Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Scotland Round Up


Thanks to a 1-0 away win, this column comes back. Inside, a look at the weekend that was in Scotland.

The weekend started out on Saturday with a 12.30 kickoff in Inverness. Just over 7000 fans showed up to see Caley Thistle host Celtic. Boruc was the early hero for Celtic, as his shot stopping kept the hosts without a goal in a frenetic, home-dominated, first half. Things quickly changed after the break. In the 48th minute, Lee Naylor crossed the ball in, and Scott Brown put it away. Less than 20 minutes later, Celtic struck again as Glenn Loovens redirected a Barry Robson cross. Caley Thistle replied quickly, but were unable to overcome the two goal deficit.
Inverness Caley Thistle 1-2 Celtic

The day's 3 o'clock kickoffs had no real top of the table implications, but plenty of bottom feeders looking to put some distance between themselves and relegation.

Hamilton hosted St Mirren, and for all the talk of their status as worst team in the league, the Buddies acquitted themselves well, scoring three times. Though not all for the same team. St Mirren took the lead in the 17th minute through Franco Miranda whose blistering shot came from outside the 18. Hamilton levelled 10 minutes later, when Jack Ross knocked a cross into his own net. St Mirren retook the lead before halftime, when Billy Mehmet headed home. The second half produced no more goals.
Hamilton Academical 1-2 St Mirren

Aberdeen took to the road at Falkirk and, as should be no surprise, took home all three points. Coming into the match, Aberdeen had two things going for them. First, they had taken wins in two of three previous away matches this season. Second, they have not lost to Falkirk in league in a dog's age. Still, it took Lee Miller heading in from Andrew Considine's cross on Aberdeen's only real chance to secure the win. The goal came in the 48th minute.
Falkirk 0-1 Aberdeen

The last of the three mid-afternoon kick offs seemed to be heading for a nil draw until Craig Bryson scored late into injury time. Motherwell had looked a good bet to hold on for a point despite being a man down for 25 minutes until Bryson slotted home a deflected shot from Jamie Hamill.
Kilmarnock 1-0 Motherwell

Sunday's game was an Edinburgh derby, as Hibs hosted Hearts. Hibernian started the game off brightest, and only needed 90 seconds to go in front. Steven Fletcher was the early goal scorer. Hearts replied five minuted before the break when Bruno Aguiar beat both the wall and the keeper. This was a spirited contest, with five yellow cards handed out, though no more goals were to come.
Hibernian 1-1 Hearts

There was one more match to be played, but Rangers-Dundee United was postponed on the news of the death of Eddie Thompson, United's chairman. The game has been rescheduled for November 4. United's next home match will be a tribute to Thompson. All seats for the match against St Mirren will be £5.

As far as the table goes, Celtic take advantage of Rangers' weekend off to build a three point lead at the top. Kilmarnock consolidate their third position, and Falkirk fall to the bottom, two points adrift of Hamilton. As for Aberdeen, 10th and climbing!

6 comments:

BackBergtt said...

in other news, celtics shitty clearing on a corner and a terrible miss on the no offsides call have just essentially cost them europe for the year. good work!

so who does mcgeady play for in two years time?

King Garry I Of Swandanavia said...

I'm utterly heartbroken. Obviously, being without John Vinegar of Castlemilk was always going to be a hard task (stock list of excuses number 334 - 521)

Rather than list our failings, lets take a look at what we did right...

We did very well at losing to United. Um...thats about it.

@Mike: McGeady will still be playing for us in 2 years time. Scottish league is nowhere near competitive enough for any realistic pushes in a bigger club, and as an Irish international, he will only be looked at by Roy Keane. Champs League football at Celtic, or a relegation battle at Sunderland? Tough call, for me.

Jacob said...

Then there is my question--will Mcgeady get a real number while at Celtic or will he keep his defnsive back number?

Jacob said...

You spend so much time getting the HTML right, then you go and frak the spelling. Oh well.

BackBergtt said...

are you saying he isnt good enough for a bigger club? i disagree with that, i think he is one of the top young talents around and would be shocked if people dont start moving for him soon.
but if he had to choose between celtic and a middle of the road team in england or spain, obviously he should stick with celtic

i sadly missed the last thirty minutes of the game, but both of those goals were offsides to me, i cant believe how botched the calls are.

but until the first goal celtic were playing well, they were passing well in the offensive side but clearly the one striker formation wasnt doing anything for them. aside from the great strike that vds had to tip away their werent many chances

and with the lack of height their corners are essentially just 'try and score from the kick', which if anyone can pull it off its him but not today

shame, i enjoy seeing scots in europe.

Fake Brian Gregory said...

Celtic's champions league hopes are realistically over, but they are still level on points with Aaalborg with two home ties and a trip to Switzerland still on the horizon. More likely than not, the UEFA Cup spot will be decided on that last match.

I thought Gary Caldwell was the best player on the field for Celtic and he played his natural CenterMid position, not defender as Strachan usually has him.

Whether or not McGeady goes to another league is one thing, but the demand is there. Aston Villa are the latest mid table EPL team to come knocking for his services.