All Things Scottish Football

This weekend was all about the most historic trophy in Association Football, the Scottish Cup. It's that time of the year again when everyone from part-timers playing non-league to million pound players at the top set their sights on #DefyingTheOdds come May.  Last year ... and the year before that ... and the year before that, it was Celtic who triumphed in this competition but the 2nd round headlines belong to the likes of Bonnyrigg, Auchinleck and Fort William. Friday night saw the BBC cameras descend on New Dundas Park for Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic's tie against Buckie Thistle. Excitement had built in the village as the week went on as the media gathered to see the Lowland League leaders take on the Highland League leaders. It was the home side who came out on top 2-0 in front of a full house. Spectacular finishes from Stewart and Hunter meant the fairy-tale could continue for Bonnyrigg with a game against Montrose awaiting them in the next round.   Saturd...

Scotland's game against San Marino was seen by many as a damp squib with results recently in a campaign branded a disaster. The weather also played it's hand with the heavens opening making it more of a flooded squib than a damp one ... ok, bad jokes over. This post isn't getting carried away with Scotland’s 6-0 victory over the worst-ranked team, however, there are positives to take from it as we go into a big year for the national side. Steve Clarke set out his side with a few first starts in Lawrence Shankland and Stuart Findlay and in these two we have our first positive note. Both players managed to get themselves on the score sheet and put in encouraging performances. Shankland looked hungry and eager to get himself on the ball and bring others into play as much as wanting to get on the scoreboard himself. That desire is something the number nine shirt hasn't had with a few players. Also, Findlay dubbing his goal and becoming only the third Kilmarnock p...

Scotland have not been blessed with a prolific number nine for many years now, however, the current options that Steve Clarke has for the upcoming Russia game may prove to be the lightest we have had in a while. With Leigh Griffths still unavailable for the national team, along with Steven Fletcher, the obvious choice would be Scotland's most expensive player, Oli McBurnie. Despite not being well loved by the Tartan Army, the Sheffield United man would no doubt be our number one option hadn't he pulled out through injury earlier this week. Those drop-outs and injuries leave three men in contention to lead the line in Russia; Oliver Burke, Johnny Russell and Lawrence Shankland. This blog will delve into a few and ultimately, make a call on who should start. After falling out of favor at Celtic, Burke returned to his parent club, West Brom, only to be loaned back out to Alaves in Spain. He missed out on the last Scotland squad due to the lack of playing team he had at th...

It's been an action packed weekend of football in Scotland with so many outcomes for different sets of fans. Many entered work this morning on cloud nine with all the bragging rights, however, for every one of those fans, there was the fan hiding behind their desk. This blog looks at some of match-day eight's winner and losers. Winners - Alloa Athletic Let's start at the beginning of the weekend with the Championship's Friday night affair between Alloa and Dundee United - top versus bottom. With the visitors currently cruising their way to six goal victories and their main-man, Shankland, hitting goal scoring numbers that saw him earn a Scotland call-up, nobody was expecting anything other than a routine away win. Peter Grant and his resilient Wasps had other ideas though as they gave the Arabs a footballing lesson in a 1-0 win. Kevin O'Hara's goal after great team play gave Alloa their first home league win of the season and saw them shoot up the lea...