Performance of the Week - Week 44

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

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

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

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

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