely stuffed in their opening day fixture by Hamilton did well to salvage a point against Celtic last weekend, suggesting that Craig Levein's side are about to turn the corner. Their biggest battle so far seems to be not other teams, but referees. Last season, these two sides where pretty evenly matched, with United just edging out Motherwell in terms of wins and goals: Motherwell 7, Dundee United 8. Both these sides need a win, desperately. Prediction: We go for a United win based on their performance against Celtic last weekend.

Scottish Division One

Inside Left's tip-for-the-top Dundee still lead the First Division by one point from Dunfermline. Their 100% record was broken last week in the 0:0 draw with Airdrie United. Given that Airdrie keeper Stephen Robertson was Man Of The Match tells a story about who should have won that game, but if you're not getting the ball into the auld onion sack, you lose points. On Saturday Dundee play Morton, a side still looking for their first league win of the season. Dunfermline are hot on the heals of Dundee. Last week they continued their amazing record of not having lost a game at McDiarmid Park for over twelve years when they demolished St. Johnstone. The Pars play Airdrie United on the back of a mid-week defeat to Queen of the South in the ALBA Cup. Airdrie's only win of the season so far has been against the team below them, Ross County. Sadly that win was not in the league, so they'll be hoping to get their first three points on Saturday. We wouldn't bet on it though.

Third placed Livingston play eighth placed Clyde. Clyde are another team who do spectacularly well in the Cup competitions (2:0 against Annan, 4:1 against Queens Park and 2:0 against Alloa) but they just cant seem to beat teams in their own division. Now that's the kind of form that had them scrapping for survival last season. The last fixture this weekend is between Partick Thistle and St Johnstone, two teams who both lost their last games. Thistle missed the chance to go top when they lost to Queen of the South on Sunday while St. Johnstone, as we said earlier got trounced by Dunfermline. Hopefully we'll get another exciting game like the one between these two sides back in the Challenge Cup in 2005 when the odd goal in 23 won the tie for Partick (4:4 in regular time, then 8:7 on penalties, in case you're wondering)

Scottish Division Two

Arbroath v East Fife
The Red Lichties started the season strongly with wins in the league against Alloa and in the Cup against Stirling, but since the 1:1 draw with Peterhead and the 2:1 defeat to Ayr last week, the wind has gone out of the sails a wee bit. The signing of former Livingston striker Steven Weir should push them to a win against an East Fife side without a win in the league so far.

Peterhead vs Alloa
Peterhead play bottom side Alloa up at Balmoor tomorrow off the back of a good recovery against Brechin last week. Two goals behind by the 15th minute, the Blue Toon scored twice in the second half to get a point. Alloa, like East Fife are still looking for their first win of the season. Some good news for the Wasps this week came when funding for a new stand for the visiting fans was secured. The £40,000 will result in a stand that seats 520 fans and should be ready by September.

Queens Park vs Brechin
Brechin lost their grip on the top of the Second Division when they threw away that two-goal lead against Peterhead last week. The upgrade of the floodlights at Glebe Park got off to a start this week and should help the club push towards National Club Licensing lighting requirements. On the field, Janczyk and Nimmo continue to impress but Brechin need to keep the form going that has seen them get off to a good start to the season. Queens Park got their first win of the season last week against East Fife, a game notable for the return to action for referee Mike McCurry.

Raith vs Stranraer
It's fourth against sixth when Raith Rovers welcome Stranraer to Kircaldy. Raith are still unbeaten in the league and where unlucky to only draw with Alloa last weekend. A tropical storm at Stirling Albion didn't stop Stranraer get a victory in the rain, the driving wind perhaps helping Grégory Tadé get on the end of Craig Frizzell cross.

Stirling Albion vs Ayr
Stirling Albion where relegated from the First Division last year and have so far made heavy work of their stint in the Second. Without a win so far, Stirling where boosted this week with the triple signing of defender Kevin Ross and midfielder's Chris Hamilton and Mark Docherty. Against Ayr United they'll face stiff opposition - The Honest Men sit top of the league and are playing well. A good win against this weekend should ease the disappointment of their proposed new stadium not going ahead as planned when the firm that was going to build the stadium, Barratts, withdrew from the project.

Scottish Division 3

In the Third Division, Annan Athletic still lead the table. They came from a goal behind last week to beat East Stirlingshire to keep their good run of form going for another week. They take on Montrose who dropped two points away at Stenhousemuir last Saturday when they threw away a two-goal lead. Albion Rovers are the only side in the top four divisions in Scotland without a point. Beaten twice in a week by Cowdenbeath as well as a defeat to the team just above them in the league, you just feel it's going to be a long season for the Wee Rovers, set to continue when they take on Berwick Rangers. Dumbarton take on Stenhousemuir in the game of the day in the Third Division: fourth against third. Dumbarton's funds where boosted this week when new sponsorship deals with a series of local firms where announced. Stenhousemuir have drawn all of their games since the opening day win against Elgin and will be looking for a win to consolidate their league win. Scott Dalziel will be hoping to keep up the form that saw him score the two goals that salvaged a point for The Warriors against Montrose last week.  The final two games in the Third Division sees eighth against ninth as East Stirling take on Forfar Athletic and Cowdenbeath continue their good form when they travel north to Elgin.

Scot-Ads Highland League

This weekend sees a combination of league fixtures and SFA North Region Challenge Cups. What has been worrying league officials of late has been the spate of red cards being handed out across the division - in the first 20 games of the season so far, more than 15 red cards have been shown, the highest for seven years. Fraserburgh's Ryan Christie was the latest player to be shown the red cardboard when picked up his second red card of the season; he was sent off against Wick last week. So, onto the games for this weekend which are as follows:

Brora Rangers     v  Clachnacuddin
Forres Mechanics  v  Fort William
Lossiemouth       v  Rothes

The journey to the first round of the Scottish Cup continues for Shetland FA (who beat Fort William 5:0) and Golspie Sutherland who booked their place in the next round of the SFA North Region Challenge Cup with a surprising win against Highland League powerhouse Clachnacuddin. Shetland FA meet tougher opposition against defending league champions Cove Rangers while Golspie play a little bit further up the road at Inverurie. The full list of fixtures is as follows:

Cove Rangers v  Shetland FA
Deveronvale  v  Buckie Thistle
Inverurie    v  Golspie Sutherland
Keith        v  Fraserburgh

Match Day: Scotland 0:0 Northern Ireland

A crowd of just over 28,000 watched Scotland play Northern Ireland at Hampden last night in a game that will quickly be consigned to the more forgettable games in our nations recent past.

If you asked anyone from outside these Islands to imagine what a typical international between any of the four 'home nations' was like, they'd probably say things like 'scrappy', 'passionate', 'physical' and 'end to end'. And they would pretty much be describing the game on show at Hampden yesterday evening.

It's not that it was a bad game particularly, in fact, Scotland played some nice football, the passing and movement wasn't bad, but for all their effort, Scotland didn't have too many clear chances on goal and as the game went on, it became increasingly unclear just where the goals where going to come from. McFadden looked dangerous at times, but he was marked closely throughout; his best chance came from an Alexander cross when he sidestepped Ryan McGivern and fired towards the Northern Ireland goal, but without any real power behind the shot, the score remained at 0:0. Indeed, it was Northern Ireland who could - should - have won the game when Allen McGregor, a second half substitute for Craig Gordon brought down Dundee United's Warren Feeney. McGregor made amends for his error when he saved David Healy's spot kick, diving smartly to his right to palm the ball clear from danger.

[caption id="attachment_1661" align="alignright" width="120" caption="Time is running out for Burley"][/caption]

Overall, it was a disappointing night for Burley and the Scotland following. We'd have hoped (indeed, we predicted) that Scotland would come away with a win here, but it was not to be, even after Northern Ireland where reduced to 10 men following McGivern's foul on Brown. We wonder how McFadden and Steven Fletcher might have worked up front, or even Fletcher-Clarkson, rather than Kenny Miller who has failed to impress us so far. There were some positives to take from the game however. Kris Commons, making his debut in a dark blue shirt played well after he come on in the second half for James Morrison. Though not naturally a left-sided winger (he's a right-winger at Derby) he put in some nice crosses and showed some good footwork and pace. The Brown-Thomson partnership in the center of the midfield looks promising and Christophe Berra and Darren Barr both made adequate if not desperately noteworthy appearances in the second half, taking over from Weir and McManus respectively, perhaps offering us a view of a central defensive future under George Burley.

With no more games until the first of the World Cup Qualifiers in September, this was the last chance to tinker with the lineup before the real action begins. If we had to give this game a verdict it'd be this: adequate, if unspectacular - must do better.

Match Day: Scotland vs Northern Ireland

Tonight at Hampden, Scotland take on Northern Ireland in the last friendly game for both sides as they prepare for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers (against Macedonia and Slovakia respectively) in September.  For manager George Burley, it's his third game in charge of the national side and the fixture will give him a chance to assess the squad he intends to take  for the trip to Skopje.

Despite this game coming so early in the season, there have been many call-offs, and Burley might use the opportunity - one born out of necessity - to give out some more first caps, as he did in the 3:1 defeat to the Czech Republic last May. Ross McCormack and Motherwell's David Clarkson, amongst others, made their debuts in that game. This time, Falkirk's Darren Barr might move up from the Scotland B squad to win his first cap, and Kris Commons, the Mansfield-born Derby County player is also expected to feature in the game tonight.

Being a friendly, it's more about the performance than the result and though we're expecting George Burley to get his first win as Scotland manager, it'll be an interesting game, particularly when many of the Northern Ireland squad are already pretty familiar to their Scottish opponents. Dean Sheals, Stephen Craigan and Warren Feaney all ply their trade in the SPL (as does the injured Kyle Lafferty) while it will be a good chance for Scotland fans to see Fulham's Steve Davis in action before he makes his £4m move north to Rangers.

Scotland last faced Northern Ireland back in February of 1992.  Going into the game under the stewardship of Andy Roxburgh, Scotland had qualified for Euro '92, finishing top in a group that included Bulgaria and Romania (against whom Scotland lost their only game in that qualifying campaign). On February 19th, Scotland faced Northern Ireland at Hampden.  At the time, Scotland was ranked number 23 in the FIFA World Rankings, while Northern Ireland where ranked 43nd.  The Scotland side that took the field that night was:

Smith (Heart of Midlothian)
McKimmie(Aberdeen)
Robertson (Rangers)
McPherson (Heart of Midlothian)
Gough (Rangers)
Malpas (Dundee United)
Strachan (Leeds United)
McClair (Manchester United)
McCoist (Rangers)
McAllister (Leeds United)
Wright (Hibernian)

In a pretty tepid affair, Ally McCoist scored to give Scotland a 1:0 win. Following on from the game, Scotland played a series of somewhat lackluster series of friendlies against Finland (1:1), The USA (1:0), Canada (3:1) and Norway (0:0) before they started the Euro '92 Championships on June 12th against a team that they'll also be facing in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, The Netherlands.

A great deal has happened since 1992. For one, Scotland have made tremendous improvement, recovering expertly from the Berti Vogts era, first under the management of Walter Smith and then under his successor, Alex McLeish.  Now ranked 16th in the World (Northern Ireland are 32nd), Scotland narrowly missed out qualification to Euro 2008 in a campaign that saw the national side record back-to-back wins against France as well as put in an impressive performance against Italy, despite the 2:1 defeat. As always, Scotland came agonizingly close to qualifying before falling at the final hurdle.

But as we prepare for our next World Cup, in players such as Kevin Thomson, Barry Robson, David Clarkson, Christophe Berra and James Morrison, Scotland has a great deal of exciting young talent coming through the ranks.  And while no one doubts that qualification for World Cup 2010 will be tough, there are teams in the group there that are for the taking, teams against which we should reckon on getting a result: Iceland, Norway and Macedonia.

In fact, teams not too dissimilar to tonights opponents.

SCOTLAND v NORTHERN IRELAND
Venue: Hampden Park Date: Wednesday, 20 August Kick-off: 2000 BST Coverage: Live on BBC Radio Scotland, coverage on the BBC Sport website and highlights on BBC One Scotland at 2315 BST

Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Sunderland), David Marshall (Norwich City), Allan McGregor (Rangers).
Defenders: Graham Alexander (Burnley), Darren Barr (Falkirk), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Stephen McManus (Celtic), Gary Naysmith (Sheffield United), David Weir (Rangers), Steven Whittaker (Rangers).
Midfielders: Scott Brown (Celtic), Kris Commons (Derby County), Darren Fletcher (Manchester United), James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion), Barry Robson (Celtic), Michael Stewart (Heart of Midlothian), Kevin Thomson (Rangers).
Forwards: Kris Boyd (Rangers), David Clarkson (Motherwell), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian), James McFadden (Birmingham City)

The Monday Dose

Another action packed weekend rumbles by for all those involved in the beautiful game. In today's Scottish football Barrel-Scrape-O-Thon we feature more contentious refereeing decisions involving Old Firm clubs or, more accurately, contentious refereeing decisions in favour of Old Firm clubs, the first "no, honestly, I pick the team" statement of the season emerges from Tynecastle, Celtic fans end their charity collection to oust Bobo Balde from the squad as the club deny that there's any exit clauses in the contracts offered to any of their players, and now that the English football season has kicked off again in earnest, we take a look at how some of our Scottish players down south are doing.

Our Performance of the Week nominations are also out, so keep reading to find out who you can vote for, and we launch our Ask Inside Left feature, where you get the chance to ask those things you've always wanted to know about Scottish football but where afraid to ask. But we begin today's round-up down in Dumfries, where last night Queen of the South received two bits of good news.

In Pictures: Dundee United 1:1 Celtic

 

 

Picture Source: BBC

Celtic's Paul Hartley and Dundee United's  Francisco Sandaza both scored their first-ever goals for their clubs as United and Celtic share the points in a tough, but entertaining game at Tannadice. Having most of the possession, Celtic scored first on fifty minutes as Hartley drilled home Nakamura's lay-off from the edge of the area. Dundee United equalized through Sandaza as he got on the end of a Craig Conway cross. For Celtic, new signing Marc Crosas, signed from Barcelona earlier this month was on the bench, but his debut will have to wait until next week.

The result keeps Celtic's unbeaten record intact, but the points are dropped - Celtic move to third spot, two points behind Rangers and Hamilton at the top of the table, the only two sides in Scotland so far without a defeat. Dundee United remain near the bottom; not the start to the season Craig Levein - or the United support - had in mind.

16th August Roundup

The second week of action in the Scottish Premier league threw up a few interesting fixtures - could Aberdeen break their Motherwell hoodoo? Would Rangers put their terrible week behind them and get back on the road to Europe with a win over a Hearts side full of confidence? And would Hamilton's dream start to the league continue at Inverness Caley?

In the First Division, Dundee met Airdrie, hoping to keep their place at the top of the league, while Dunfermline play another promotion contender, St. Johnstone. Down in the Second Division, the top four clubs play each other while in the Third Division, Annan Athletic started the day top of the table; would that be the case at 17:45 today? Read on to find out.

The Weekend's Action In Scotland

The first day of the new Premier League season saw its fair share of upsets and controversy. Hamilton comprehensively beat Dundee United, and both Celtic and Rangers stuttered to narrow opening day wins. Inverness Caley went against both statistics and history when they beat Aberdeen, sending the Dons down to the basement amidst a chorus of boos, while Kilmarnock defeated Hibs giving manager Mixu Paataleinen even more headaches.

In the First Division, Queen of the South hope to get their league campaign on the rails again when Partick Thistle come to Dumfries and St. Johnstone take on Dunfermline in the game of the weekend. In the Second Division, the top top four teams all play against each other, while Annan Athletic will fancy their chances of remaining at the top of the Third Division when East Stirlingshire head south.

And so onto this weekends games, and we begin in Edinburgh where Hibernian take on Falkirk.

Friday Highlights

Inside Left's got Friday on it's mind, as the Easybeats once sang. For many it's the end of the week, a time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labours. For football web sites however, Friday is hell. There's all those games to preview, there's news to round up, tricky predictions to make and obscure facts to verify. And all that on no pay. So this week has been pretty exciting in many ways (or frustrating, depending on the colour of your scarf) with everything you need to keep the game interesting for fans and bloggers alike.

In today's Off The Ball we'll be wondering if the pain will ever stop for Rangers, Queen of The South played their first ever European tie, Hibernian wish they still had the luck of the Irish and the Alba Cup throws up an interesting fixture.

It's not easy being a Rangers fan these days. OK, so you've won the league more times than any club in the history of the game and you've won more trophies than any club in the history of the game, you've also got one of the best stadiums in Europe (and one of only 2 in Scotland with a UEFA 5-star rating) and really don't face much competition domestically aside from some team on the rough side of Glasgow. A UEFA Cup final and two domestic cups last season, a rich chairman and a huge following - och, I dunno, life as a Rangers fan is rotten, I don't know why they bother turning up week in, week out. Admittedly, this week has been a bit rough around the edges, what with the humiliation of losing to the Hearts reserve side in Europe and then losing one of your best players. But sure, you'll get over it right? You've got some more money to spend on getting some players in, including that Dutch guy you've been chasing all year, the one that'll be the perfect replacement for that Spanish bloke, Carlos somethingorother.

Imagine then how it feels to read that your number one transfer target has decided not to join your team after all and, to make matters worse, he's signed for Celtic. Yes, Celtic have somehow managed to sign - the technical term for this is 'gazump' - Glenn Loovens from Cardiff City, right from under Walter Smith's blue nose. Just how cheeky is that? In a way you can't blame him really, Rangers are not exactly enjoying rave reviews at the minute.  If you where a young player on the fringes of your national side, faced with choosing between going to a team that has won the league three years-in-a-row and still in the Champions League, and a team that's only competing for domestic honours and which seems to be under attack from a small, but vocal, section of it's own support, then I'm sure you wouldn't hesitate either, right? And then just when that wasn't bad enough every time you play Hearts, you'll be reminded of that night in Lithuania as the Jambos have signed 25-year-old Slovakian keeper Marian Kello from FBK Kaunus. Oh, when will the pain ever stop?

Queen of the South's adventures in Europe look like ending in the Qualifying round. The Doonhamers lost 2-1 to Danish side FC Nordsjaelland. Gordon Chisholm's team got off to a flyer by conceding a goal in the second minute,  Sean O'Connor equalized on the half hour mark before Bernier put the Danes ahead again four minute later. So much for the game and Queen of the South's chances in the second leg, but what got our attention was the pre and post match interviews with Morten Wieghorst, Nordsjaelland's manager. In his 10 years in Scotland playing for Dundee and Celtic, he's picked up a bit of an accent. Listening to the man, you'd think he grew up somewhere along the west coast of Scotland, rather than on a island off the coast of Denmark. He was even throwing in phrases such as "the boy's done well", "he's came in", "at the end of the day" and "guff".

As an aside, Elfsborg, the team that knocked Hibernian out of the InterToto Cup before the season had even begun, where also in UEFA action last night as they played Irish side St. Patricks Athletic yesterday. St Pats are an amateur side, one for whom former Queen of the South and Hibernian player Neil Martin once played, back in the day. The final score was 2-2, and St Pats staged a remarkable recovery from 2-0 down to give them a good chance of getting through to the next round. What that says about Hibernian or St Pats or Elfsborg we're not sure: we're just doing our duty as blogger to report the facts - you lot can decide what to make of it.

The next round of the Challenge Cup throws up an interesting fixture. Aside from the fact that with one exception, all the teams still competing are First Division sides, the game between Clyde and Ross County is a repeat of the 2006 Challenge Cup Final, won by Ross County after a penalty shootout. For both sides it was their first ever Challenge Cup final and marked the end of a 48 year absence from any Cup final for the Bully Wee.  Even more creepily, the sun, the moon and the stars have somehow aligned and put the teams together again this Saturday in the league! Elsewhere, the 7th of September fixtures sees Livingston play Partick Thistle, Cowdenbeath (sole representatives from the lower leagues) play Airdrie and Morton take on either Dunfermline or Queen of the South - that game will be played on the 20th August having been rescheduled to accommodate the Doonhamers European game. And a fat lot of good it did them.

Ok, that's it. Back on Saturday with more from around the touchlines of the game.