Aberdeen’s recent mini-revival came to a shuddering halt on Tuesday night when, for the second time this season, Celtic battered them in Glasgow.
Unlike in the semi-final back in November, though, Aberdeen were well in the match, and could have been 2-0 up within 10 minutes. Oday Dabbagh and Kevin Nisbet should have scored.
Jeppe Okkels also had a big chance before the break, and Shayden Morris blew one in the second half – rarely will they have created so many clear-cut opportunities at Parkhead.
And yet, even though Brendan Rodgers’ side failed to hit their regular heights, and were barely out of second (perhaps even third) gear, they hit the Dons for five!
It was therefore a strange game.
But that does not matter. What does is the players having the resilience to shrug off the disappointment, and avoid potentially slipping back into the kind of slump they have just emerged from.
To do so, they will have to be more clinical at one end, and defend significantly better at the other. Their performance in both areas was unacceptable at Celtic Park.
There is a decent sequence of fixtures coming up, but only if they can do the business against Dundee United on Sunday afternoon. If that goes wrong, the Queen’s Park cup-tie becomes tougher, as do the following games against St Johnstone, Motherwell and Ross County. Beat United, and that run looks altogether more enticing.
Jim Goodwin’s men will head north rightly aggrieved by another ridiculous VAR call which contributed significantly to their loss against the Premiership’s form side, Hibernian, and both teams, along with Hearts, are now very much in the mix for the European places.
Hibs have now surpassed the Dons earlier unbeaten run, and are without defeat in 12, moving level with United just a point off third place.
With Hearts having lost just once in nine matches, and now in the top half, the battle is really heating up, and this weekend’s Edinburgh derby could be pivotal.
As things stand, the momentum is with the capital pair, but as we have seen this season, that can change very quickly, and if they are to withstand the challenge, Aberdeen cannot afford to slip back into damaging old habits.
The next few weeks will tell us a lot about the contenders.
I would expect all four clubs to make the top six, but St Mirren, and perhaps Motherwell, cannot be discounted, and even Ross County and Kilmarnock, currently preoccupied with avoiding possible relegation, cannot be ruled out at this stage.
The only two sides who can be go head-to-head at Dens this afternoon – and that promises to be a tense, and potentially decisive, 90 minutes.
Dundee are on a five-match losing streak, matching the worst run suffered by any top-flight team this season, and have plummeted down the table. Lose by two or more goals to St Johnstone, and they will be bottom.
Despite back-to-back defeats against Kilmarnock and Hearts, Saints are on their best run since Simo Valakari arrived, and if they can follow-up their midweek victory over County, it would deliver a blow Tony Docherty’s side might struggle to recover from.
Barry Ferguson’s Rangers appointment was mind-blowing – but job until end of season is simple
The big news at the start of the week was the appointment of Barry Ferguson as Rangers manager.
Under no other circumstances would the Ibrox club have hired a former Clyde, Kelty Hearts and Alloa Athletic gaffer, and the announcement, when it came, was mind-blowing.
The board are clearly hoping his legendary status will buy them some time, and bringing in “Rangers men” like Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor will have chimed with a large chunk of the fanbase.
The quartet certainly understand the peculiar demands of representing the club, and it will be a very different environment to that experienced under Philippe Clement.
After a horrendous start for the new regime at Kilmarnock, they made a massive call at 2-0 down – and went on to win comfortably.
Maintaining that will not be easy, given the limitations of the squad, but the job is simply to reach the end of the campaign without incurring further significant damage.
Conversation