20.09// The Weekend's Fitba

It's another gala weekend of domestic football action across Scotland this weekend. We have the first of this season's New Firm Derby's to look forward to, and Kilmarnock face the green half of the Old Firm when Celtic travel down to Ayrshire. Can Kilmarnock keep up with Rangers at the top? Will Celtic bounce back from that disappointing midweek European result?

Down in the Scottish Football League, the games to keep an eye out for include Dundee at home to league leaders Livingston, Ayr United taking on Brechin City in the clash of the top two in the Second Division, while in the Third it's all eyes on Cowdenbeath as they face a tricky tie to Dumbarton.  It's a quiet weekend in the Highland League with only two league games on the fixture list.  League leaders Deveronvale can extend their lead at the top if they beat Fraserburgh.

We begin our round-up with the top game in the Scottish Premier League and the clash at Pittodrie between two teams that where once a powerful force in Scottish football. The New Firm Derby between Aberdeen and Dundee United may have lost a lot of it's importance since Rangers and Celtic have re-imposed themselves on the game north of the border, but the fixture is still eagerly contested.

Aberdeen v Dundee United
Aberdeen and Dundee lie about 65 miles apart on the north-east coast of Scotland. Aberdeen, the larger of the two towns lies between the rivers Dee to the south and Don to the north, while Dundee is situated on the north bank of the Tay Estuary. It was to that location that Dundee owed it's early wealth. A major town during the industrial revolution, the city grew thanks to a flourishing jute industry and rose to become one of the more important towns in Scotland, at a time when Aberdeen was still a small and largely insignificant fishing port. The decline of the jute industry and other traditional heavy industries on which the town had become dependent (such as shipbuilding) led to a decline in the cities fortunes, and by the 1970's, Dundee had entered a recession, with unemployment rising to 14% by 1981. In contrast, Aberdeen had begin to flourish during this time. The discovery of North Sea oil led to Aberdeen entering a boom period that saw it's population grow to over 200,000 and the city establish itself as the Oil Capital of Europe.

This rivalry between the two cities was not just economic or social. The two football teams in the towns had also begun to improve. Dundee United had slowly been overtaking it's larger and more illustrious rival Dundee in terms of league and cup success. By the mid 70's, a United team under the management of Jim McLean (assisted then by a young Walter Smith) had reached the Scottish Cup final in 1973 and in the league the team had achieved a third place in '78 and '79; they would eventually win their first - and to date only - League championship in 1983. Back-to-back League Cups in 1980 and 1981 completed the silverware. European success was also nearly theirs, as the Terrors reached the semi-final of the European Cup (where they gave A.S. Roma a scare, eventually losing the tie 3-2 on aggregate). In then 1986/87 season United went one further when they became the first Scottish club to reach the Uefa Cup final, where they lost to IFK Gothenburg.

During this time, Aberdeen had also slowly begun to improve. Under the guidance of new manager Alex Ferguson (freshly sacked from his post at St. Mirren), the Dons had won the league in 1980, a feat they repeated in 1984 and 1985. Add to that two European trophies and several domestic Cups (the Scottish Cup in 82, 83 and 84) during this time and you can safely say that between them, Aberdeen and Dundee United where the two best sides in Scotland.

What these two teams - now dubbed 'the New Firm' - achieved more than anything else was to break the dominance of Rangers and Celtic during this time. Aberdeen's league win in the 1984/85 season would be the last time that a side outside of Glasgow would win the league. Heavy investment at Ibrox and Parkhead saw these two teams slowly re-impose themselves on the league and by the end of the 80's, normal service had resumed. Both Aberdeen and United would continue to challenge for silverware, but neither team would challenge the Old Firm again.

Despite the downturn of both Aberdeen and Dundee United's fortunes in later years (years of mid-table mediocrity, United's relegation in 1995, Aberdeen's near relegation in 2000 and a revolving managerial door at Aberdeen: consider that Dundee United had only one manager during most of this period, while Aberdeen had four), this fixture remains an important and exciting fixture. Fans of Aberdeen could - indeed would - argue that Rangers are their biggest rivals, but a win against the upstarts down the A90 is a highly valued prize. This rivalry does not seem to apply to the transfer market though - the current Aberdeen squad has four ex-United players: Lee Miller, Lee Mair, Stuart Duff and Mark Kerr. It's pretty much one way traffic however, with the last Aberdeen player moving to United was back in 2000, when Jamie Buchan moved south to United.

The Game
Tomorrows fixture is the 162nd time the teams have met in the league. Aberdeen have won 64 of those encounters, while United have won 51. Dundee United are currently bottom of the SPL, having lost all their league games so far (with two exceptions, the 1-1 draws with  Motherwell and Celtic) while Aberdeen are having another one of their typically inconsistent seasons - eighth in the league and yet to win a game at home. United will be under pressure to get a result as it's a question how long the United fans will sustain this league position. Similarly, Jimmy Calderwood's love-hate relationship with the fans will continue as long as Aberdeen continue to lose games in the manner they lost on Saturday against Hamilton. Two defensive blunders cost Aberdeen the points. Zander Diamond looks to be back following his injury so hopefully sense will prevail in the heart of the Aberdeen defence. For United, Willow Flood, Warren Feeney and Roy O'Donovan are all out.

Last season, the two sides played four games with two wins and two defeats each. It's going to be a tight game and with both teams struggling with their form (Aberdeen's home form and United's general league form) we're going to have to go for a draw.

We'll take a look at Sunday's games between Rangers and Motherwell and Celtic and Kilmarnock tomorrow, so for now we'll quickly run through the remaining a games in the various Scottish Leagues:

Hamilton v Hibernian Hamilton finally ended their losing streak with a good win against a terrible Aberdeen side. The Accies had been on terrific form with good wins against a luckless Dundee United and Inverness that saw them top of the table after two games, but then a wee dip against Kilmarnock and Hearts saw them slide down the table. Billy Reid was relieved no doubt to get back to winning ways against Aberdeen at the weekend where young striker James McCarthey scored the winning goal and picked up Young Player of the Month Award. The team now lies fourth in the table, not one that we expect the team to be in come the end of the season, but you have to grant it to them: they're playing well and are surpassing many a pundits expectations. Forward Richard Offiong is yet to get into the sort of form that saw him Division One top scorer last season but while we wait for that form to return, in Tom Stevenson, Brian Easton and current top scorer David Graham, Reid has a young and talented squad that will do the Accies nicely into the future. Can they sustain the form though, that's the question? Hibernian also won last week against Dundee United with goals from Stephen Fletcher. Derek Riordan returned to his former club and though far from fit, he'll be a welcome and quality addition to the team. Hibs' form had been somewhat erratic to date: defeats to Motherwell and Kilmarnock in the league sandwiched that awful defeat in the cup to Division One bottom club Morton. Still, you cant help but get the feeling that things are on the up at Easter Road. It's been a while since these two sides played each other and you'd need to go back to 1986 for the last Accies win (a 3-1 away win) but you shouldn't read too much into that. Remember that the Accies have been in Divison One all of those intervening years. Somewhat ominously, Hibs' record league win came against Hamilton, a tasty 11-1 back in November 1965. We think it'll be a closer game than that and go with an away win.

Hearts v Inverness CT Hearts have not had a bad start to the season. The defeat to Rangers and the loss on penalties to Airdrie in the League Cup aside, new manager Csaba Lazlo cant be too unhappy. Despite last weeks defeat to Falkirk, a game in which Hearts probably deserved more than they got, the Edinburgh side are on a good run. Caley have only lost two of their games so far, most recently against St. Mirren last week. Since the opening day fixture win at Aberdeen, Caley have racked up wins against teams from the bottom half of the table so against Hearts they'll be in for a tough test. Craig Brewster's team don't have a good record in the capital, having only won 5 of the 15 games they've played there since promotion to the SPL back in 2004. Interestingly, both of Caley's wins this season (against Aberdeen and Falkirk) came on the road - the team has yet to win a home game. We go for a draw. St Mirren v Falkirk Here we have two teams that both picked up their first wins of the season last week. St. Mirren beat Caley away while Falkirk got the three points against Hearts courtesy of a last minute winner from youngster Scott Arfield (who scored twice in the 4-0 win when the sides met in February this year). Neither of these sides are having a good time of it in the league so far so this game will either end in a draw as both these teams are quite evenly balanced right now, or a veritable goal feast. The trouble is that the Buddies have  yet to score a home goal and the Bairns are fairly letting them in on the road, with six goals conceded so far on their travels. This game just has goalless draw written all over it.

Scottish First Division

Queen of the South will be looking for Livingston slip up against Dundee as a win in their game against troubled St. Johnstone would see the Doonhamers go top of the division. Airdrie must be on a high since they beat Livingston at the Almondvale last week - Clyde travel to the Excelsior Stadium tomorrow following their 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle earlier in the week. Speaking of Thistle, they welcome bottom club Morton to Firhill. The Ton drew with Queen of the South in their last game, but that elusive first win seems a long way off somehow. They must be wondering what they have to do to get that vibe they had when they beat Hibs in the League Cup back in August. Ross County make another long journey south, this time to Dunfermline. County are still without a home win in the league. Not that it matters as they're playing away tomorrow, against a Pars side that got off to a good start in the league but whose form has taken a dip. A series of draws and defeats means that Dunfermline have not won a game since the 16th of August, and that against a St. Johnstone side going through some kind of crisis at the time

Scottish Second Division

The game of the weekend in the Second Division isn't until Sunday, when Ayr and Brechin face each other. Ayr are flying high at the moment, their only defeat this season coming against SPL team Aberdeen in the League Cup. A few draws aside, Ayr have won all their games. Brechin beat local rivals Arbroath 3-1 last weekend. Both Raith and Peterhead could go top if they win their games against Stirling and Stranraer respectively and Raith could even go clear should the game at Somerset Park end in a draw. Down at the bottom of the table, the teams in 6th to 9th all play each other: Queens Park take on an Arbroath side who have not won a game since the start of the season, while East Fife take on second bottom Alloa.

Scottish Third Division

This season's surprise package Annan Athletic could go top of the table if they beat Forfar and both Cowdenbeath and Stenhousemuir slip up. Cowdenbeath face a tricky tie away at Dumbarton while Stenhousemuir host eigth-placed Berwick Rangers. Bottom side Elgin will be hoping for their first home win of the season when they take on Albion Rovers while East Stirlingshire, without a win in six games so far take on fourth placed Montrose.