SPL Fanzone: As the supporters see it

Inverness

Our season continues to improve and it could get even better if we can grab three points against St Johnstone this Friday and, if other results go our way, we could be eight points clear in third position at the split. That would put us a fantastically strong position for clinching a European place or even second in the SPL.

Friday now becomes the most important game of the season and a win would put the pressure on the chasing pack. Getting into the top six has been a great achievement but maintaining current form could see the team achieve something very special and unique to the Highlands. The final five fixtures will not be easy and there could be a possible showdown with Motherwell for that second place. Talk of Europe is never far away but in reality there is still a long way to go.

Dave Wilson

www.caleythistleonline.com

Dundee United

Monday night’s draw all but killed off United’s hope of a top-six finish this season and with that, the finger pointing begins.

Was it Armstrong’s fault for “diving” to receive his second booking, or McNamara’s for not subbing him earlier, Daly for his mind being “elsewhere” or Peter Houston for starting the season with an unbalanced squad with a lack of defence cover?

Personally, I believe United that have been incredibly unlucky this season with injuries which have meant the team couldn’t reach its potential. It may have been a much bigger picture.

Thankfully, the expected failure to reach the top six does have some positives, as this will allow McNamara to give some youth players an opportunity to play first-team football.

Jamie Kidd

www.dundeeunited-mad.co.uk

St Johnstone

So top six it is – we battled late and got the point on Monday, which was the least we deserved after yet another game this season where we’ve created plenty and failed to take them.

Now we travel to Inverness on Friday looking for three points to keep us in the hunt for a European spot. Win and we’re two behind ICT going into the final five matches. Lose and that dream is pretty much gone – I can’t see us making up eight points in five games.

We need to freshen it up a bit – and for me, with no pressure on us, it needs to be a more expansive attacking line up. I’d drop Maclean and Tade and play Edwards and Abeid with Vine up top, with Cregg replacing Millar in the centre of midfield to create a solid unit to build on. There really is nothing to lose.

Jamie Beatson

weareperth.co.uk

Hearts

Yet another defeat for Hearts at the weekend, albeit we could consider ourselves slightly unfortunate given the chances we created. That said, the majority of the focus for the club at the moment is in the boardroom where things appear to be moving in the right direction in terms of a potential sale, but very slowly.

Whilst fan ownership or part-ownership sounds like an excellent idea, it looks far from straightforward and, with Romanov potentially still in the background, it could prove to be challenging to operate in practice. However, it is important we get people running the club who have its best interests at heart.

Saturday’s game against Ross County looks like a difficult challenge for us, but we need to be putting in some performances and trying to convince people to re-new their season tickets.

Broxburn Jambo

Celtic

Bobby Madden and Willie Collum are two referees promoted beyond their abilities. Both have been erratic since being fast-tracked and neither has improved. Following his award of a non-penalty to Dundee United, he awarded a non-penalty to St Mirren after missing a stonewall penalty for the Buddies in the first half! It should not detract from another poor performance by Celtic. We’re too narrow, have no out-ball and resort to lumping it upfield to the uninterested Hooper. Victor was having to play like Iniesta to create anything. Again, until we went down to ten men, it was purgatory in motion. Play the same way against Dundee United and they will take us to the cleaners on the open spaces of Hampden. St Mirren looked so good against us there because the likes of Teale had space to run into and created openings. We appear averse to that strategy!

Dave Devine

Motherwell

While Motherwell have been safe in the top six for some time, it is amusing to watch the battle for the remaining spots continue. After beating Dundee, we were able to watch St Johnstone and Dundee United, with our only concern being how big a gap we would have over the members of the chasing pack. What makes the result even funnier, though, is that, with Kilmarnock in pole position for the final place, it appears none of the ‘big city’ clubs – apart from Celtic, of course – will be joining us in the top half.

That could change, but there is nothing like gloating prematurely when the chance arises – as, let’s be honest, it doesn’t arise too often for Motherwell fans! Dundee United, Hibs, Hearts and, most hilariously of all, Aberdeen, look set to be scrapping it out with only seventh place as a target.

Derek Wilson

www.firparkcorner.com

St Mirren

We all have bad days at the office. If a footballer has one he often gets dropped for the next match – so if a referee has a shocker why do the SFA do nothing? It’s not often I agree with Neil Lennon, but he was right when he said Sunday’s display by Bobby Madden was one of the most appalling he has seen all season.

Paul Dummett clearly barged Fraser Forster when Gary Teale’s cross flew into the net, but the only reason he did so was because Izaguirre shoved him – so why didn’t we get a penalty? And why didn’t we get one just before half-time when Samaras blatantly handled the ball? The only call I’ll back Mr Madden on was sending Wanyama off, but I seem to be in the minority on that one. All in all, a shocking display of officiating that took the shine off a decent game.

Stuart Gillespie

www.saintmirren-mad.co.uk

Ross County

So a top-six finish has been secured by County. A very credible achievement for a team making their debut season in the SPL. No doubt it will be said we needed St Johnstone’s help. But the fact is the County team merited the top-half position after the efforts they have put in throughout the season.

We now know five of the six teams that will make the top six, and the final weekend before the split looks interesting, with four still in contention. Kilmarnock are in the driving seat and, with a game in hand, it is likely they will clinch that last spot, meaning that Glasgow will be the only major city represented in the top six, with Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen teams all falling short in a season in which fans of every one of those teams would have been expecting their teams to have mounted a European challenge at the start of the season.

Alan Ross

www.thejailender.com

Kilmarnock

It was a well overdue win on Saturday and we probably surprised a few people by getting it at Dingwall, where only two other teams have won all season. We were certainly the quickest out of the blocks and the game was only a few minutes old when the veteran Fowler curled the only goal of the game into the net. With Ross County hogging possession, a goal fest was never on the cards. Kenny Shiels has since said that the only reason the possession statistics were so much in favour of the home side was because after we scored we dropped back and allowed them to retain the ball in their own area and tried to hit them on the break. I agree, although it was a bit grim viewing at times. All we need now is a decent midweek result against St Mirren and to actually score against Dundee and we are looking good for a top-six finish… how’s that for jinxing it!

Barry Richmond

www.killiefc.com

Hibs

Saturday’s home defeat by Inverness saw our hopes of finishing in the top six all but ended. As our manager conceded, that means our league campaign has probably ended in failure. There was a general consensus that major improvements on the shambles left behind by Colin Calderwood would take time. However, for fans to accept incremental change, there has to be continuous progress or patience begins to be stretched. After nearly four months of poor league form that suggests that at best we are standing still, it’s no wonder there are rumblings about Fenlon’s managerial style. Our season now hinges on the Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk. No Hibs fan will be seeing victory as a foregone conclusion in that one. However, if this team actually win that damned cup, Fenlon would become a club legend. As an English football philosopher once said, it’s a funny old game.

John Robertson

www.hibs.net

Dundee

The end is near, but at least it’s not the final curtain. There’s always next season...

Our long, slow death in this season’s SPL could even be confirmed this weekend, leaving us to contemplate yet another First Division promotion fight. Dundee signed another forward this week, when Andy Barrowman, one of the casualties at Dunfermline, joined until the end of the season. He has scored 14 goals this season, which is about the sum total all our forwards have managed between them.

Our final game before the split is away to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

In answer to last week’s question, the last Dundee player to score for the full Scotland team was Lee Wilkie against Iceland at Hampden ten years ago, though Kevin McDonald and Leigh Griffiths scored for the Under-21s.

The Club 12th Man

Aberdeen

Before Saturday, the last time we had managed to score against Hearts Craig Brown had been in short trousers. This time it was different though and it turned out to be a comfortable win, despite the officials’ attempts to scupper our victory through their incompetencies. We have to be careful not to point out their failings too often though in case they spit the dummy and strike again.

So what was different in this game? Well, Craig forgot to play 4-5-1 and went with two strikers, Ryan Jack replacing Hughes in the midfield showed what we had been missing when he was out injured and we got some of the breaks in front of goal. It’s just a shame that all this happened in Craig’s last home game rather than his first.

Steve Wilson