SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP
KENNY MCLEAN CONFIRMS ABERDEEN’S INTENTIONS
In modern Scottish Premiership football it’s rare for clubs – outside of Parkhead – to spend more than £100,000 during an entire transfer window, never mind on a single player. Gone are the days of big spending, when the likes of Aberdeen could break the £1million mark on players down south; these days it’s about finding a prospect or getting a good pre-contract agreement – ala Graeme Shinnie. Yet ‘Deadline Day’ in Scotland was rather exciting this year, with Celtic splashing out over £2million on Dundee United pair Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven, the Arabs then re-investing some of that by paying Kilmarnock £150,000 for Robbie Muirhead, and Hamilton losing Tony Andreu for £2million – a substantial fee for a player whose contract was coming to an end in the summer. Yet, perhaps the most surprising signing – and most infuriating for St Mirren fans – was the transfer of Kenny McLean to Aberdeen for £300,000.
The £300,000 spent on McLean has made Aberdeen’s intentions clear and demonstrates the belief the club have in Derek McInnes. The former St Mirren midfielder offers so much in attack: he adds goals, makes a nuisance of himself dribbling at defenders, and makes well-timed runs into the box. His signing also offers more depth to the squad. Depth is something that Aberdeen lack compared to Dundee United or Celtic, whose strength-in-depth has been important to them succeeding in all three domestic competitions and the Europa League.
The Hoops’ tight 2-1 win in Perth – read about it in the next talking point – extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to six points; in part thanks to a goal from Leigh Griffiths, who replaced John Guidetti after the loanee started the mid-week fixture against Partick Thistle. The result meant that Aberdeen needed to beat Hamilton to cut the sizeable gap (Celtic still have a game-in-hand and can re-extend their lead to six points).
The last time Aberdeen travelled back up north from Hamilton, the Dons had suffered a demoralising 3-0 loss. Since then, however, manager Alex Neil and top-scorer Tony Andreu have departed for Norwich, and lead striker Mickael Antoine-Curier has also left the club; Neil’s replacement, Martin Canning, has picked up a mere two points in six games since the change in management. It didn’t take long for Aberdeen to make sure that dismal run continues.
The Dons took the lead inside six minutes and added a second some 85 seconds later – Niall McGinn crucial in creating both opportunities.
Ziggy Gordon’s clumsy positioning pushed the Northern Irishman’s late cross at Michael McGovern, who clawed the ball off the line but could do little to stop Andrew Considine pouncing on the chance. The Dons defender smashed the ball from close range to send the visitors ahead.
Less than a minute-and-a-half later, McGinn contributed another brilliant cross; weighted and curling into the path of the charging Ryan Jack, Aberdeen’s box-to-box midfielder redirected the ball past McGovern for the second.
The Dons should have been three ahead before half-time, as Adam Rooney’s hard shot smacked off the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line before McGovern pulled it back into his chest. The linesman, one second off the pace, judged that the ball hadn’t crossed. The Dons striker couldn’t hide his rage as the teams headed back inside for half-time.
Rooney could count himself especially unfortunate after the break: manhandled and tossed around the box by Jesus Garcia Tena, the referee opted to award a free-kick to the Hamilton defender. Tena got his just deserts minutes later, earning a second booking for a rash challenge and making the Accies’ task all the more challenging.
As the match passed the 75 minute mark Aberdeen made three quick changes, bringing on Willo Flood, Barry Robson and David Goodwillie. The latter should’ve had a goal minutes after his introduction, but the linesman again made a poor call: he flagged for offside despite it appearing that Eamonn Brophy was playing the substitute onside.
Despite the best efforts of the linesman, Aberdeen had done enough for a comfortable victory, and added a third in the 88th minute. Considine, who caused the Accies numerous problems throughout the game, lofted a long pass ahead of McGinn, who knocked the ball in to reverse the score from Aberdeen’s visit to Hamilton in October.
ST JOHNSTONE’S DEFENCE CRUCIAL FOR TOP-SIX FINISH
It might be not surprising to learn that two of the three teams to have scored the fewest amount of goals in the league this season are St Mirren and Motherwell. It might, however, come as a surprise to learn that the third club, having scored just one more than the Saints, is 7th place St Johnstone.
There’s little doubt that the summer departure of Stevie May, with all he brought to the Saints strike-force – including 20 league strikes – has affected their attacking threat. Michael O’Halloran, drifting inside from his natural left flank position, is the club’s top scorer, having notched seven goals; the combined efforts of Brian Graham, Steven MacLean and James McFadden has contributed a mere eight goals, including three penalties for the Dundee United loanee. While all three strikers, and Chris Kane, offer different advantages up-front, McDiarmid Park seems to be lacking an out-and-out goal-scorer. Yet, despite this, St Johnstone are seventh, and just a couple of points behind Dundee.
The reason for this is their experienced defence. St Johnstone possess the fourth-meanest back-line in the league, having conceded just 25 goals prior to Celtic’s arrival on Saturday afternoon. In fact, in just one of their ten league wins have the Saints won by more than one goal.
Four of those goals, however, had come in the last three matches, during which time St Johnstone have collected just two points. The return to form of Dundee meant that, as the Saints prepared to welcome the Bhoys, the Dees sat one point behind their Tayside rivals, and, thanks to a late goal from Paul McGowan, Dundee collected all three points against Partick. For the Saints to remain inside the top six, they needed to beat Celtic.
That became a more difficult task just 38 seconds into the match. The centre-back pairing of Anderson and Wright failed to stop Nir Biton’s long through ball, which sent Leigh Griffiths one-on-one with Alan Mannus. The Saints’ keeper had little chance of stopping the Celtic striker, who comfortably strolled into space and tucked the ball into the bottom-left corner.
The problem for St Johnstone came in creating chances from open play. The pace and movement of Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer made it difficult for the hosts to create genuine opportunities for Stephen MacLean, who started as the lone striker. Lee Croft, in particular, struggled to create space for crosses against the speed of Celtic’s back-line.
A similar chance to the opening goal almost doubled the visitors’ lead: Stefan Johansen’s cutting pass sliced open the St Johnstone defence, but this time Mannus was quick to his feet and he managed to block Griffiths’ direct effort. Minutes later and Mannus again denied the striker from close-range, pushing a hard shot out for a corner – the Saints defence, like their attack, couldn’t handle the pace and movement of the Hoops.
Minutes in the second-half St Johnstone opened up to let Johansen scored his fourth of the campaign. A simple header from Griffiths sent the midfielder through on goal and, with Anderson lacking the pace to keep up and Scobbie not getting enough behind his clearance, Johansen thumped his shot straight past Mannus.
With 20 minutes remaining St Johnstone capitalised on a rare defensive mistake from Celtic and reduced the deficit. A cross, taking a deflection, reached the near post and Chris Kane, who, from a yard out re-directed the ball towards Craig Gordon. However, the Celtic keeper couldn’t catch the ball and O’Halloran was quick to smash the rebound into the roof of the net.
The late goal injected some needed urgency and encouragement into their play, but Celtic continued to retain possession and Gordon pulled off some miraculous saves to keep the lead. He stopped a couple of blank-range efforts as the Celtic section of McDiarmid Park erupted into chants of ‘there’s only one Craig Gordon’. St Johnstone couldn’t break through and ended the afternoon in seventh place.
SPFL LEAGUE 1
FORFAR DEFENCE STRUGGLES AGAINST PACE IN AIRDRIE
It’s no secret that Forfar have a rather ‘experienced’ defence. The combined ages of their first choice goalkeeper, Rab Douglas, and the back-four that featured against Airdrieonians – Michael Travis, Darren Dods, Stuart Malcolm and Iain Campbell – is a staggering 169. There are obvious advantages of having a defence almost full of veterans – experience in certain situations, better decision making etc. – but there are also weaknesses.
A lack of pace for one; something United looked to capitalise on when Forfar visited the Excelsior on Saturday evening. The problems it caused for an aged Forfar defence were evident from the opening minutes.
Jim Lister, possessing that extra burst of pace, beat his marker on the right flank and cut a cross straight into the box, where Marc Fitzpatrick awaited. The Forfar defence positioned too deep, the Airdrie midfielder had acres of space, and he curled a first-time effort past the fingertips of Rab Douglas.
And as important as pace was in the opener, Airdrie’s movement for the second, some 15 minutes later, also caused Forfar huge problems.
Scott Fraser’s smooth back-pass eliminated the entire Forfar defence, sending Bryan Prunty through one-on-one with the keeper; Gavin Malin, in a desperate attempt to catch-up, tripped the Airdrie striker, conceded a penalty, and earned himself a straight red. Prunty hammered the ball into the top corner to send Airdrie clear.
As the half came to a close, the Diamonds exposed the Forfar defence with ease; putting through balls behind the defence, using long passes to move the ball from flank-to-flank, and testing Douglas on several occasions. If it wasn’t for some lax finishing and decent stops from Forfar’s veteran keeper, Airdrie would have had a three goal cushion.
The second-half continued as the first had ended. Forfar struggled to create chances and Airdrie threatened to add a third. It was a long time in the making, but in the 76th minute Fraser increased the lead. Lister, again causing problems on the right, directed a cross straight at the feet of the midfielder, who wisely pulled the ball back – a Forfar defender slid in front of goal thinking Fraser would attempt a quick shot – and smashed the ball into the net.
Forfar’s attack had made little impact on the game prior to their goal in the 86th minute – they registered just eight shots, compared to Airdrie’s 17 – and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the strike came from a set-piece situation. Stephen Husband’s free-kick stung the hands of Andrew McNeil, who pushed the ball back into the path of an onrushing crowd of players. In the midst of the confusion Michael Travis made the most of the chance and knocked the ball in from less than a yard out.
It wasn’t to be the beginning of an extraordinary comeback, however, as United let the match peter out to claim a deserved three points.
SPFL LEAGUE 2
DICKSON AND JULEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR EAST FIFE
As 2015 approached, no East Fife fan could claim to be pleased with the Fifers’ position in League 2. Gary Naysmith recruited well in the summer, and the elimination of League 1 Forfar in the Challenge Cup appeared to confirm that this side had all the makings of promotion favourites. Yet as 2014 came to an end East Fife lingered uncomfortably close to the relegation place, and promotion seemed a distance hope – a 5-1 thumping from Arbroath in their final game of the year highlighted the clear difference between the league leaders and pre-season favourites.
Yet, four games into 2015, East Fife sit 6th in the table, five points behind fourth place Annan with a couple of matches in hand. For the first time this season, with eight points from four games, East Fife are the in-form team. How did this change come about?
The problem for East Fife this season has been goals; not scoring enough and conceding stupid ones at crucial times. The defence has been the team’s strong-point, with the fewest goals conceded outside the top three – quite amazing considering the five goals shipped against the Red Lichties – and the recruitment of former Athletic Bilbao youngster Julen – the stadium announcer at Bayview chooses not to pronounce his full Basque name – has further strengthened them at centre-back. He’s proving himself to be far better than League 2.
The other major signing has been that of Sean Dickson. The former Stenhousemuir winger was forced out of the Stirlingshire club days before Scott Booth left the club, and, like Julen, it’s clear he’s better than the fourth tier of Scottish football. But he just might be East Fife’s missing link. The Fifers have struggled to link midfield and attack for most of the season – strikers have often dropped deep to collect the ball, leaving themselves with too much to do and meaning East Fife lacked a presence in the box – and Dickson’s creation could solve that problem. He demonstrated as much against Montrose.
The hosts had created the better chances in the first half-an-hour – one shot rattled the post and Ross Campbell, having left Bayview less than a month ago, almost made a point as his effort dribbled just past the post – before Dickson opened his account for the Fifers. The former Stennie midfielder darted into the box to greet Fraser Mullen’s dipping cross, and outleapt Ross Graham to send a comfortable header into the bottom-right corner.
The visitors looked much more comfortable in the second-45 and soon extended their slender lead; Ross Brown nudging Nathan Austin’s knock-down header past Stuart McKenzie. Fraser Mullen’s long range effort in the 86th secured all three points for the visitors. Ross Brown aimed his corner outside the box, where the East Fife right-back stood unmarked. His drilled 25-yarded slipped through the crowded box and into the bottom corner.
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