So, it's mid-November, and at last Celtic have gone top of the league. It's quite possible that they won't be knocked off their perch before they are crowned as Champions again in the Spring. Oh well, it's been fun.
That said, they barely did enough to win at Pittodrie, even before Scott Brown was sent off for his hundredth (approximately) foul of the game. Derek McInnes even threw on an extra winger for the last few minutes, in an attempt to seize the three points; instead, Virgil Van Dijk's bundled winner nicked them for the visitors.
But, not for the first time this season, Aberdeen were undone by errors - Mark Reynolds' hesitancy allowed Stefan Johansen (just about the only Celtic player who looked dangerous in this game) to cleverly nip in and open the scoring, while Andrew Considine's attempts to mark Van Dijk at the vital corner were akin to watching a blind man searching for a handrail. The Dons weren't particularly brilliant themselves, and the midfield badly missed Willo Flood after he went off injured early on. But they should have got at least a draw out of this.
Celtic won this game even though they didn't play well. But this is what happens when you have so much more quality than your opponents. LS
Mckay gets his mojo back
Saturday was a wee milestone for John Hughes' Inverness side - the first time they have recovered from losing the opening goal to go on and win the game in his tenure. The victory put Caley Thistle top of the league...for about 20 hours. More importantly for them, Billy Mckay ended his three month drought, with his first goals since the opening game of the season...which was against Hamilton.
Much has been made of Mckay's barren spell, with some fans believing he looked jaded and lacking in confidence. His two goals on Saturday, both classic Mckay 'poacher' goals from only a few yards out, will have silenced the doubters for the time being; he looked far more like the dangerous forward we have become accustomed to seeing over the past couple of seasons. His restored confidence was perhaps best summed up by a delicious side footed effort from an audacious angle which just skimmed past the post in the first half; he wouldn't have tried to pull that one off a few weeks ago.
Hamilton were ultimately architects of their own downfall as they attempted to play a high intensity pressing game, but as the game wore on they tired and couldn't maintain this approach. In the second half ICT had the time to pick out balls over the top for Mckay to scurry onto as he took advantage of the reckless high line that the Accies defence held for most of the match. Jesús García Tena was particularly suspect positionally; when James Vincent was bursting through to score the home side's fourth, the Spaniard had wandered aimlessly out of position, leaving enough space in the centre of the defence for a bus to drive through.
This was proper end-to-end stuff, with Hamilton more than happy to flood players forward, but their defence has now conceded nine goals in three league games and really needs more protection. Inverness. meanwhile, are up to second; if Mckay has his mojo back, then things are looking pretty sweet in the Highlands. AS
Better to be lucky than good
Maybe Stuart McCall accidentally urinated on an ancient Indian burial ground during the summer or something? The former Motherwell manager had no luck at all this season before his resignation; interim boss Kenny Black promptly got all the good fortune that McCall was owed on Friday night. The Steelmen were dreadful for long periods on Friday night against a Dundee United side who seemed to have twice as much energy as their opponents. At half-time it was a nil-nil thumping. And yet Motherwell stole it with Iain Vigurs' slightly deflected effort (which Rado Ciernziak maybe should have saved) and they would have had a second shortly after but for an erroneous offside decision. However, they were properly hanging on at the end. United spurned chance after chance in this game. They haven't scored in any of their last three away games, and have lost all of them.
This result might give Motherwell food for thought as to whether to appoint Black permanently. Any such considerations should be dismissed immediately. Whilst popular with players, Black's previous credentials from managing Airdrie are hardly impressive. And, if they want evidence that appointing the previous assistant is a bad idea, they should just cast an eye over to Paisley. LS
St. Mirren pay for lack of depth
Partick Thistle may yet manage to catch the top six bus - they're actually only five points adrift of the top half of the table despite going five games without a winner prior to victory in Paisley. But, most importantly for them, they are seven points clear of the two sides at the bottom, one of whom they vanquished on Saturday. Like St. Mirren, Partick struggle dreadfully for goals, but they managed to come up with a solitary strike through Christie Elliott (with the aid of some horrendous goalkeeping), and as on so many occasions this season, one was enough to beat the Buddies. It's the fifth time in seven home league games that St. Mirren have failed to score.
Granted, the home side were down to the bare bones. Every outfield substitute was 21 or under; three of them have never played for the first team. There were another four players in the same age group who started. And they had a full-back (Jeroen Tesselaar) in central defence and a striker (Thomas Reilly) in central midfield. But it's only taken the loss of six figures to injury and suspension to leave them in this mess. Clearly, there's not enough depth here; it's not so much that they made poor signings (though there are a few) but that they didn't make enough.
And, most galling, they still had every forward available bar Steven Thompson. In his post-match interview, Tommy Craig described Thompson as his 'talisman' and seemed to insinuate that it'll all be okay when he returns next month. That'll be a month before Thommohawk's 37th birthday. St. Mirren are taking a big risk if they bet it all on his return saving them. LS
Killie gift County a confidence boost
On a day when the Scotland rugby team scored three tries, Ross County still recorded the most unlikely achievement in Scottish sport - a clean sheet. Not since 6th May 2014, against a Hibs team that was at the time experiencing the mother of all implosions, have County been able to stop their opponents from scoring. And that includes games against Stranraer, Hibs, and worse of all, St Mirren.
Jim McIntyre must have been a very relieved man on Saturday night as his team had looked very bad indeed on Monday against Aberdeen. A 3-0 win away from home is never to be sniffed at, and with games against St Johnstone, Motherwell and a suddenly fragile Hamilton coming up before the end of the year, it is a distinct possibility that County will start 2015 no lower than 11th in the league.
I think we learned more about County from this game than the hosts. Losing three goals in the first half is shocking, but on another day they could have been three up themselves. Their performance, particularly at the back, was best summed up by the their clearly well read and erudite captain Manuel Pascali. I think he was quoting Bertolt Brecht when he said, “we were s***e.” Mark Connolly certainly will want to forget his part in Michael Gardyne's goal, as his pathetic attempt at a rugby tackle wouldn't have looked out of place in Argentina's back line at Murrayfield.
Killie seem set to spend the season alternating between runs of wins and defeats - I reckon they'll eventually finish around eighth. County will surely finish at least one place above St Mirren., Then again, last month I predicted Stuart McCall would lift Motherwell to comfortable safety, so take that with a pinch of salt. IM
Dundee should have won, even despite Bobby Madden
I don't think Paul Hartley will be sending Bobby Madden a Christmas card; the referee's decision to book David Clarkson for a dive against St. Johnstone, rather than award a penalty and send keeper Alan Mannus off, was the big talking point at the end of the 1-1 draw, not least because it happened only six minutes into the game.
My feeling is that Hartley has the right to feel aggrieved; whilst Clarkson makes a little bit of a hash of dinking it over the goalkeeper, and then goes down easily under the contact, Mannus clearly sticks out his left arm to try and impede the forward. It's not the most scandalous decision we'll see all season, but one wonders what Madden would have done had the incident not occurred so early in the game.
That said, Dundee should still have won this, after Clarkson fired them in front. St Johnstone's spot-kick equalizer came courtesy of a brain fart from James McPake, whose tug on Brian Graham was as obvious as it was unnecessary, since Graham was never going to reach the cross ball aimed at him. It was utter stupidity and, to his credit, Hartley refused to defend his centre-half. In fact, McPake was lucky not to give away a penalty in the first half, when a shirt-pull on Frazer Wright went unpunished.
This game was simply the latest in a series of home games which the Dark Blues have drawn instead of winning. Given that they're only six points off top, imagine how they'd be doing if they had won more than one home game. LS
Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes. He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.
Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically. He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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