The Weekend Action in Scotland - 25th October

As the economy flaps around our ankles like a pair of wet Y-fronts, for ninety-minutes (or ninety-five if you're Rangers and you're a goal behind) we forget all about the impending collapse of capitalism and the rise of world communism and put on our scarves and rosettes and head down to the stadiums around the country. It's not quite a full league card tomorrow - the teams in the Third division and the Highland League are in action in the second round of the Scottish Cup which also kicks off tomorrow.

There's a few interesting fixtures elsewhere though. It'll be an emotionally charged game at Tannadice tomorrow when St. Mirren come for a visit. Derek Riordan, should his injury heal in time, returns to Parkhead with his new side Hibs. We all remember how well another former Celtic player did when Kenny Miller returned to the East End of Glasgow in the first Old Firm game of the season. Dundee, still without a manager following the sacking of Alex Rae earlier this week travel to bottom of the table Morton hoping to get their season back on track. And in the Scottish Cup, Annan Athletic take on Spartans in a third-division-election grudge match. Possibly.

Right, let's get cracking then.

Celtic v Hibernian
Celtic have had a pretty tiresome week. A heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester United in midweek will no doubt have taken the shine of the season so far. With realistically only the Uefa Cup to look forward to in terms of European football, the knives have been out again on some football sites for Strachan's dismissal. It's all slightly unfair we think - Manchester United are one of the best sides in the World and lets not forget there are many teams even in the EPL that regularly get beaten by Ferguson's side. In other words, we shouldn't read too much into that defeat and Strachan has been, in modern terms, a successful Celtic manager.

Hibernian are not without their own problems. Manager Mixu Paatelainen has failed in his bid to get his latest touchline ban overturned (he was sent off by referee Ian Brines in the 4-3 defeat at Morton) and so will be watching the next four games from the comfort of the directors box. We're too lazy to look it up, but it just seems to us that the Big Finn seems to be spending an awful lot of time watching the game the stands. Likewise, Celtic's Artur Boruc (aka 'the holy goalie') has been making headlines again - he's been fined by the SFA for giving the Rangers fans the one fingered salute during an Old Firm game earlier this year. It adds to a list of misdemeanour's that would make Joey Barton blush. We hope the massive £500 he's been fined will make him think twice before committing another buttock-clenching clanger.

Hibs won the first game between the two sides last season 3-2, but a 1-1 draw aside, that would be the summit of their achievement against the eventual league champions. It'll be a good game we reckon. we're very excited by the combination of Fletcher-Nish-Riordan at Hibs. An imposing strike force (on paper anyway) that puts us in mind of the 'Famous Five', a forward line of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond that dominated Hibs in the early 50's. Celtic are out to put the midweek defeat behind them and extend their lead over Rangers at the top of the table, while Hibs will be hoping a result at Parkhead, together with an Aberdeen win at Tynecastle will help them overtake rivals Hearts.

Dundee United v St Mirren
It's been three weeks since Dundee United played a game of football (the 2-1 win at home to Caley). The Arabs had turned around a pretty poor start to the season to notch up four wins in a row and push themselves up the table. Sadly, the day before the game against Rangers, United chairman Eddie Thompson died following his long battle against prostate cancer; the game was called off and the club, as well as the town went into mourning for a man who was well-liked by all associated with the club. The impact the loss of the chairman will have on tomorrows game will be hard to gauge: either the team responds to thrash their opponents, or the genuine outpouring of grief will put a dampener on their performance. For St. Mirren, it'll be an awkward situation on a day when they're largely incidental - it is after all the first home game United have since the death of Thompson.

Before last weekends events, both teams had been on good form. Like we said, United had won their last four (Aberdeen, Airdrie, Hearts, Inverness), St. Mirren their last two (becoming the first team this season to beat Rangers). Two teams with solid wins behind them should make for an entertaining game, but given the weeks events who knows what might happen. Go and visit the excellent Arab Blog for a good preview to this game. They reckon United will win 2-0, we reckon St. Mirren might sneak a 1-0 win here.

Hamilton v Rangers
Rangers are another team that have not played in three weeks, but despite the long lay-off, expect Rangers to come out guns a-blazin'. The furore around Kris Boyd's resignation from the Scotland squad did not die down when some of his team mates backed up his decision not to play for the national side again while George Burley was in charge. Accies meanwhile are beginning to find that life in the SPL is long and hard. From a good start to the season, the team are now in 11th place, two points ahead of bottom side Falkirk (although they are a win away from 6th place). Manager Billy Reid (in common with most other SPL managers) probably doesn't expect much from tomorrows game: a point perhaps, nothing more. Indeed, history has not been kind to Accies in this fixture. In the 80 meetings between the two sides, Accies have won just nine, and their last win was in 1938. Along the way, Rangers have knocked up some terrific scores (6-0, 7-1, 8-1, 8-0). That said, St. Mirren probably didn't expect much from their game with Rangers either and look what they did. The key - defend like buggery, hit 'em on the break and defend like buggery again. Last season's Division One top scorer Richard Offiong has only scored once so far for Hamilton, suggesting the step-up to the higher division is bigger than we'd like to think. In contrast, Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd between them have scored seven times in the league so far. We expect them to add to that tally tomorrow - even home advantage wont save Hamilton from a thorough seeing-to.

Hearts v Aberdeen
Last season, Inside Left had the distinct misfortune to be at Tynecastle to see at first hand just what Hearts are capable of. A combination of some shocking defending and dreadful goalkeeping led to a heavy 4-1 defeat, the temporary failure of the floodlights not enough to stop the game after groundstaff put another 50p in the meter. Ah sure, that was then, this is now. Aberdeen finally won a game last week at Falkirk, their first in six attempts, and continued their good run of form away from home. Hearts have not won a game in their last three attempts, though the point last weekend against Hibs in another pulsating Edinburgh derby was welcome relief for Hearts coach Csaba Lazslo. Aberdeen could in theory move into the top six tomorrow with a win, but Calderwood faces selection problems as the cold north-east wind has seen several first team members (Diamond, McDonald, Kerr) go down with flu, meaning the Aberdeen team selection will be decided as the players turn up to get on the Citylink bus in Guild Street.

Mind now and check out the Aberdeen page at The Offside for a more in-depth preview of this game.

The final two games in the SPL feature three teams in the lower half of the league, and one that's exceeding all expectations so far.

Kilmarnock take on a Falkirk side that have never managed to get out of the bottom half of the table. John Hughes' men are propping up the table and trail Jim Jefferies' side by nine points (and league leaders Celtic by a massive 15). Kilmarnock are doing their typical yo-yo routine: a crap season followed by good season followed, inevitably by another shocker. Last season they finished second bottom (granted, 27 points ahead of Gretna) so given their pattern, things are going according to schedule at Rugby Park. Kilmarnock's home form has been pretty good so far (the only blot in their copybook being the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Celtic) while Falkirk are the only team in the SPL not to have won away from home this season. Dont expect that to change tomorrow, unfortunately.

The final game has Motherwell travelling north to Inverness. When we where researching this preview, we had the impression that Caley where a good home team, but looking at the table that's not actually the case: Thistle have only won once at home, compared to two wins away from home. Likewise, we where going to put the word 'struggling' in front of 'Motherwell', but in fact, McGhee's side have knocking out some decent results (United, St. Mirren, Falkirk) whilst not doing badly against Rangers back at the end of September - just don't mention Celtic. Motherwell are certainly a shadow of the last-season self. Somehow, we just cant see them repeating their 3rd place finish this year. David Clarkson and John Sutton are good for nine goals between them, but imagine how they'd have done if Ross McCormack (good for eight goals in 11 for new club Cardiff so far ) had stayed with the club.

Scottish First Division

Dundee could welcome back former Scotland manager and Dundee player Craig Brown as manager, if the rumours are to be believed. For now though, they'll have to do with assistant manager David Farrell handing out the half-time oranges when they travel to Greenock to take on bottom side Morton. Morton won their first game of the season last week against Clyde, so there's a lot to play for for both teams. Queen of the South, surprisingly beaten by Airdrie last week travel to Dingwall for the encounter with Ross County, a team that has hit a run of form and reached a domestic cup final. Doonhamers boss Gordon Chisholm has been linked with the vacancy at Dens Park - hopefully that wont unsettle the team too much. A cracking game possibly at McDiarmid Park, Perth when Partick Thistle take on St. Johnstone, another team that has suddenly hit their stride. In fourth place, one point behind the three teams that occupy the top spots, the Saints have not lost in four games. Livingston take on Clyde, while Dunfermline take on Airdrie, two top teams taking on two bottom teams - expect some easy wins there.

Scottish Second Division

Two teams promoted from the Third Division meet up: East Fife and Arbroath. East Fife are comfortable so far in the league, Arbroath are bottom and really not doing very well. Peterhead will be hoping for a valuable three points to keep in touch with the teams above them when they play second-bottom Alloa. League leaders Brechin take on the part-timers of Queens Park, third placed Ayr meet Stirling while Stranraer welcome second-placed Raith Rovers.

Scottish Cup

There's lots of games in the second round of the Scottish Cup this weekend. The stand out tie is the one at the Galabank when Annan take on Spartans, one of the teams they beat to the Third division spot left vacant with the demise of Gretna. The only tie to feature two teams in the senior league is at Berwick, who take on Albion Rovers.

The full fixture list is as follows (with all games kicking off at 3pm, except Lochee Utd against Buckie, which kicks off at 2pm, though possibly not to accommodate Setanta).

Annan Athletic v Spartans
Berwick v Albion
Brora v Forfar
Civil Service Strollers v Vale Of Leithen
Clachnacuddin v Crichton
Cove Rangers v Whitehill Welfare
Cowdenbeath v Elgin
Dalbeattie Star v Selkirk
East Stirling v Preston Ath
Edinburgh City v Wick Academy
Forres Mechanics v Keith
Fraserburgh v Dumbarton
Inverurie Locos v Banks O'Dee
Lochee Utd v Buckie Thistle
Montrose v Huntly
Stenhousemuir v Threave Rovers

If you're going to any of these games - or indeed any of the games in Scotland today - please let us know how your team did. Enjoy the games!