So the second week of the season and its carnage, Edinburgh City are the best team in the capital, Morelos still hasn’t been sent off, Falkirk and Raith are cruising it and it really was a game of 2 halves at The Reigart Stadium

The premiership was all action with 21 goals flying in across the 6 games. Both Celtic and Rangers games had 7 goals in them. Celtic beat Motherwell 5-2 with a good competitive match, the greatest battle on the park was Scott Sinclair against the Motherwell groundsman as the 2 of them squared up they had to be pulled apart by a well-dressed man in a suit, presumably to save the act for next years “Celt Fest”. Rangers hammered Hibs 6-1 which is the Leith sides worst result since the new regime took over and gloriously means that one more result like that and I can trot out Paul Feckingbottom, let’s hope for a poor result against St Johnstone.

Hamilton pilled the misery on Killie as they ran out 2 nil winners against the Ayrshire side. Brian Eason clearly taking pity by getting sent off almost straight after the restart sadly didn’t help Killie any as the team fail to live up to their last season promise. St Mirren incredibly held on to their 13 minute opener to see out a win against Aberdeen the Dons look desperately short of a striker.

St Johnstone got an unlikely point on the board after coming from 2 goals down to draw with Livi, Livingston could have stolen all 3 points at the death but took a free kick directly at Clark in goals. With the new penalty rules it is an absolute minter now to miss a penalty and even worse to have it saved. Hearts resurrected 90’s style football by playing on a ash pitch after a classical concert ruined their brand new pitch, Ann Budge there trying to outdo Partick Thistles vegan pies in terms of hipster top trumps. The game was generally awful with Ross County posing the biggest threat throwing it away by also missing a penalty at the end of the game.

The Championship kicked off with Partick Thistle and Dundee United taking turns at looking very poor on TV, with Dundee United doing the bare minimum to secure all 3 points it does however look as if the hugely expensive team may not canter the league as expected. We can also look forward to Nicky Clark blowing his fuse as Robbie Neilson continues to play him on the wing, whilst at Bury he was played on the wing twice before forcing a move away from the club. Dunfermline blew their lead for the second week in a row drawing with a Dobbie-less Queens side.

Morton continued their good form putting 4 past Alloa Andy Graham celebrating his team going 3-1 down by being shown a straight Red after Morton scored he continued his protest for so long he was booked after he was sent off the delaying the restart, which is exactly the kind of thing we like to see. Dundee and Inverness both left it late to beat Ayr and Arbroath respectively and will be looking to improve once the league returns after a week off.

In league one Forfar and Raith Rovers continue their flawless start to the league campaign winning 1-0 and 5-2 respectively. Raith will be glad to add goals to their game after ditching their start French defender how turned out to be hopeless. Airdrie got their first win of the season against Montrose and will be looking to build some momentum as the look the challenge at the top of the table. East Fife and Peterhead shared the points in an fairly uneventful 1-1 draw.

Falkirk slaughtered their first diddies of the season beating Dumbarton 6-0, Falkirk will be expected to replicate this result 32 more times as the follow in the path of Dunfermline, Rangers* and Morton who destroyed every team in the league before wrapping things up in mid-march, anything other than Falkirk doing this will be a failure by Ray.

Albion Rovers and Cove played out an incredible draw with Cover winning the first half 3-1 before Albion came back and won the second half 3-1 final score was 4-4 and is the highest scoring draw of the SPFL season so far. Annan and Elgin, and, Queen’s Park and Stenny, played out a far less memorable 1-1 draws. Edinburgh City came back from last week’s humiliation beating Brechin 2-1 and Cowdenbeath saw off Stirling Albion 1-0.

So there we have it SPFL Week 2.

Only League 1 and 2 in action next week as the Betfred cup gets into the knockout stages.

SPFL Runners and Riders

Premiership –

Winners – Celtic, I don’t think many people will expect anything other than 9 league titles in a row and if things are looking poor in December then expect the board to ditch Lennon and hire a Rodgers style manager with free reign of the Celtic cheque book to see them over the line. With a few smart additions to his squad and Griffiths back in the fold Lennon can prove the doubters wrong and relaunch his career after a forgettable final season at Easter Road and a clumsy end to last season.

Relegation – Livingston, By no means a dead cert to go down but a stuttering end to the season combined with their best players being taken puts Livi in a tricky spot for the coming season, Gary Holt will do well to keep them up. St Mirren and Hamilton will also be flirting with relegation with St Johnstone not far behind.

Super Star: Ajer at Celtic has long been a favourite of mine since his loan spell at Killie this season he is sure to be first choice centre half for Celtic and if he has another strong season I don’t think it will be long until biggerteams start to take note of the next Celtic star.

Rising star: Ryan Porteous, this is a big season for Porteous after a knee injury cut short last season he will be looking to return to the good form he showed early last season and provide Hibs with yet another first team player who has graduated from the academy that has proved vital over the last few seasons.

Championship –

Winners – Dundee United hard to see beyond United this season with their new owners spending some serious cash it looks like it will be 4^th time lucky for the Tannadice club with Clark and Shankland leading their line goals won’t be a problem this season however they don’t have such quality at the back so don’t expect as many clean sheets.

Relegation – Alloa after a great season last year I think Alloa’s uninspiring managerial appointment combined with Arbroath’s good form will see Alloa drop out the second tier of football but it will be nip and tuck between them and Arbroath with Queen of the South making up the rest of the relegation fodder.

Super Star: Lawrence Shankland will be looking to build on what an incredible start to last season. Obviously playing with better team mates will help the former Ayr player but he scored 6 goals against Dundee United last term and failed to score against Queen of the South from open play, the team with the worst defence in last year’s league. Shankland will be hoping for a better league tally this year.

Rising Star: Kyle Turner after a few seasons at the heart of Stranraer’s midfield Turner has made the step up to full time football with Dunfermline and has already become a fan favourite with the Fife club his energy, drive and finishing helped blow Albion Rovers away. Turner is one of a number of young players that Dunfermline have brought in this year many of which will be hoping to impress as well has Turner has.

League One –

Winner – Falkirk their first season in their third tier since the 70’s Falkirk will be hoping to get straight back up. Despite trouble in the boardroom Falkirk have attracted many players from Dunfermline and Morton who found themselves out of contract. Despite a strong squad there is a distinct lack of depth and this may unstick Falkirk as the season rolls on.

Relegation – A tricky one to call in this league Stranraer look the weakest side but Dumbarton, East Fife or Peterhead could easily find themselves at the foot of the table. I don’t expect any team to get cut off so quite a few teams could have end of season nerves.

Super Star – Declan McManus on loan to Falkirk from Ross County McManus proved himself to be an excellent striker for Morton when they cruised the League 1 title and McManus will be hoping for a similar record to kick start his career. He’s never replicated the strike rate of that season despite being in decent Raith Rovers, Dunfermline and Ross County teams Falkirk will be hoping that league 1 suits him.

Rising Star – Regan Hendry spent last season on loan at Raith Rovers but had his playing time cut short due to injury, in the four games he did play he made 3 assists and after being released by Celtic during the close season Hendry will be hoping a good season will put him on the radar of bigger clubs.

League Two –

Winner – Edinburgh City after coming so close last year and their main opposition in Clyde and Peterhead being promoted then I think City should make it into League One fairly comfortably. Their experienced squad and management team have made a decent start to the season beating Dunfermline and losing to St Mirren after conceding penalty in the dying seconds of the game.

Relegation Play off – Albion Rovers again this is likely to be a close run contest to avoid the relegation Play offs but with the smallest budget in the league and the narrow escape last year then I think it could be another long season for the Wee Rovers. Cowdenbeath, Elgin and possibly Cove will probably keep Albion company at the foot of the league.

Super Star – Mark McGuigan very nearly kept Stenhousemuir up last year and will be a very decent player in league 2 that many teams in the league above would have been interested in taking on. McGuigan has score 20 goals in his 31 league appearances for the Warriors and will be looking to build that tally in the bottom tier of the SPFL.

Rising Star – Chris McLaughlin at only 21 Chris has his best years ahead of him and as a solid left back last season he will be able to progress at this level hoping to attract some suitors from the higher leagues to get his career back on track after being released by Ross County.

As ever you can follow the day to day manic world of Scottish football @fitbawblog

Only a week left of the regular season in the Premiership but the thrills, twists and Jambos losing continues. Highlights of every match from Rangers to Cove Rangers and every team in between are below.

Rangers hosted Celtic in the last Glasgow derby of the season Rangers had beaten Celtic 1-0 the last time the sides met at Ibrox but Steven Gerrard’s trips to Celtic Park have been a disaster. Celtic looked sluggish and poor from the get-go, perhaps a hangover from the title celebrations of the week before had got the better off them. Rangers, however, look enthused, energetic and dangerous going forward. Despite the good play from the Ibrox team on-loan striker, Defoe threw himself to the ground in what must have been the worst dive of the season, well worth his £30k wage. As the game went on Rangers grew and grew to dominate the tie. The only controversy coming from Flanagan’s elbow to Scott Brown’s neck, it probably should have been a red card but The Gers were streets ahead of Celtic for the first time in what must seem like a long time for the Rangers fans. Allan McGregor will be kicking himself that he missed the game as Celtic rarely tested Foderingham. Sadly once again the tie was marred with the scenes from the stands as the capacity crowd Belted out the Billy Boys with gusto and an audible minority sang about the Lisbon Lions at perhaps the most inappropriate time possible, this is the sectarian element on show again Dave King has already said he “abhors” this and “will continue to do everything we can at our club to root sectarianism out” It’s time to cut back on the strongly worded press release and show some backbone by punting these imbeciles out the ground and as far from his club and Scottish Football as possible. Celtic fans are probably also hoping to see Neil Lennon booted as far as possible after a fairly poor second spell in charge.

At the start of the weekend European chasing, Aberdeen were hoping for a good result over a very poor Hearts team as they looked to gain advantage on any Killie slip up. Aberdeen did the business with a really comfortable 2-1 win over the Edinburgh side and will probably be cheering on Celtic in the Scottish Cup final and a win for Celtic would mean the top 4 playing in Europe giving Aberdeen a safety blanket if they fail to beat Hibs and Killie don’t lose against Rangers. Dons captain Graeme Shinnie made his last appearance at Pittodrie as he prepares to make the move to Derby County in the summer, he will be a massive player for Aberdeen to replace and it will be interesting to see how Derek McInnes gets on without him.

Killie played host to Hibs and Heckingbottam was looking for a reaction after his first league loss whilst in charge of Hibs last week. However, in true Andrew Dallas style, it was all about him he gave a very soft penalty giving Killie the lead and the only goal in the game after half an hour. One can only assume as the summer holidays approach Dallas will be trying to do the pre-flight checks on the plane and going round Edinburgh in the “silent” disco blowing his whistle with joy.

Dundee won their first game in the last 10 and as a reward for beating Livingston 1-0 Dundee manager Jim McIntyre was dismissed and Dundee will again be looking for another manager hoping he will secure promotion out of the championship at the first time of asking. Livingston who are safe will be very happy for their first season back in the top flight, I would suspect that they will be relegation favourites next time around. St Johnstone beat Motherwell 2-0 in the other dead rubber match.

St Mirren host Hamilton tonight (Monday 13th) and a win for the Accies would mean a 6th consecutive season in the Premiership, an amazing feat for such a small club. St Mirren will need 2 wins to guarantee safety although could scrape out by the skin of their teeth if results are kind to them in next weeks fixtures and they draw. It looks likely that St Mirren will be playing in the relegation playoffs.

The playoffs were action packed as usual and starting from the very bottom Berwick Rangers were away to Cove Rangers to try and survive in the Professional leagues. Cove ran out four nil winners meaning that Berwick will go from being the only English team to play in the Scottish Senior leagues to being the only English side to play in the Scottish Lowland leagues. The second leg of that fixture is the 18th May and should be a box office affair if last year’s game against Cowdenbeath is anything to go by. Both clubs were fined and there was a mass brawl between to two clubs management teams before The Blue Brazil won ensuring they stayed in the now SPFL after 113 years of league status.

Moving into the league 1 playoffs both Annan and Clyde made good their first leg wins and finished the job off. Edinburgh City will be disappointed after a great start to the campaign they have really tailed off but Clyde will be delighted to make the final against Annan. Stenny losing in the playoffs will mean that there are 2 new teams promoted from League 2 into the league above. Annan will host the first leg on Tuesday before the final match on Saturday.

In the championship, playoffs Allan “Magic” Johnston got the bounce he was so desperate for as his Queen of the South side scored five first-half goals including a Stephen Dobbie hat-trick which broke the Queens all-time record goalscoring record, a slightly odd achievement for a team embroiled in a relegation playoff. Raith Rovers Drew with Forfar meaning their first leg lead was enough to hold onto seeing them into the play off final, this first leg is in Kirkcaldy and the second away in Dumfries.

Finally, the Premiership playoffs were a far less exciting affair compared to the first leg in Ayr. Inverness recording their incredible 15th league draw of the season and teeing up a doubleheader against Dundee United – the side Inverness eased passed to get to the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Yet another bonkers week in Scottish Football and for the Championship, League 1 and League 2 it’s the end of the normal season. But up in the Premiership, it’s still business as usual, McGregor kicking lumps out of folk, Dundee losing and Celtic wrapping up the title.

League 2 was the only league to have a proper title race and after last week’s disaster Peterhead knew they had to at least draw against Queens Park at the national stadium and Clyde knew to capitalise on any slip up from the league leaders they would have to win away to Cowdenbeath at Central Park. The Blue Brazil who have been much improved this season punctured Clyde’s aspirations of lifting the trophy. Peterhead were comfortable winners and lifted the trophy in style at Hamden Park.

Berwick Rangers who sacked their manager to try and get a lift as they go into the relegation playoffs got off to the worst possible start with a two nil defeat to Eglin City. Berwick Rangers will now play Cove Rangers for a place in the SPFL next season, the Aberdeenshire Club seeing off East Kilbride with some ease – 5-1 on aggregate. The other games saw no change in the table as players were either dreaming of the beach or the playoffs. Clyde with play Annan before facing the winner of either Edinburgh City and Stenhousemuir.

In League One only one of the games really counted for anything. Brechin City hosted Stenhousemuir knowing that a win for the Angus club would stave off successive relegations until the playoffs. However, despite Stenny having McBrearty sent off just before the hour mark, they couldn’t secure the vital 3 points and will be playing in league 2 next season. Stenhousemuir now have some momentum before their vital playoffs. The Warriors will be wanting to stay up especially as their rivals Falkirk are making their first appearance in the 3rd tier of Scottish football for the first time since the ’70s.

Elsewhere in the dead rubber League 1 games, Champions Arbroath hosted Dumbarton, the highlight of the match was the Dumbarton defender making a brilliant diving save on the line, for his efforts Ballantyne was sent off and McKenna scored the resulting penalty, drawing Arbroath back on terms after Dumbarton had opened the scoring earlier.

Montrose vs Raith Rovers also finished one apiece as the sides prepare for the promotion playoff. East Fife played out an entertaining 2-3 loss to Forfar, Airdrie romped Stranraer 4-1 as the Lanarkshire side prepare to have a hybrid of Part-time and Full-time players next season.

Up in the Championship, it was all to play for with Falkirk, Alloa, Queen of the South and Partick Thistle all looking to avoid either automatic relegation or the relegations playoffs. Falkirk did the best they could beating Champions Ross County 3-2, however, Alloa drawing against Ayr United meant that Falkirk will be playing in League One next season. After the match, there was much seethe and tin pottery with fans rightly concerned as to how their club was being run and the amount of cash that has been wasted over the last 2 years. Whilst other fans protested there were reports of some fans getting shirts signed by what is almost certainly the worst Falkirk side in a generation.

Partick Thistle demolished Queens 3-0 a result which puts Queen of the South in the relegation playoffs and cost Gary Naysmith his job. In a bizarre turn of events, the players were taken out of the Player of the Year event halfway through to tell them that their gaffer had been punted and then probably to enjoy the rest of their night. Unreal! The Dumfries club then wasted no time in bringing back Allan “Magic” Johnston and Sandy Clark who had been sacked from Dunfermline earlier in the season. This season only Ross County, Alloa, Ayr United and Inverness have made it through the season without the manager’s nameplate being removed from his office.

Morton hosted Dundee United as United looked to continue to build momentum for their playoffs meanwhile Morton have nothing to play for after confirming safety a few weeks back. In another bizarre chapter of Morton’s frankly crazy season, Jonathon Johansen and assistant Peter Houston walked out on Morton after being told they couldn’t pick certain players due to contract clauses Morton wouldn’t be able to afford next season. Morton then appointed their 3rd manager of the season who guided them to a 1-0 win over the Arabs.

Dunfermline lost, rather unsurprisingly, 1-0 to Inverness a mix up between rookie keeper Cammy Gill and rookie Defender Stuart Morrison gifting a goal to the Highlanders.

In the Premiership it was a normal order of service Allan McGregor who is a real class act in the Rangers goal once again proved that he is a horrific coward. His leg breaker challenge on Ferguson in the Aberdeen game was a shocker but the experienced keeper really had to better it. As he took his goal kick he extended his foot to kick McNulty in the back, McGregor then collapsed feigning injury but was sent off for this unprovoked outburst. McGregor who said he couldn’t play for the new Rangers has won some favour back from the Ibrox crowd by being so staunch that he couldn’t line up in a guard of honour when Celtic visit next week. Also in true Scottish football style, he was also given a free kick. Classic. Rangers eventually ran out 1-0 winners over Hibs after what felt like months of time wasting by the Ibrox side, Gerard will be happy with all three points as he still has the worst win record of any permanent Rangers manager in the premier league.

Celtic wrapped up the title in style cruising to a 3-0 win in Aberdeen, the game was pretty much a non-event other than a wonder strike from “French Eddy”. Celtic despite winning the league by a big margin will be looking to improve next year and the close season rumour mill is already churning with Jose Mourinho being linked with the Celtic Park job.

St Mirren and Hamilton again picked up points as they fight to get free of the relegation play-off but Dundee’s fate has been decided and they will be playing in the Championship next season for the first time in 5 years. Kilmarnock moved back into second place beating Hearts by one goal to nil. The Kilmarnock manager Steve Clark has said this week he will be thinking about his future, although he would be excellent for the Scotland job, I really hope he sticks with Killie as you feel they are on the verge of something even more special than what he has already created.

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As I’m about to press send it’s as follows in the playoffs.

Premiership playoff Ayr United 1 vs ICT 3 – Great start for the Highlanders who should be able to protect that lead in the second leg.

Championship plays off Montrose 2 vs Queen of the South 1 – Poor start for Allan Johnston’s second spell. As it stands his team should be able to overcome that at home

Raith Rovers 2 vs Forfar 1, Raith coming from behind in this one to lead the tie.

Annan 2 vs Stenhousemuir 0 Annan in control of the tie, I would struggle to see Stenny come back from this.

Edinburgh City 0 vs Clyde 1 Clyde are clearly over their speed bump and back on course, both teams have been magnificent this campaign.

Today is the day Falkirk fans have been dreading for the last few seasons. They have been relegated from the 2nd tier of Scottish Football for the first time since the 1970s.

Its been a long road, dodging relegation last season by sacking Peter Houston, a manager who took them right to the brink of promotion. Falkirk replaced Houston with Paul Hartley despite his history of falling out with everyone he met and it all seemed rosy having a good January and surviving relegation however this was the start of the end for Falkirk.

Shortly after Hartley joined the club adopted the Brentford method of recruitment, picking up cast offs of larger English clubs and giving them first team games to develop them and then sell them on. This seemed like a fairly decent idea considering the volume of English players dumped each season by the Premier League clubs, however, Falkirk did this at the expense of their Academy which had served them well. The closure of the academy was leaked to the press by the club before the parents at the kids at the academy knew, a real PR own goal.

Hartley recruited well in January using mainly Scottish players and a few loans from England this helped him secure Falkirk’s place in the Championship for another year. In the Summer Falkirk moved to full Brentford and it was a complete and utter disaster. Most of the players brought up from England look like they had never seen a football before, combined with comic goalkeeping from former Celtic keeper Leo Fasan meant that Falkirk went to the bottom of the league and stayed there pretty much all season. Hartley was sacked by Falkirk on the 27th August after an abysmal start to the season.

Falkirk didn’t hang about looking for a new manager first trying Ian McCall whose Ayr United side were flying high in the Championship flirting with automatic promotion at the time, McCall rejected the Falkirk job and the Falkirk board were straight on the phone to Greenock Morton Manager Ray McKinnon. Ray and his assistant Darren Taylor left Morton as soon as they got the call something which later cost Falkirk £60,000. Looking back it seems a huge amount for the Falkirk board to risk by not clearing his “transfer” with the Morton board. Ray, however, left Raith Rovers under a cloud and now leaving Morton in the lurch really has marked his card, meaning if Falkirk punts him he may struggle for work in the upper reaches of Scottish Football.

McKinnon really struggles to get Falkirk playing with any real purpose. Even in January with the 3rd clear out of players in 2 season his team often tried to hold on to the point they start the game with. This negative style never really got the fans on side and losing twice to rivals Dunfermline at their home ground put Ray under a lot of pressure. Falkirk rallied at the start of the new year and got off the foot of the table, however they choked and found themselves chasing the pack for the remaining 10 games. The last few games were obviously crunch time for Falkirk and down in Dumfries Falkirk scored what they thought was a last-second penalty deep in to injury time – however the Falkirk players ran over to the decent support who invaded the pitch for some time forcing the referee to add on time, Queens scored to get a valuable point in the additional injury time which kept Falkirk rooted to the bottom of the table.

Next up for Falkirk was a trip 13 miles north to rivals Dunfermline. Falkirk had got all three points in their last visit to East End Park when they scored their only shot on goal and would hope for a vital three points again a loss would all but relegate Falkirk something the Fifers would be very much looking to do. Amazingly Falkirk again left Fife with all three points after Dunfermline had a penalty saved and hit the woodwork 4 times, Falkirk scoring their only shot on goal in a second-half breakaway.

Falkirk then went on to play Morton at home which had been a hotly contested match after McKinnon did the dirty on the Greenock side with the Greenock Telegraph leading the line by producing “Judas” posters with their former managers face on it. Morton won the game comfortably leaving Falkirk 2 games to save themselves knowing they would need 6 points and a few favours to get out the drop zone. Events have obviously transpired against Falkirk losing 2-0 to Dundee United but beating champions Ross County on the final day of the season 3-2 but as much as the results didn’t go their way it by no means makes up for appointing the wrong manager twice, wasting money on a new recruitment system and fines for tapping up a management team.

Falkirk do look in real trouble with no obvious quick fix on the table. After today’s match, Falkirk fans demonstrated against their board of directors who are almost certainly to blame for this mess they find themselves in, however, they are unlikely to be going anywhere unless the supporters can buy them out. One thing is for sure the club needs to be gutted again but with a better core to replace the inner workings of the club, both interns of the boardroom but also in the dugout and on the pitch. Ray McKinnon ended his post-match interview by saying he was determined to get Falkirk back to where they deserve to be, in the Premiership. Sadly for you Ray, you can’t decide where Falkirk end up and after 10 years in the Championship, I don’t think Falkirk deserve to be anywhere other than League one after the season they have had.

Their fans deserve better, but the club is where it is due to the mismanagement of the board and coaching staff. League One will be fascinating next year.

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Another week and three of the SPFL divisions only have one round of fixtures left and in the Premiership, there are still three games to play. Ross County has wrapped up their title but will need a clear out if they are going to beat the drop next season as the championship this season has been of a very poor standard and only Ross County looked any great shakes. Peterhead were 60 seconds away from winning the title and Celtic have spent the weekend arguing when the 67th minute of the game is.

Celtic opened the weekend’s action hosting Kilmarnock at Celtic Park. This was the first time Celtic have played since the Death of Billy McNeil (Link). It was a fairly unremarkable game, as much of Lennon’s games have been since his return, but as fate would have it with 67:30 on the clock Number 5 (McNeill’s former number) Simunovic scored the only goal of the game. Keen to wind up the Celtic fans many people took to Twitter to commit pedantry, stating that a goal scored with 67 played is, of course, the 68th minute of the game. Many of those committing pedantries also believe that a club founded in 2012 is the same as the club founded in 1872, I would say that that is a bit more of a reach to believe.

Hamilton and Livingston served up a treat of a game with Hamilton 2-0 up and cruising until an hour in Livi found their feet and scored 3 goals in quick succession but in the dying seconds of the game Aaron McGowan scored a vital goal to secure a point in Hamilton’s bid for a 6th consecutive season in the Premiership. Another belter of a game was also in Lanarkshire Motherwell all but ending Dundee’s hopes of staying up. Dundee twice went ahead but were pegged back within 60 seconds of initially going a goal up. Shortly after the break, they found themselves 3-2 down equalising two minutes later. With an hour played Motherwell’s Alex Gorrin was sent off and things were looking up for Dundee only for them to be punished by a 90th-minute winner for Motherwell.

St Mirren and St Johnstone played out a one all draw both goals coming in the latter stages of the match and with St Mirren equalising with seconds left. Meaning there was a last gasp goal in three of the six Premiership games, unbelievable scenes!

In the two Sunday games, Hibernian hosted Hearts as Paul Heckingbottam looked to continue his unbeaten run in the league since joining them in February. Craig Levine hoping for a positive result to win back some favour from the Hearts support. The first half was a fairly competitive game with Hibs dominating most of the possession without having many clear cut chances, Flo Kamberi having a very poor half and was rightly hooked at half time. The second half really came alive with tackles flying in and more shots on goal than in the first half. Hibs it seemed couldn’t buy a goal and with an hour played Ikpeazu gave away a very clumsy penalty only for McNulty to hit the post. Hibs rallied and continued to look dangerous and eventually broke the deadlock as Hearts Captain Berra turned a whipped cross into his own net. After Hibs went a goal up Hearts stopped lumping the ball forward to Ikpeazu and played some nice flowing football and suddenly look dangerous. With 5 to play Ikpeazu slotted home and a rather excitable Dikamona was booked for his celebration despite only being on the bench. Hearts picked up 7 yellow cards during the match however it was the behaviour of the fourth official that concerned the Hibs manager say that if he had been spoken to like that elsewhere he would have knocked his teeth out.

The second Sunday game saw Rangers host Aberdeen and during the week Rangers manager, Gerrard who is clearly feeling the pressure accused Aberdeen of trying harder against Rangers than anyone else. It’s been a bumper keep for Stevie G after launching his own brand of water, presumably, it’s primarily made up of his tears this season. Aberdeen nullified Rangers in the first half and Jermaine Defoe was lucky to stay on after striking Dons keeper Joe Lewis in the face. The Ranger Striker can expect to have a call from the compliance officer this week. Almost immediately after the restart Rangers were given a penalty kick Tavernier beating the bruised Joe Lewis and then with only 10 minutes to play Andrew Considine was sent off and Rangers given a penalty after ruffling the hair of Katic’s head which Gerrard later admitted that his player had cheated to win their 17th Penalty of the season (a joint British all-time record). The Ibrox club is still holding on but Celtic can win the title next week much to the disappointment of the Rangers manager who has the worst managerial record of any Rangers manager to manage in the Premier League.

Down in the Championship Ross County played queen of the South know that a draw would be enough to see them wrap up the title and in the Second half County ran riot scoring 3 goals taking the final score to 4-0. Despite Queens defending being utterly laughable trying to defend basic cross balls it wasn’t the most tragic thing on display in the highlands on Friday night, neither was the fact that BBC commentator Steven Thomson forgot to use his mic the prize of the most awful thing seen on Friday night was that the SPFL brought up the League 2 medals to hand out to the county players, when we thought we had seen the most amateur thing possible the SPFL outdo themselves!

Falkirk travelled up to Dundee United needing a win to have some hope of getting out the relegation places, however as the travelling Falkirk fans made their feelings about the board and management clear Dundee United slotted 2 home to keep Falkirk bottom. Dundee United are carrying good form into the Premiership playoffs, as to be fair are Inverness, Ayr United and St Mirren so it will be a tough task to get through them unscathed. Falkirk are all but down needing a win against Ross County and hoping that Alloa loses, or Queen of the south but would require a 10 goal swing.

Alloa could have been safe this weekend but John Robertson isn’t allowing his team to put in any half measures as they beat Alloa 2-1 meaning Alloa need a draw at least against Ayr United next week. Ayr United manager Ian McCall was criticised for saying that his team owe Alloa after last season and will be resting players for the upcoming playoffs.

Partick Thistle and Ayr met for the second time in 4 days this time Ayr winning 2-1 meaning a draw would do Patrick to avoid the relegation playoff spot when they play Queens on Saturday. Queens need to win to avoid trouble at the bottom of the division.

The final game in the Championship was Greenock Morton away to Dunfermline and despite the noisy away support the game itself had a feeling of pre-season about it. Morton scored a penalty with not long left to go meaning that The Pars end the season having only scored 33 goals in 35 games and Alloa’s striker Alan Trouten is the top scored at East End Park with 4 goals. Despite the loss, Dunfermline are safe, as are Morton, both teams will be hoping to do much better in the next campaign as the managers of both clubs hold their first preseasons respectively.

Into League 1 and its tight as ever at the foot of the table, both Brechin and Stenhousemuir would have been hoping for a win to get above the other before the final day of the season. Brechin lost away to Raith Rovers 3-2 despite being ahead twice and Stenhousemuir drew with East Fife meaning that Brechin must win at home against Stenhousemuir to avoid automatic relegation but a draw is enough for The Warriors.

The season is over for Arbroath and Airdrieonians with the Airdrie side winning 3-0 and the other dead rubber game in the league was a 2-1 win for Dumbarton over Stranraer.

Forfar hosted Montrose in the last Angus derby of the regular season, a win for Forfar would mean they hold on to second spot going into the final game of the season. Montrose, however, are secure in 4th place and will have to wait a week to find out who they will be playing in the championship playoffs.

Finally in League 2 – The bottom two teams met over the border with Berwick Rangers needing a win to try and reel in on form Albion Rovers, the Wee Rovers, however, won 0-3 sealing the fate of Scotland’s only English Club to play in the League 2 play-off places against either East Kilbride or Cove Rangers. Elsewhere Clyde have forced the title race to the final game of the season after beating Queens Park 3-0 and Peterhead will be hoping to finish the league off at Hampden by defeating Queens Park otherwise Clyde will have the celebrations at Central Park.

Edinburgh City who are safe in the playoffs drew with Elgin City one all and Annan who were 3 nil up with only 20 to play won 3-2 against Cowdenbeath.

It is an exceptionally sad day in Scottish football when perhaps the most loyal, bravest and honourable man to play or manage in this country has died. I write this not as a Celtic fan or as someone who ever saw Billy play but as someone who has been struck by the way others have written and spoke about the Celtic legend.

What has been described today is the model professional someone who works hard, is brave, a born winner and has respect for everyone in the game and that is why he is an icon of Scottish football and indeed of Celtic playing his entire career with the Glasgow team. He was by no means the most technically gifted player or scored the most goals but as a born winner he is someone that fans and other players looked up to something that we lack in modern football, not just in Scotland but all over the world.

He was treated as we all want to be treated, a man who was respected by his most bitter sporting rivals, a man who was well liked by his own fans and a man who was loyal to the club that he played for. Now these traits often lacking in today’s Scottish football captains are not something that can be taught they are learnt and all too often players don’t appreciate the true greatness being a captain can bring, the best modern example would be Hibernians David Gray. We often see captains leave their clubs without so much of a backwards glance, of course players should improve and progress their careers but being honest with the supporters, showing that you have a passion for the club that you captain and most of all respect everyone you meet are all qualities that have to be shown by captains if they are to be remembered, else they are disregarded by their former fans and lose the respect of others in the game.

As much as captains can feel like gods as was the case for Billy to often nowadays they are big headed, ego tripping players who are in it for themselves and sod the rest of the team – this is the antithesis of what a captain has to be. We will likely never see a player like Billy play in the famous Navy of the Scotland jersey or play at Celtic Park but if he had even a handful of players that were even a shadow of Billy we would be a damn sight better nation for it.

Our thoughts go to Billy’s family and friends at this deeply sad time – rest assured Scottish football is a far better place for having him at its heart for such a long time.

What a weekend it’s been in Scottish football! Now League 2, Championship and Premiership bottom teams look utterly doomed as the high-fliers look to cement the titles in the coming weeks.

Starting off down in League 2 Clyde are breathing down the necks of title favourites Peterhead and the west coasters would indeed be top of the league if it weren’t for a points deduction earlier in the season. Clyde punished Berwick Rangers 5-0 pretty much confirming that the English side will have to run the relegation gauntlet. Albion Rovers gained a vital 3 points against promotion playoff contenders Edinburgh City in an entertaining 3-2 win at The Reigart Stadium.

Into League 1 and again its the bottom of the league that is exceptionally tight as Arbroath won the championship last week, our Congratulations to them! Meanwhile, at the bottom, Brechin City travelled to Stranraer hoping for a vital three points to stave off double relegation and Stenhousemuir looked to get themselves off the bottom of the league against Playoff certainties Forfar. Brechin City had the worst possible start and were 2-0 down within the first 15 and lost the game 3-0. Forfar also ran out 3 nil winners, the sending off of Andy Munro for foul language towards the referee compounding the misery of the Falkirk side.

The Championship relegation dog fight has once again taken another twist with Dunfermline being hauled back into the fight by Queen of the South who ended their poor run with a 2-1 win over the Fife side. Over in Falkirk, it looks as if Falkirk manager Ray McKinnon’s previous team have as good as sealed the fate leaving them bottom of the league with them only left to play the top two sides. Partick Thistle pulled Alloa back into the fight winning 2-1 and ending Alloa’s impressive month-long winning streak. At the top of the table, Ross County won 3-1 against Ayr United meaning the Highlanders need just one more point to secure the title and the will be looking to wrap things up with a game to spare at home to Queen of the South. Dundee United are keeping their good from going looking for any weakness in the county results, United will be looking to build momentum into the playoffs and have both Falkirk and Morton to play so Robbie Neilson will be hoping for another 6 points to see out the regular season.

In the Premiership, it was another bumper weekend and the post-split top 6 dominated the headlines. First of all, though the fate of Dundee looks sealed as they would need to win all 4 of their remaining games, a run that they haven’t achieved in this campaign and St Mirren are hoping to escape any fear of the drop as they try to catch Hamilton who sits just 2 points ahead of them.

Celtic drew a blank at Easter road meaning Lennon has had 2 consecutive goalless draws one at home and one this week in Edinburgh as Hibernian continue their excellent run under new manager Paul Heckingbottom. Marciano made some class saves to snuff out any of Celtics front line getting the Glasgow side ahead. Celtics right back made himself look like a right diddy after rolling around holding one leg then the other after Mallan made an excellent challenge on the swede. Off the pitch, Hibs have invested in sniffer dogs to stamp out any of the poor behaviours in the stands. Although no pyrotechnics made it on the pitch we were all deeply impressed by the 2 teenagers who showed great pace to outrun the stewards making it almost the entire length of the pitch before being caught.

Hearts hosted Rangers in Edinburgh this weekend also however it was a far poorer weekend for the Jambos as they were on the end of a 3-1 trouncing by the Ibrox side. The game was wrapped up by the veteran striker Steven MacLean giving the Hearts support a few “get it up you” gestures as he made his way back for the restart, this result has put a dampener on any feel-good Levein got from the semi-final win just a week before and he really needs a Hearts win in the derby next week to set things on the straight and narrow again.

Kilmarnock hosted Aberdeen with both teams hoping to close in on the European places and put Rangers under pressure at the tail end of the season. Kilmarnock seemed to cancel Aberdeen out until the with just 10 to play before the break Aberdeen got a huge slice of luck and Kirk Broadfoot was sent off for going for a 50/50 ball with Aberdeen keeper Joe Lewis. Most fans would be disappointed if their players hadn’t gone for a similarly loose ball in the box and with no malice or deliberate attempt to hurt the opposition it was a very harsh red card Aberdeen scored and saw the game out but not before 2 further Kilmarnock players had been dismissed in that Steve Clark stated with his usual honesty was “the worst refereeing performance of my career” he has called for McLean who was dropped from the FIFA list in 2017 never to referee a Kilmarnock game again, we win with baited breath to see Clark infant of the SFA once again.

Thanks for reading you can follow the goings on in Scottish football by following us on Twitter @fitbawblog

Apologies for missing the blog last week I was on holiday supping on a few cans of Tennant’s.

So here goes, the first post in the touchline ban blog. I hope you enjoy!

The touchline ban has got to be filed amongst; the 5th & 6th officials, technical areas and those stands that the ball sits on pre-match in terms of how pointless it is to send the manager to the stand. Most managers end up in with the punters after a considerable disagreement with a refereeing decision, often continuing their tirade of outrage to anyone who gets in their way most notably Mark McGhee, “Get that to FU…”

I would imagine there will be people reading this or even noting its existence that this blog is indeed pointless there are countless angles on Scottish football from the brilliant “A View from the Terrace” to the bizarre yet entertaining @Oldfirmfacts1 and then to the downright awful “SportSound”. So where does Touchline ban fit in amongst the crowd of voices? Well, it’s hopefully as informed as the Terrace guys, will hopefully touch on some of the bizarre moments that Oldfirmfacts ponders on and will almost certainly produce some drivel like SportSound.

To kick things off in a true football cliche fashion I thought I would take a look at Scottish Footballs long-running problem and current hot potato of Fans behaviour, things seem to be coming to a head this season with numerous incidents ranging from Stabbings after games to coconuts being thrown on the pitch. It wouldn’t be outrageous to suggest however that the core problems Scottish football faces come from Celtic and The Rangers the last time they met 6 people were arrested at Celtic Park and after the match, there were violent clashes on the streets of Glasgow with it being reported that 4 Celtic fans had been stabbed. I think it would be also fair to say that both Celtic and The Rangers particularly pander to their fans behaviour despite talking tough on sectarianism (quite rightly) they also produce an Orange strip and a strip with a Sash both have connotations with King Billy and the Orange order. So with the Glasgow clubs using their decisive past as a marketing tool, it’s in Edinburgh where we see real action being taken. At the last Edinburgh Derby Hibernian won 2-1 but despite their first win at Tynecastle for six years very little has been talked about the match its self after the final whistle. It’s not the first time either club has been embroiled in controversy this season but after both clubs talking tough, it’s clear that unlike their Glasgow counterparts both clubs are taking action Hearts are closing a section of their ground, spending £100k doing up their CCTV and submitting evidence for Police Scotland to evaluate. Down in Leith due to the pyrotechnics and racists shouts from a very small minority in both the home and away ends Hibs are to use sniffer dogs to seek out smoke bombs and flares and also deploy covert security to identify bad behaviour in the stand. It is clear that is Scottish football is going to have a bright inclusive future we must come down hard on them, morons who throw things at opposition players or match officials, the neanderthals who shout racist, homophobic or sectarian abuse and the bags who chuck pyros on the pitch or at players. Ordinary fans who let passion run high won’t be affected by a tightening of the belt by the clubs it will only be the fannies amongst us who can’t keep the head that will be hooked out and rightly punished. This week has been the exemplary way to behave by Hearts, Hibs and Motherwell and you have to think that if other clubs can respond in the correct manner with ease why do the countries largest clubs not act in a similar fashion.

I don’t think many of these posts will be of such a serious tone and I hope that Scottish clubs follow the path that both Edinburgh clubs and Motherwell have taken this week when dealing with unsavoury scenes, rather than the disappointing tact of their Glasgow opposition. On Sunday there hopefully will be some highlights of the action of the weekend and a look ahead at the remaining fixtures. The fixture of the weekend is midtable Dunfermline hosting relegation favourites Falkirk in a tasty Grangemouth Derby