SPL fanzone 03/12/2008

Inverness CT

BEARING in mind what happened to us the last time we visited Glasgow, we can be very pleased with the team's performance this time around. We were taking on a Celtic side that must have been dispirited after their Euro exit and, for us, there was no better time to get a result against the champions.

We were very solid at the back and frustrated them and their crowd. Maybe if we'd had the rub of the green we may have grabbed a point but the away side isn't going to get marginal decisions at Parkhead. But it does prove that we can knuckle down and concentrate for a full 90 minutes which was pleasing to see.

Even though we were solid at the back we lacked ideas again in the final third. Had we created anything clear-cut it might have been different but we have no striker to put the ball in the net. Hopefully we can build on this fine display and take it back to Inverness next in an effort to put a stop to our wretched home form. Dundee United may have other ideas though.

Dave 'Gringo' Wilson

www.caleythistleonline.com

Aberdeen

IN the build-up to Jimmy Calderwood's 200th game our message board contributors were asked to give their summary of his reign to date.

And with the first post, a Dumbarton Red called Mason 89, succinctly summed up the majority view: "Some amazing highs, some unforgivable lows, with the dullest football I've ever seen in between."

Truth be told, Saturday's win was looking like another one of those 'in between' games .

It was only two moments of inspiration that separated the sides, the first from the always impressive Sone Aluko, the second from our occasionally decent non-flying Dutchman Jeffrey De Hairdresser.

All of which underlined the other truth of Calderwood's reign, which is that it may not be pretty, but over a season we'll always grind out enough points to be comfortably top six.

We'll accept that, obviously, but the prospect of another 200 games of tedious mediocrity will hardly have us overflowing with joy.

Mark Alexander

www.aderdeen-mad.co.uk

Hamilton Accies

AFTER weeks of disappointment, Accies finally recorded their fourth win of the season with an extremely scrappy victory over Kilmarnock on Saturday. It certainly wasn't pretty to watch, but I am sure that there wasn't a single Accies fan who left NDP on Saturday without a smile on their face.

This meant that St Mirren replaced Accies at the foot of the league and it's astonishing to think that even though Accies have been struggling for months, they're just three points behind another three teams. Of course, they now have to go to Ibrox and Easter Road back-to-back and will be expected to lose. However, they have shown that they are capable of competing at SPL level and the season is far from over.

The big news for Accies is that Mark McLaughlin has settled back into his groove in the heart of the defence and that Richard Offiong has started scoring again. Hopefully one or two prudent acquisitions in January will be enough to enable Accies to compete for the rest of the season.

Gilbert Mowat

St Mirren

SATURDAY summed up our season perfectly. We failed to take a number of decent chances – with Dennis Wyness and Andy Dorman the main offenders –and ended up dropping to the bottom of the league.

Last season Dorman would have buried the first chance he had, but he seems to be a completely different player this season, while it's clear to everyone why Wyness hasn't scored in over a year. Dundee United could have had more than the two they got, but one was always enough.

Last year we didn't score many goals, this season we are scoring even less. We may be creating chances, but our players aren't taking them. In the last few home games we have failed to make the opposition keeper make a save. One point and two goals from the last seven games is relegation form, so it should be no surprise that we find ourselves bottom of the league.

Last time, we stayed there for just a week. Sadly, this time it looks like we'll be staying there for much longer.

Stuart Gillespie

www.stmirren-mad.co.uk

Hibernian

THEY say revenge is a dish best served cold and Hibs have the chance for a little bit of Scottish Cup payback when the Jambos come calling to the Leith San Siro on 11 January.

Good to see Sky chose the match as their live tie of the fourth round, not so good that the slot they have allocated is 12.15 on a Sunday. It was on a Sunday that a severely weakened Hibs team lost the semi-final to Hearts at Hampden in 2006, but now we've got the ideal chance to avenge that very painful loss.

We have two derbies in the space of eight days in the New Year, and the usual mind games are bound to creep into the SPL meeting which comes first, at the Pink Bus Shelter, in a match also to be shown live, but on Setanta.

Hibs are on the box this Sunday too and we're hoping the law of averages is enough to stop Celtic in their tracks as they bid for a 13th straight win. Hibs have picked up four points on the road in their last two, but hopefully it's Artur Boruc who experiences Easter Road jitters again and not big Yves, who again had a howler at Falkirk last week.

Michael Doyle

Hearts

IT'S rare for us to escape some negative headlines in the build-up to a big game versus one of the Old Firm. This time, it was the unpaid wages issue rearing its ugly head again. At best, it is an absolute embarrassment, and, at worst, an indication that problems persist behind the scenes.

All credit to the players for getting on with the job regardless. And what a great job they did on Saturday. We were never really in any danger against a poor Rangers side, and it was especially pleasing to see Kingston and Zaliukas scoring. Both have come under heavy criticism this season, and it was good to see them both on form. Man of the match was probably Berra, though, and he has been immense in recent weeks.

Saturday's trip to struggling Motherwell provides us with a good opportunity to register our sixth win. It might also give McGhee some food for thought regarding his refusal of the Hearts job in the summer. Small comfort might be his Fir Park wages arriving on time, I suppose.

Sandy Leonard

Dundee United

CRAIG Levein has extended his tenure at Tannadice and will continue the sterling work he's done thus far. Knocking back Watford's advances shows that Sir Craig is keen to stick with the great squad of players he's assembled at United and continue the special relationship he has with the club and the Arabs.

He has been a breath of fresh air after several years of mediocrity and it's incredibly uplifting to see a United team playing flowing football again and actually making us difficult to beat.

Saturday's final trip to Love Street for us provided three deserved, hard-earned points. Jon Daly has found the scoring touch again, his first goal coming from a well-worked move and it's great to see him back to his best after his horror injury.

Knowing St Mirren though, it was never going to be all one-way traffic and United's storming first-half display subsided but thank God Dennis Wyness forgot to pack his shooting boots, allowing us to claim the points.

Hamish Mackintosh

www.united-mad.co.uk

Falkirk

YET again the Bairns absolutely dominated a game but failed to grab all three points, and some players are now calling for management to drop the possession play and get down and dirty to climb the table. I see the answer somewhere in between.

I do not believe an abandonment of Yogi's masterplan will provide all the answers. The side creates the chances to win games but for some reason they seem unable to finish teams off, so changing the system will have little effect on that. We just need to learn to start taking these chances when they arrive.

Our lack of cutting edge came back to haunt us when Hibs equalised, and sadly Scott Flinders in goal hardly covered himself in glory – a problem we seem to be having a little too often for my liking.

Once again my star man was Jackie McNamarra – he just eases through games and I'm sure watching Scotland manager George Burley could not fail to be impressed by his performances this season.

Brian Guthrie

www.bairnstrust.com

Rangers

I USUALLY try for optimism, but Saturday's performance at Tynecastle was truly dire. There was no visible indication these Rangers players understand they're a poor second in a two-horse race, no signs that we have another gear or are likely to put together the 12-game winning streak that even a mediocre Celtic side can knock over.

Let's continue with the painful honesty theme: only so much is down to the absence of Thomson and Davis from midfield. Ferguson is woefully short of being match sharp, Adam unable to exert any meaningful influence, and only Walter Smith can explain why Lafferty, excellent in the air, was deployed wide in midfield with Bougherra and Weir launching the high ball forward all game.

Ultimately, Rangers got what they deserved – nothing – and it is increasingly difficult to avoid the conclusion the league is beyond these players and this management team.

Stephen Smith

www.theRST.co.uk

Kilmarnock

I ALWAYS thought that the definition of a roller coaster season was that you were up one week and down the next. If we have any more downs we'll hit rock bottom – it seems like our roller coaster has forgotten to go back up!

The Killie Trust agm is Wednesday 10 December in the Park Hotel. The club's agm is taking place in the hotel the following Wednesday and the accounts were sent out to shareholders this week. If it was not for the sale of Steven Naismith and some of the car park for housing last season then we would have recorded a loss. Alan Combe looks like he could be off soon, probably to Hibs, and that will leave us thin on the ground when it comes to trying to balance the books for next year – we are running out of things to sell.

Nice to see us draw either Lochee or our country bumpkin neighbours in the Scottish Cup. We thought the Under-19 cup win would be our last victory at Somerset Park but now we may have another day in the sun … provided that they can get past the non-league side.

Barry Richmond

www.killiefc.com

Celtic

CELTIC'S run in Europe may be 'Aal' over for another season, but, following our midweek disappointment, Celtic showed remarkable resilience to emerge from this game with the three points on Saturday.

The European exit was reflected in the performance and the attendance for this game. Coupled with Inverness applying the lessons learned from their last visit to Glasgow it made, in parts, for a turgid tussle.

Naka again showed he can provide that wee bit of magic from midfield with some fantastic forward passes, one of which set up Maloney for the goal. Unfortunately, he was the only one able to pass to a team-mate. Our failing in Europe – ball retention – was, again, on show.

I am no fan of Charlie Nicholas, punditry-wise, and I doubt he pens his own column, so I was surprised that Peter Lawwell felt compelled to respond to Nicholas's musings. Nicholas's comments are largely irrelevant and ignored – why give them credence by a response?

Dave Devine

Motherwell

THERE can be fewer sadder sights in football than seeing a team tumble after hitting their peak. Few would have expected Motherwell to repeat the dizzying success of last term, but similarly few would have expected us to fall from grace quite so dramatically. It might be overly pessimistic to say we are in a relegation battle, but we are certainly not far from it.

What is frightening now is that we have completely abandoned the passing game which worked so well last year and instead launch aimless high balls in the vague direction of the strikers. Whether this is being done on the instructions of the manager or against his wishes is hardly relevant – it is brutal to watch and totally ineffective.

The manager seems to be running out of ideas and his comments that there were positives to take from the Aberdeen defeat were delusional. We simply aren't good enough and looking for false hope will do nothing to change the situation.

Derek Wilson www.firparkcorner.com