Talking points from the Premiership

"So, what does my forehead smell like?" Having Mark Connolly's head attached to his shoulder probably didn't help Josh Magennis' mood

Kilmarnock fight for the right

I bet the photographer who perfectly caught Josh Magennis' headbutt on team-mate Jamie Hamill made a nice little earner this weekend.  Violent conduct is a sending-off offence, even when it's your own team-mate...and even if Jamie Hamill is the victim, though I imagine a lot of people have been tempted to stick the nut on Hamill over the years.  To my surprise, the highlights capture the incident perfectly...and, damningly, they also show that referee John Beaton was pretty much looking directly at the fracas.  He couldn't have missed it unless he was having some sort of absence seizure.

It was a complete dereliction of duty from the official, and it's reasonable to assume that, given Killie were only one up at the time, the match would have taken a rather different turn had Magennis got his marching orders.  The Ulsterman went on to score Killie's fourth goal, and gave Hamill a big sloppy kiss afterwards - this is possibly a bigger crime than the headbutt.  Gary Locke subsequently claimed that he wasn't in the slightest bit bothered by the altercation between two of his players.  At least it showed that Kilmarnock had some fight in them when it mattered most.

So Killie stay up for another season, but there's no question that they will have to buck up their ideas to avoid being relegation candidates next season.  This squad is simply not good enough, and has too much dead wood in it.  But the problem of how to prepare for next season's Premiership is one that Gary Locke would much rather have, compared to the prospect of getting his team ready for a clash with Hibs or Rangers. LS

McManus assault was a disgrace

The compliance officer will have a busy week, if he still exists; he's been very quiet since the Josh Meekings fiasco, though that might have been because of the time taken to count every single one of Steven Lawless' football bets over the last two years.  Aside from Magennis, he should take an interest in footage from St. Mirren Park, where it was surprising to discover the referee was not Willie Collum but Brian Colvin.  Motherwell's penalty was at best iffy, with Lee Erwin's fall looking gloriously fake, but it was nothing compared to the red card that was dished out to Scott McDonald late on, or the red card that inexplicably wasn't issued to Stephen McManus.

McDonald's dismissal will be appealed, and I imagine he'll get off - his 'victim', Thomas Reilly, defended him in the papers today (though Paul Paton got banned earlier this season even when Jonny Hayes told the world he hadn't been spat on).  Quite right too; McDonald does have his arm up, but Reilly walks into it.  It's never violent conduct.  There was a suggestion on Sportsound that the decision was made by fourth official Andrew Dallas, though Chic Young bizarrely insisted (against all the TV evidence now available) that Colvin had the card out so quickly that it couldn't possibly be the case.  Dallas, possibly because of the family name, is being fast-tracked through the system - too quickly for some; his last match resulted in heavy criticism from the managers of both St. Johnstone and Inverness.

McManus' smash into Alan Gow, on the other hand, would be called 'Unnecessary Roughness' if it happened on an American Football field.  There's clearly no attempt to pull out of the challenge, or even to avoid impacting the opponent's skull.  It was nasty, it was brutal, and even worse was the assailant's casual trot away from the incident without even checking as to whether Gow's head was still attached to his body (thankfully, he was discharged from hospital on Sunday after a diagnosis of concussion).  A precedent set by Livingston's Jason Talbot earlier this season allows the compliance officer to cite McManus even though he was booked at the time.  I would be deeply offended if it is not used.

Results elsewhere would have effectively condemned Motherwell to eleventh even if they had won this match.  The table doesn't lie, and they deserve to be there.  I couldn't begin to guess how they might fare against Rangers or Hibs.  Their attack badly needs McDonald, but their defence is already terrible enough with McManus; without him, I just can't see them staying up. LS

Could McIntyre and McGregor be County's perfect combination?
Maybe there’s something in the Highland water?  Last year Inverness appointed a manager who wasn’t the obvious choice and whose past record didn’t exactly get the pulse racing; now, John Hughes is Manager of the Year.

In September, things looked grim across the Kessock Bridge. An attempt to improve the squad  with foreign imports had failed and the man management style of Derek Adams had left morale at rock bottom.  Relegation looked a distinct possibility.  So County chairman Roy MacGregor bit the bullet and replaced Adams with Jim McIntyre from Queen of the South.  Initially there appeared to be little improvement. But McIntyre was allowed to bring in multiple new signings in January and given the chance to mould the kind of squad he felt he required to avoid relegation, and the results were very impressive indeed.  A run of 9 games without defeat effectively pulled them clear of St Mirren and Motherwell, and Premiership  status was secured on Saturday with victory  over  Hamilton.

It’s not easy to turn around a team for a manager coming in mid season, so all credit to McIntyre  for the work he has done.  But it would have been impossible had he not also received the backing of a board that could easily have told their new manager, “We’ve already spent a lot of money on this squad, it’s your job to get them playing.”

It will be interesting to see if they can carry their late season form into next term and avoid another scrap at the bottom, but there's hope that just like their neighbours south of the Moray Firth,  they have found a manager who fits nicely with their club. IM

Don Don, Heeds and Reebs

It's been quite a while since Aberdeen have participated in a game that received the lowest billing on Sunday night's 'Sportscene'.  But I would concede that it was justified, given the match involved two sides already locked into their final league positions and with little more to play for than pride.  Over the piece, a score draw was probably an acceptable result all around, with both Dundee and Aberdeen managing to end their respective run of defeats.  

Luka Tankulic opened the scoring for Dundee against the run of play at Dens Park.  A discombobulated Don Daniels managed to lose track of a speculative punt into the box and Jim McAlister took advantage to nod the ball into the path of Tankulic, who coolly chipped past the keeper to score.  Don Don will now be heading back to West Bromwich Albion following the end of his loan spell, although when he departed Dens Park late in the second half it probably provided as much interest to the Dees, who got to see Nicky Low for the first time since being signed by Paul Hartley for next season.

As for Aberdeen, they left it late to equalise; so late that even goalkeeper Scott Brown came forward for the injury time corner.  (incidentally, the corner was conceded following a cross from 17 year old Francis Ross, who came off the bench to make his debut for the Dons.)  From Barry Robson's corner, Ash Taylor powered a header off the post and Rooney bundled the ball over the line from the resulting reeb.  (Is 'heeds 'n' reebs' still a thing? I hope so...)  Scott Brown may have got the assist, but even if he didn't get a touch of the ball I'd like to think that the overall distraction provided by his gamboling around the six-yard box still contributed to some confusion in the Dundee defence. 

Andy Considine was later quoted saying the late fightback exemplified Aberdeen's "winning mentality", which reads a bit weird considering they only drew the match, but I ken fit he meant.  It was still impressive to see how much a last minute equaliser, in what was otherwise an essentially meaningless end of season league fixture, still meant to the players - and it was certainly well received by the travelling Dons support. MI

Why are St. Johnstone fourth? Here's your answer

Best goalless draw ever.  There were twenty-eight efforts on goal; due to a combination of good goalkeeping, an invisible forcefield around both goals, Michael O'Halloran's inability to head the ball (I wasted an hour trying unsuccessfully to make a GIF showing the moment in the first half when, six yards out with a free header, the ball hits him on the nose and goes off in the complete opposite direction from where he intended) and that James Forrest miss, which is even funnier if you concentrate on the reactions of the Celtic fans behind that goal.

Anyone begrudging St. Johnstone their late run at a Europa League spot was shut up by an exceptional performance by the home side, who showed remarkable energy for so late in the season and who took advantage of the incohesion caused by so many changes to the Celtic side.  If Ronny Deila learned a lesson from this, it is that he needs Nir Biton to anchor midfield so Scott Brown can maraud.  With the former absent and the latter sat deep all evening, the terrific duo of Chris Millar and Murray Davidson actually had the better of it in the middle of the park.  That might have been Davidson's best performance for two years, and he was unlucky to hit the post right at the death.

The Perth Saints still have their weaknesses - they've never quite replaced Stevie May's goals, and Tam Scobbie is not a long-term answer at centre-back - but as ever they are a terrific unit.  Good enough to deserve fourth place?  As someone who watched Dundee United play this weekend, I'd say a definite 'yes' to that one. 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.

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.

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.