Last week, a picture of Niall McGinn in the Celtic end at Rugby Park (posted on Twitter by his own agent) caused a brief social media storm. By Thursday night, BBC Sportsound was playing interviews with Dons fans, all of whom saying it wasn't an issue, yet still calling this a 'controversy' in the podcast preamble. Regardless, McGinn himself responded positively with a match-winning performance in Paisley that should put this to bed (if it wasn't already) - albeit the opening goal wasn't exactly a thing of beauty.
After the Buddies enjoyed the best of the opening half-hour, the Irishman found himself on the left flank, stood up former Don Issac Osbourne and cross into the six yard box. Jeroen Tesselaar and Adam Rooney contested the crossed ball, neither touched it, and it went all the way through and into the back of the net - much to the bemusement of 'keeper Mark Ridgers, and the obvious chagrin of pantomime villain Jim Goodwin. Goodwin does like a tantrum when his team concede, doesn't he?
A couple of minutes later, Jonny Hayes crossed from the left and Shay Logan managed to bundle the ball over the line at the back post. Cue Goodwin slumping to his knees, head in hands, as if he'd just lost the World Cup Final, while Logan scampered away for some celebratory shuffling and dad-dancing at the corner flag. Aberdeen remained comfortable throughout the second half - they were never likely to be complacent given St Mirren had recovered from the exact same deficit to snatch a draw at Pittodrie in their last encounter - and a further three points were safely in the bag.
Still without a win at home this season, the Buddies now sit bottom of the Premiership table on goal difference. At time of writing, there were also rumours of the club having been sold to an Argentinian consortium. (It could not be confirmed whether the deal was swung with the 'Free Beans With Hot Food' deal offered to the Argentiine businessmen during their last visit to Paisley.) Meanwhile, the Dons keep marching on. Eight wins in a row, bolstered by eight consecutive clean sheets, and a four point gap restored at the top of the league. Asked whether he was pleased Celtic were in Gran Canaria, Derek McInnes responded that he really couldn't care less. Ronny Deila might be less pleased now, mind. MI
No defence for shambolic Motherwell
I’ve not looked up the word 'bleak' in the dictionary, because I am lazy, but I’d be very surprised if the definition wasn’t 'a mid-table scrap on grey January day in Dundee'. So great credit has to go to Motherwell for not only making this game semi-watchable, but laugh-out-loud funny.
I may be a bit harsh in thinking that Dan Twardzik, my own personal Man of the Match, could have done better for the opener, but he looked like an oil tanker changing direction after Alex Harris’ shot took a big deflection. And Greg Stewart deserves credit for smart reactions when he headed in for the second after his own shot was pushed onto the bar.
But thereafter Motherwell’s defence and goalkeeper worked in perfect harmony to make Dundee (a team that hasn’t won in the league since the first day of November) look like Real Madrid, as they effortlessly sliced through the opposition at will. The pure comedy of Dundee’s third and fourth goals were just the highlights of a defensive performance that should worry Motherwell fans. If Benny Hill had been a spectator, he would have dismissed it as too slapstick for his tastes.
Even though St Mirren and Ross County are still clear favourites for the drop, conceding 11 goals in 3 games is relegation form. St Mirren may yet improve under a new manager, should they ever get round to appointing one, and County’s new tactic of not actually playing seems to be pulling them up the table. Maybe Motherwell should try a new strategy - defending competently. IM
Boooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
A common phrase in football is that it is harder to play against ten men than eleven. It was certainly true at Rugby Park, where Kilmarnock surrendered a one goal lead to an Inverness side that saw David Raven sent off only a few minutes into the second half.
Raven brought Josh Magennis down as he looked to latch on to a through ball missed by Gary Warren and was shown a straight red by referee Don Robertson. Eremenko dispatched the resultant penalty and the majority of those inside a bitterly cold Rugby Park expected Killie to see out the rest of the game with their man advantage key in that respect.
However Caley Thistle stayed disciplined and remained a real threat on the counter, hugely helped by a very negative Kilmarnock who utterly failed to make their man advantage count. Billy Mckay grabbed an equaliser for ICT and shortly afterwards Allan Johnston bizarrely substituted play-maker Eremenko to a chorus of boos around Rugby Park from the Home supporters.
Eremenko had been one of the few Kilmarnock players capable of retaining possession and finding a team mate when trying to create chances to retake the lead. When he went off Kilmarnock resorted almost exclusively to aimless punts up the pitch in the vague direction of Magennis, whilst Inverness remained focused on the passing style instilled by Hughes. They were to get their reward for all their hard work.
With ten minutes remaining, the busy Mckay robbed Mark O'Hara inside his own half then, after carrying the ball forty yards forward, linked with Nick Ross before gathering the return pass and placed the ball beyond Samson and into the net...to a quite remarkable chorus of boos from a home support horrified by their team's willingness to play for a point against a wounded opponent. It was just reward for a Caley Thistle side who, despite being a man down, remained positive and continued to take the game to a Kilmarnock side whose caginess and lack of ambition was inexcusable given the advantageous circumstances they found themselves in for the final 40 minutes of the game.
If Alan Johnston persists with this approach to games he will struggle to survive the season; he certainly isn't getting much goodwill from his supporters just now. AS
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.
Martin Ingram (MI) is our Aberdeen Correspondent. Legend has it that he is the tallest man in the Red Army. He writes regularly for Aberdeen fanzine The Red Final.
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".
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