See? I managed it. Easy. An entire intro without mentioning the Old Fi.. oh.
SPL » St Mirren v Hibernian (Sunday)
So, St Mirren v Hibs. Are the green (no pun intended) shoots of recovery starting to show at Easter Road? Two games won in a row now, with one of those coming against this very same St Mirren side only 2 weeks ago. This form is a welcome relief from the misery most Hibees fans have had to put up with in recent weeks, or indeed, months, during which many questions are being asked about Colin Calderwood’s suitability for the task at hand. St Mirren picked up another valuable point last Saturday in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Inverness Caley, a game in which some pretty poor goals where conceded but in which they did well to come back from behind twice to at least earn a point. Irony being what it is - the last team St Mirren beat was in fact Caley Thistle in the Boxing Day fixture.
Two teams then separated by three points and a goal difference of only two. It's a game that St Mirren must really get some points from in order to keep the distance between themselves and Accies to acceptable (i.e., safe) levels, with the added motivation that a two goal winning margin would see them move up a notch in the table.
For Hibs, a continuation of the winning form would see them win three games in a row for the first time this season. They nearly managed it back in November, when they sensationally beat Rangers at Ibrox, followed by Motherwell at home, only to lose 4-2 away at Caley Thistle the following week. Expect a Hibs win here.
Division One » Dunfermline v Ross County
The problem with being a journeyman manager, or for that matter player, is that in the small incestuous world of Scottish football, sooner or later you're going to run into your former employers. No man has been more aware of that than Jimmy Calderwood, the man appointed to steer 'troubled' First division side Ross County back to safety. He's taken on the job until the end of the year, Ross County no doubt hoping that Calderwood can do a repeat of his Kilmarnock trick in the short run, and his Aberdeen routine in the long run. Oh, in a sort of karma-esque way, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock play each other this weekend!
Calderwood's first game in charge will come against the team he managed between 1999 and 2004, Dunfermline Athletic. In his five seasons at East End Park Calderwood not only got them out of the First Division and into fourth spot in the SPL, he also got them into the Scottish Cup final in 2004. They lost 3-1 to Celtic, but the team got their first shot at European football since the 3-3 aggregate defeat to Anderlecht in 1970.
That kind of achievement brought him to the attention of the Aberdeen FC board who were looking to replace Steve Paterson, post-haste. Five seasons at Pittodrie resulted in a significant improvement in the club's league fortunes, the sort that Ross County are now looking for, the sort they're hoping Calderwood can provide.
Not that Dunfermline will be in any mood to go easy on Ross County on purely nostalgic grounds. The Pars are second in the division, five points clear of third-placed Falkirk and chasing leaders Raith Rovers - one point ahead - all the way. With Rovers playing Cowdenbeath tomorrow, it's important for Dunfermline to get a win and keep up the promotion chase. Ross County will get two bites at this cherry: thanks to the fixture backlog, The Staggies will play Dunfermline twice in four days, with the home fixture coming on Tuesday.
Division Two » Livingston v Stenhousemuir
The Livi bandwagon rumbles on. Following their rapid promotion from Division Three, a league they won with games to spare and a 15-point cushion, the blistering form that saw them through last season continues without much in the way to stop them. Five points clear from Ayr, undefeated at home and with their Third Division Manager of the Year Gary Bollan still in place (rumours about a move to Ross County abounded), Livi are on track for a straight-down, straight-back-up return to the First Division in two short seasons.
The motivation to equal Gretna's meteoric rise up the Divisions (from Third to SPL in three seasons) must surely bethere, but there's a long way to go yet. Bollan has a team that has a nice balance of experience (Robbie Winters, Tony Bullock, Liam Fox, Jason Talbot), youth (David Sinclair) and exotic (Raffaele De Vita) to make sure it's all systems GO!
The addition of lower league stalwart Kenny Duechar (aka: "the hat-trick king") gives Livi plenty of ammunition to gain automatic promotion. Expect another win tomorrow against lowly Stenhousemuir - whom we also featured last week - whose 2-0 defeat at home against East Fife put them to the bottom of the table. Last time these two teams met Livi ran out 4-1 winners. Expect more of the same.
The Highland League » Cove Rangers v Fort William
I don't know why I keep coming back to these two teams. I suppose one reason is that Cover Rangers are an Aberdeen-based side (in the loosest terms of the definition) and that I am convinced that they're the sleeping giants of the Highland League. They've always been an ambitious club - three times winners, four times runners up in relatively recent history - keen to move into the SFL, a league in which they may well perform quite nicely. A new 1,000-seater stadium is in the planning, despite much opposition from local residents, which will put the club in a better position for eventual league membership.
Their recent bids for league entry failed mainly because their Allan Park ground was deemed unfit for League football and would require substantial investment to bring it up to standards. The new stadium, Calder Park is being built and part-financed by Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne (and his construction company), while Alan Park, Cove Rangers' current ground will be redeveloped and turned into Aberdeen FC's training ground. A win-win situation all-round then.
".. a game against Fort William is seen by many teams as being the equivalent of a soothing cold toilet roll around your ring the morning after a particularly hot Vindaloo - a welcome relief."
Well, with much success off the field, it's somewhat surprising to find Cove Rangers down in a - for them - low 10th place in the Highland League. A season that's been harder than others saw poor results against local rivals Buckie, Deveronvale and Inverurie has left them just below midtable and struggling for form. With a bit of luck however, Cove, who also have former Livingston, Raith Rovers, Gretna and Aberdeen midfielder Steve Tosh turning out for the side may well get back to winning ways as they welcome Fort William to the east-coast.
The Highland League has been affected by the weather as much as every other league, but without the facilities over higher league opposition, match postponements are ten-a-penny at this level. The last time these two sides where to have met, October 23rd, the game was cancelled due to the inclement weather.
Now regular visitors to these pages will know that we've got something approaching an obsession with Fort William, the plucky little side from the Highlands that couldn't win a game of association football to save their lives. In fact, following our absence from blogging here, I was surprised to see that The Fort were still in existence. But I'm glad they're still here, mainly on account of the fact that a game against Fort William is seen by many teams as being the equivalent of a soothing cold toilet roll around your ring the morning after a particularly hot Vindaloo - a welcome relief.
And why do I say that? Well, check out these stats from this season:
Biggest home win: Keith 8–0 Fort William
Biggest away win: Fort William 0–8 Inverurie Loco Works
Highest scoring game: Wick Academy 8–1 Fort William
Yes, Fort William are an easy way to boost your "goals for" column, something I'll expect Cove Rangers to do tomorrow. Providing the game goes ahead, that is!
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