After their Viaplay Cup final despair, Aberdeen got back to winning ways in midweek when – without ever hitting the heights – they ground out a narrow, if deserved, victory over struggling Livingston.
It certainly was not a thing of beauty, but given they had slipped to 11th place in the table when Livi took their first half lead, the comeback and the capture of the three points was absolutely crucial.
Not for the first time this season, it was down to the clinical talent of Bojan Miovski.
Barry Robson is, understandably, making it clear he wants to keep the striker at least until the end of the season.
But it now seems inevitable there will be significant interest in Miovski in January – whether that takes the form of a transfer fee substantial enough to encourage the club to do business remains to be seen.
Cup final VAR call controversy aside, Dons simply weren’t good enough
Hampden was, of course, a huge disappointment for the 17,000 fans inside the national stadium and the many others watching and listening from home.
It was, for me, a “nothing” performance – similar to a number of other such displays we have seen this season.
I had hoped the team would show the aggressive approach and attacking flair we have witnessed in spells in a number of the bigger games, particularly in Europe, but there was unfortunately no evidence of that.
On the day, it felt as if the Dons lacked ambition and self-belief, and the most frustrating part was that Rangers barely needed to play to secure the trophy.
The Ibrox side never really got going either and they were there for the taking – it was a massive opportunity passed up.
Much has been made of the referee’s performance, but it was a tough afternoon for Don Robertson. It was not an easy game for him to handle.
The two big calls which caused much consternation for Dons fans were down to the VAR team, and they both obviously went against Aberdeen – but that was not the only reason the cup final was lost.
Over the piece, they simply were not good enough.
I signed off last week’s column with this thought: “Whatever happens, I just hope the Dons make a real game of it and give the travelling support reason to be proud of the team.”
Sadly, that was not to be the case.
Will Ross County players respond on the pitch to boss Derek Adams’ rant?
Hampden apart, the big talking point last weekend was Derek Adams’ post-match rant when, after losing late on to Dundee, he eviscerated Scottish football.
I would accept the standard across the board in the top-flight this season is by no means the best I have seen, but Derek went way over the top with his criticism, and has rightly apologised to his players in the wake of that.
What will now be interesting to see is how they respond on the pitch.
A manager lives and dies by the team he sends out on to the park, he relies on them to carry out his instructions and game plan.
As good professionals, I would expect them to do just that, but the relationship with their boss might require a bit of healing – and for County’s sake, I hope that does not have an adverse effect in the coming games.
Lowland League continue to enable terrible B team experiment
There was a decision taken earlier this week which might have gone largely unnoticed in the north-east, but which will have been of interest to some of our local clubs.
The Lowland League voted by a narrow margin to extend their experiment of allowing B teams into the division for a further two seasons.
The move dismayed those against, Albion Rovers summing it up best in their post-vote statement: “We voted for the fans, not against them. We voted for sporting integrity before (minimal) financial gain”.
This is the third year B sides have been included, with Hearts and Celtic currently competing, and Rangers having withdrawn in the summer.
It was a terrible idea when it was introduced.
It remains a terrible idea, and a quick look online shows almost universal opposition from supporters.
Thankfully, the Highland League has not gone down a similar route, and I would hope it never does.
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