Performance of the Week: Week 35

Welcome to another Performance Of The Week award ceremony, in which Inside Left recognises those who have made a valuable and/or valiant contribution to the game north o' the border.

This week we have four new nominations for Performance of the Week for you to mull over. Simply leave a comment with your vote - the winner will be sent a lovely memento recognising their achievement.

Nominee: Queen of the South
Queen of the South came within 88 minutes of following in the footsteps of some of the great Scottish comebacks of all time by almost beating FC Nordsjaelland in their Uefa Cup fixture last Wednesday. Had they scored again after their 2nd minute goal, things might have been a lot different, not just for Gordon Chisholm's men, but also for Scottish football (in that we wouldn't run the risk of dropping down the Uefa rankings and having to qualify for every European tournament going). On their return from Denmark, The Doonhamers faced a potentially tricky tie against Division One league leaders Dundee, a team not exactly setting the heather alight with their attractive play but still not a team to be taken lightly. All talk of midweek blues and hangovers where dispelled as Queens won in style by three goals to one, Stephen Dobbie getting a brace and Craig Barr adding the other. Midweek disappointment be damned!

Nominee: Kenny Miller
Kenny Miller faced a potentially tricky afternoon on Sunday when his new team took on his old team. And not just any team mind you, because Kenny plays for Rangers and this week was the first Old Firm derby of the season. And guess which other team Kenny used to play for - yep, Celtic. And before that, Rangers, but now we're confusing things. Kenny Miller, hate figure for both sets of supporters on Sunday -  he's hated by the Rangers fans because he once, allegedly, kissed the Celtic badge when scoring against Rangers, and  possibly also because he's not that highly rated as a striker, and he's hated by the Celtic fans because he now plays for Rangers. Confused? Well, that's the Old Firm for you. In any case, Kenny knew that he was in for a rough afternoon. Now, he could either have bottled it and not played or he could stick two fingers up to both sets of fans and play his heart out. Thankfully for us, he chose option B, and his return to favour with Rangers fans was confirmed as he scored twice in their 4:2 win over the Hoops. Boyakasha!

Nominee: The Highland League
The Highland League keeps on getting better and better every week. There was much talk north of the banks of the river Dee about the somewhat lacklustre performance of the teams in the league the week before last. Twenty-three goals in seven games and only two sendings off is not the sort of thing we give up our Saturday afternoons for: we want goals, red cards and on-field rammies. Well, last weekend didn't disappoint as things got back to normal. A lovely thirty-four goals scored in seven games, including a record-breaking 9:0 win, a 5:0 pasting and a 6:2 panelling (none of which involved Fort William) brings the number of goals scored up to 196 in all competitions since the season started again. You give us one other league that has those kinds of stats. Simply cracking, so it is.

Nominee: Kilmarnock FC
We've said it before, but we're really going to have to stop doing match predictions. We suck at them. For example, last week we didn't get a single one right. I hope they don't read this article, but there's a betting site out there that hangs on our every single match-prediction word; every week it guarantees us more than 340 hits alone. We shudder to think how much money their members would have lost had they followed our advice blindly but hey, don't shoot us, we're just the messenger. Anyway, another prediction that's starting to make us look dafter than Chick Young was our condemnation of Jim Jefferies and his Kilmarnock side. We had them firmly down the bottom with St. Mirren, but looking at the bottom of the table who do we see there? Dundee United and Motherwell, teams we had up at the top, which is where, to our amazement, we find Kilmarnock. One of only two teams unbeaten so far, Killie are the only team not to have conceded an away goal. Their performance against Dundee United at the weekend was superb, and they firmly deserve to be where they are today. It wont last, but for this week anyway they're a strong candidate for Performance of the Week.

Nominee: Scottish Referees
Referees in Scotland get a rough deal most of the time. Only Neil Lennon is hated more in Scotland, and that's saying something - at least referees can walk the streets of Glasgow without getting the shit kicked out of them. Between the games on Saturday and all the chaos and mayhem of the Old Firm game on Sunday, there wasn't a single manager droning on about how their game was ruined by one of the apron wearing, lambeg beating and 'wun mair up fir the luj' men-in-luminous-yellow. Even Strachan and Smith had to concede that referee Dougie McDonald was right to send off Cousin and Vennegoor of Hesselink for their crimes against football decency. Like Kilmarnock being in second place in the SPL, the peace wont last of course, but for this week, the referees where firmly entitled to their £800.

OK, that concludes the nominations from the Inside Left jury. Get voting!