That is, until now. If there was ever a weekend where we made a complete burach of our predictions, it has to have been this one.
Of the 21 games played this weekend, we correctly predicted (using the time-honoured method of sitting in front of an opened newspaper, closing the eyes and bringing down a sharpened pencil on the fixture list) only nine games taking place across the country this weekend. Nine in twenty-one folks, that's the sort of record that would get you fired, so it would.
Particularly poor this weekend where my First and Second Division efforts. The only game I got right there was Inverness Caley's win over Partick Thistle, and Stirling Albion's win over Cowdenbeath.
Elsewhere, I'm ashamed to admit I bet against my own team, Aberdeen, but could you blame me? Here's us on the cusp of a record-setting run of bad form, with Aberdeen playing a St Mirren side fresh from an historic 4-0 victory over Celtic (the heaviest Celtic defeat by a non-Old Firm side for 51 years, it says here).
I was surprised to see St Johnstone not score in a game, as they go down 1-0 to Hamilton Accies. Saint's scoring record has been phenomenal all season, and Saturdays result is only the fifth time in this campaign that Derek McInnes' side has failed to score (the others coming against Hibs, Kilmarnock, Celtic and Rangers, a record to be proud of, no?)
Ross County played their part in helping rivals Inverness Caley to the top of the table in their 1-1 draw with Dundee, the team that had been leading the Division since December last year. I'd predicted Ross County would win, mainly because Dundee would be desperate and thus prone to being caught on the break by an on-form team, while Ross County would be playing with the confidence of a team possibly heading for Hampden and/or Europe. But a draw is how it panned out, a valuable point gained for County and a valuable 2 points dropped for Dundee who had been leading the game through a second-half Ben Hutchinson goal.
Like the SPL, the Third Division is pretty much over, with Livingston taking a commanding lead - some thirteen points, they're now only two victories away from guaranteed promotion - over nearest promotion contenders East Stirlingshire. I'd backed the Shire to win against eight-placed Stranraer, so you can imagine my surprise when I checked the scores at half-time to find Stranraer leading 2-0. It took a last minute goal from Andrew Rodgers to earn a draw.
And for some completely daft reason I tipped Elgin, bottom of the Division and a team without a win since February, to beat third-placed promotion chasing Forfar, a team some twenty-four points ahead of them. Somewhat predictably to anyone but me, Forfar won 2-0.
Next week, Inside Left's predictions will be brought to you by Tilly, my next door neighbours cat. She'll do you a grand job, so she will.
Of the results I did get right: Neil Lennon gets off to a winning start as caretaker-manager of Celtic. A nice 3-1 win over Kilmarnock will have pleased the fans, some 41,000 of which were on hand to see Celtic maintain their 10-point trailing gap over Rangers. The crowd, though not exactly a full house was up some 10,000 from Mowbrays last home game on the 20 March when Celtic beat St Johnstone by a roughly similar score.
Dundee United continue their excellent season with a healthy 3-0 win over fourth-placed Motherwell. Hibernian get back to winning ways as they beat bottom side Falkirk 3-1, and Rangers continue to make Jim Jefferies' return to the maroon half of Edinburgh a living misery as they trounce Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle.
Upcoming Fixtures
The SPL continues to graple with the winter weather chaos, meaning there's going to be a few mid-week games between now and the end of the season. For example, Rangers will have played three games in seven days when they welcome Hamilton to Ibrox on Saturday; they'll face St Johnstone first however, tomorrow evening in Perth. Spare a thought for Hibs who, Like Rangers, will also be in action three times this week, but face a heavier schedule than Walter Smith's side. Following Saturday's win, John Hughes' men will play Dundee United on the Wednesday, culminating with the visit of Celtic at Easter Road on the Sunday.
St Johnstone v Rangers (Tue)
Hibernian v Dundee Utd (Wed)
Motherwell v Falkirk (Sat)
Rangers v Hamilton (Sat)
St Mirren v Hearts (Sat)
Hibs v Celtic (Sun)
Kilmarnock v Aberdeen (Sun)
Highland Football League
In a particularly low-scoring week in the Highland League (only 28 goals scored in eight games), the talk of the weekend was over another controversial refereeing display by whistler Cammy McKay in the game between Turriff and Clachnacuddin. Amongst other things, McKay sent of three players (not unusual in itself for the Highland League), but it was the reason for Clach captain's Gordon Morrison's dismissal that got the Inverness side's manager Iain Polworth all in a tizzy:
As he explain later to the Press & Journal.
“We will probably be appealing Gordon Morrison’s sending-off for making a gesture in joke to his best mate, a loyal disabled supporter who travels with us on the team coach. Gordon had fired the ball over the bar. When he was running back he heard his pal shout some words of advice to him about what to do with his next shot at goal. It was a joke gesture but the referee spotted it and sent him off. I think a wee bit of commonsense would have gone a long way."
Quite right. The full story is here.
Results
Brora 0-5 Deveronvale
Buckie Thistle 1-0 Nairn County
Cove Rangers 5-0 Strathspey Thistle
Formartine Utd 2-2 Forres Mechanics
Fort William 2-4 Keith
Inverurie Locos 2-0 Huntly
Rothes 1-1 Lossiemouth
Wick Academy 0-3 Fraserburgh
Turriff 1-1 Clachnacuddin
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