Talking points from the Premiership

Ross County's Martin Woods, Jackson Irvine and Craig Curran celebrate with a rendition of 'Nessun Dorma'  

The arse has fallen out of Dundee United's season
This was Jackie McNamara's hundredth game as Dundee United manager, and it's safe to say that he's never been under as much pressure at Tannadice as he is just now.  United may be fourth in the league, but they haven't won in two months - a run which started shortly after the exit of Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong, whose departures, it was revealed this week, led to a financial bonus for McNamara (not that there's anything obviously wrong with that unless he actually has control over the transfers).  This news, plus revelations that very little of the money from the big player sales in the past year will go to the club, have really stuck in the craw of the fans.

Meanwhile, they haven't scored in open play in their last six games; there appears to be a collective slump from every single player bar Radoslaw Ciernziak and Nadir Ciftci; and a side who were in the fight for second place back in January are now five points ahead of their seventh placed city rivals.  Not only have the wheels come off, but the engine has broken, the gearbox has crumbled into pieces and the driver has had a heart attack.

United had their chances in this dour game, but not many - only five efforts on goal in a home game is pitiful.  Not quite as pitiful as the defending though.  Jackson Irvine had the freedom of Dundee to head home the first.  As if that wasn't enough of a warning, he had a second goal disallowed after an infringement...and yet United still didn't do enough to hinder him from hitting the post with another header, with the rebound turned in for the winner by Raffaele De Vita.  The home side looked like they didn't want to be out there, and the boos that rang around Tannadice suggested the fans didn't want them out there either.

It's derby day on Wednesday.  Dundee haven't won any of the last nine clashes with their neighbours, with an aggregate score of 11-3 to United in the three matches this season.  The Dark Blues won't get a better chance than this, as United look absolutely spent. LS

Erwin justifies the hype
Lee Erwin apparently has plenty of admirers out there; the Motherwell forward has been scouted by several English Championship clubs this season.  Given that he hadn't scored since opening day, and had spent much of the season on the bench, I'd struggled to understand the fuss.  His glorious winner at Rugby Park might solve part of the mystery; he left Tope Obadeyi for dead, then ghosted past Ross Barbour and absolutely rifled a shot into the bottom corner.  

My first thought when Scott McDonald returned to Fir Park was that, given his excellent off-the-ball play, he would be the perfect foil for big John Sutton.  Ian Baraclough thought otherwise, and paired him with Erwin instead.  Whilst neither are particularly good in the air, they work hard and have excellent vision.  Already, they look like a potent front pairing.  Now that Lionel Ainsworth has rediscovered his mojo, Motherwell are a different proposition in attack.

Their problem, of course, is that Ross County are flying too.  Motherwell can effectively kill off St. Mirren by beating them at Fir Park on Tuesday night, but the eleventh placed team still has to face a playoff.  Baraclough just needs his team to get enough points on the board that they overtake somebody...if not County, then maybe Partick...or even a Killie side who, though ten points ahead, look dangerously close to already being in holiday mode. LS

Canning lets his team down
Given Accies' recent form, this wasn't on anyone's list of fixtures in which Martin Canning would break his duck.  But an international break is a long time in football, and after Ali Crawford took advantage of Danny Swanson's compulsion to hug teammate Dave Mackay instead of clearing the danger, and the home side took the lead, they went toe-to-toe with the Perth Saints for nearly an hour.

That was until the player-manager shot himself and his team in the foot by trying to amputate Michael O'Halloran's.  It was a shocking challenge, deserving of the straight red that was shown.  Remarkably and disgracefully, several Accies players sprinted to the nearby linesman to give him abuse...as if the foul hadn't been so obvious that the ref, every supporter in the ground and little ameoba developing on the surface of a planetoid orbiting Alpha Centauri couldn't have seen it.  No one can doubt that Canning cares, but this was the latest moment to be added to the growing list of reasons why Hamilton fans are uneasy about his appointment.

It probably cost them a couple of points here.  It was all St. Johnstone after that, with Brian Graham deservedly heading an equalizer, and Hamilton were grateful for the draw which leaves them now winless in twelve.  Incredibly, they are still in the top six, though Dundee have games in hand on them; they are probably going to have to win at Tannadice next weekend to be on the right side of the split.  They'll have to do it without their suspended player-manager, though. LS

Taylor the jet-lagged Jag

While the buzz around the Dons support before the game concerned a first start for Development League top scorer Lawrence Shankland - fresh from scoring a brace on for Scotland U21 - the striker who made the biggest impact on this game was another player who scored an international goal this week.

Partick Thistle's Lyle Taylor - in his second loan spell with the Jags, currently on loan from Scunthorpe United - plays for the small Caribbean island of Montserrat.   After scoring on his debut in a 2-1 defeat at Curacao on the evening of Friday 27 March, he also played in the return leg in St John's last Tuesday evening - although they were knocked out of 2018 FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualification at the first round (bear in mind we're only half way through our Euro 2016 qualification group...) the 2-2 draw was still historic, marking the first time the Emerald Boys avoided defeat in a World Cup qualification match.

Lyle travelled back to Scotland in time to be in the Partick Thistle squad to play Aberdeen.  Although starting on the bench, he replaced the hamstrung Kris Doolan after just half an hour.  In less than 15 minutes on the park, he could have had the Jags two up.  Twice Taylor found himself one-on-one with the Dons goalkeeper; Jamie Langfield did well to come out and save the first chance, yet Taylor will be kicking himself for missing the target with the second, lobbing the keeper but sending his effort wide of the post.

One moment in the second half typified the effort that the striker gave to the cause.  Chasing after a ball that was racing out of play, he realised too late that he would be unable to keep the ball in play.  Unfortunately, the combination of his own momentum and the slippery surface meant he was unable to keep himself in play either... after careering into the South Stand barrier, Taylor flipped over 180 degrees - indeed, had he not managing to stop himself with some gymnastic athleticism I can barely fathom, I fully expected to witness him back-flip onto an unsuspecting toddler in the front row.

Taylor sunk to his knees at full time, the jet-lagged Jag having clearly given his all.  Although he ultimately failed to grab the goal that could have given Partick Thistle all three points, the effort that he and his team-mates demonstrated on Saturday - coupled with the string of positive results this effort has produced in recent weeks - suggests the Jags should be safe from the relegation battle currently facing those clubs below them in the Premiership table. MI

Forrest fire
In recent times, James Forrest has been moving steadily closer to joining the vast of group of Rangers and Celtic youth products labelled as 'never quite fulfilled his potential'.  The last couple of years have been blighted with injury problems, apparently all related to a back complaint.  In fact, he has managed to play in more than half Celtic's league games in only one season.

2014/15 has hardly been vintage; nearly three months out at the start of the campaign, then in and out of the team; on Friday night he made only his eighth league start of the season.  Like most wingers, he could do with a run of games to get his confidence up, but a combination of niggles, poor performances and the arrival of Gary Mackay-Steven have prevented him from doing so.  This was a rare chance to shine then, and as the match reached the hour mark, he appeared to have fluffed it.  Every time Forrest ran at an opponent, he seemed to lose the ball; every time he passed it, he appeared to give it away.  In his frustration he committed a few fouls - a sign, perhaps, of him trying too hard.  He wasn't so much in Jeroen Tesselaar's pocket as locked in a small wooden box in his closet.

And yet, cometh the moment, cometh Forrest; St. Mirren had defended wonderfully for the first two-thirds of the match, but were undone by one moment of sleepiness from left winger Kieran Sadlier.  The Buddies' wide men had tracked Celtic's full-backs manfully all evening long...until Sadlier dozed off once.  Lo and behold, Adam Matthews wandered in behind, and the home defence instantly lapsed into a shambles.  Forrest, who had wandered in off the right flank, was the spare man picked out by Matthews, and finished beautifully.

There was never going to be any way back for St. Mirren after that - whilst Gary Teale proved he can set up and organize a team, in attack they looked about as dangerous, and directionless, as a blind hedgehog in a paper bag.  Anything they got from this game would have been a bonus though - the upcoming clashes with Motherwell and Ross County this week are far more critical.  Forrest did need to get something from this game, though, and he did.  Ronny Deila clearly likes him, and his ability to dribble the ball long distances and to inject pace to the attack are rare at this level.  But one can't help thinking that he may never manage to stay fit long enough to become the player he could be. LS

Flagging ICT stagger towards the end of the season
Using the dreadful 'marathon' analogy, Caley Thistle are stumbling towards the finish line, tongue lolling, eyes unfocussed, hurling one wobbly leg in front of the other and desperately hoping that each will support their weight.  And yet, because of Dundee United's problems, ICT are increasingly likely to nick the bronze medal and finish third in the league.

To be fair, Dundee are no mugs; in fact, this game went largely as Paul Hartley would have planned.  The visitors sat in during the first half, refusing to be drawn up the pitch, and then used their superior energy levels (I've not seen a fitter team this season) to have a right go after the break.  The only thing that went wrong was that they switched off immediately after scoring, allowing an instant equalizer from Graeme Shinnie.  Inverness looked a bit jaded, and a bit lacking up top, with Marley Watkins willing but not nearly as effective as Billy Mckay.  However, their insistence on keeping the ball on the deck didn't help.  The pitch is like a snooker table...a snooker table which hasn't been replaced in forty years in the sort of bar where the cues are more often used as weapons than for playing with.  The constant bobble wrecked many a first touch.  Poor Ryan Christie was left looking stupid frequently as he took his eye off the ball to assess what was around him, only to find that said ball had jumped over his foot and run away.

But Caley Thistle will still probably nick third.  Incredibly, Dundee might yet miss out on the top six, unless they beat their struggling neighbours in midweek; their remaining pre-split matches are versus St. Johnstone and Celtic. LS

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.

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.

Iain Meredith (IM) is in California on holiday.  He was unable to contribute because "Endless blue skies and the company of endlessly optimistic people means I'm not really in the right frame of mind to write about Scottish football this week."

Andrew Sutherland (AS) was given compassionate leave this week because of the demise of his faithful laptop (2009-2015).