THE fans have their say.
ABERDEENYES, cups can provide shocks. Yes, Aberdeen have no divine right to be in cup finals. And yes, the gap between the top of the First Division and the SPL is not huge.
But Jimmy Calderwood has failed in the cup competit
ions, the only ones AFC can realistically win. Out of his ten domestic cup runs, three have been ended by lower-league teams, four have been lost by a three-goal margin, and five have seen the opposition score four goals against us.
This is abject failure, not the odd cup shock. Coupled to this, the football has been poor and the wins have dried up in the SPL – one in the last eight games – and if this continues, we will not qualify for Europe. If that's the case at the end of the season, Aberdeen must find a new manager because we will have officially stagnated.
Craig Stewartwww.aberdeen-mad.co.ukINVERNESS CTIT'S hard to describe our feelings just now. After seeing a steady improvement in the side and the climbing off the bottom of the league, we went into Saturday's game high in confidence. This seemed to disappear once the game got under way as we descended into the 'Brewster days' with a totally inept performance.
We couldn't string two passes together, tackles were ineffective and the big punt up the park was awful. It was so inept we would probably have been beaten by a Second Division side.
Full credit to Falkirk, though. They are fast becoming our bogey side but they showed us what it meant to them to stay in the SPL and, hopefully, we can learn from that.
It's going to be hard to recover from this so maybe it's just as well there's no game this week.
Dave 'Gringo' Wilsonwww.caleythistleonline.comRANGERSRANGERS played their best football of the season in the first hour against Hearts on Saturday, then let a two-goal lead at home slip away with a draw that felt like a defeat and a robbery. Walter Smith distilled the consensus of the wider support, describing some of our players as having a "softness" and a schizoid performance tells us very little about whether this squad has enough bottle to grasp the title.
On the upside, Barry Ferguson gave easily his best performance of the season, augmented by outstanding showings from Steven Davis, Steven Whittaker and Kyle Lafferty. With the title race still very much alive the Rangers support, magnificent so far, has to refocus on backing the team and collectively getting Rangers over the SPL finishing line in front.
Stephen Smithwww.rangerssupporterstrust.co.ukST MIRRENWHAT has Craig Dargo done to upset goalkeepers? Three times this season he's been racing in on goal and three times he's been poleaxed by the keeper. At least on Saturday the referee finally had the guts to send his assailant off, having bottled out of it when we played Celtic and Kilmarnock.
Things are now even tighter at the bottom and it's shaping up to be one of the biggest relegation battles in years. We should not be in this situation. If we hadn't conceded late goals against Falkirk, Dundee United and Aberdeen in the last few months we'd be well clear of danger, but instead we're in the thick of it.
We still haven't won in the league this year and we can't rely on other teams dropping points, as Falkirk look to have turned things round.
Stuart Gillespiewww.stmirren-mad.co.ukHAMILTON ACCIESTHE game between Accies and St Mirren on Saturday exemplified just what's wrong with the SPL. Here were two teams fighting for survival and there wasn't an awful lot for the purist to enjoy. Accies had been on a run of three straight league defeats, so at least they stopped the rot. To have lost three times to the Saints would have been unbearable.
It was a decent result given the injury crisis we have just now and things won't necessarily be much better when we face Celtic next time out. Sean Murdoch will replace 'keeper Tomas Cerny, who will sit that one out through suspension after his late red card on Saturday.
Accies have now recruited former Senegalese captain Lamine Diatta to bolster the defence for the run-in and he might be the man to make all the difference.
Gilbert MowatCELTICMY DAD loved the Keystone Cops. He found them highly entertaining. Me? I hated them. I don't find incompetence funny or entertaining. Rather like our defending and the inability to score from the chances created on Sunday; I found it infuriating. But, hey, I am warped!
To be fair to Gordon Strachan, he must get as frustrated as we do at what is happening on the park and I think his comments after the game were designed to deflect criticism and talk the game up rather than being pushed down the road of criticising the team.
However, the glaring inability to put teams away when we are on top is a cause for concern and deserves criticism. Again, both Georgios Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink made little impact. If Ben Hutchinson isn't good enough to play, why do we name him as a sub?
David DevineHIBERNIANANOTHER frustrating afternoon at Easter Road as Hibs drew a blank against Aberdeen to more or less end any hopes we may have had of nicking a European place this season. Of course, getting that spot is still very much a possibility, but so is failing to make the top six so the next three matches for Hibs are vital in terms of where we finish this season. Had the forward line had their shooting boots on, Hibs would have easily disposed of Aberdeen, but it was very much an off day for the front men. Both Nish and Fletcher were guilty of bad misses, but the encouraging sign was the sight of a Hibs team actually passing the ball again and beginning to outplay the opposition. Sadly, we just didn't quite get the break of the ball when it mattered, but could it just be that Mixu is turning things around?
Eddie Hendersonwww.hibs.netHEARTSYOU'VE got to feel sorry for Calum Elliot. Recalled from the deep freeze at half-time at Ibrox, he took his long-awaited chance superbly and played a major role in a quite remarkable comeback, and yet he still ends up in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Given the ineptitude of our first-half showing and the manner in which we gifted Rangers their goals, you could not help but fear the worst at half-time. However, one thing we have not lacked this season is spirit, and that played a huge part in a rather unlikely, but deserved, comeback.
Off the back of a disappointing performance, and result, at Easter Road the previous week, a trip to Glasgow to face an increasingly-desperate Rangers was probably the last thing we wanted. This makes the maintaining of our five-point cushion even more satisfying.
Sandy LeonardFALKIRKSATURDAY could be the start of the Bairns revival – it was certainly the type of performance we are going to need to replicate several times if we are to survive in the SPL. Even without Darren Barr and Steve Lovell, we came out of the traps with a hunger that took Inverness by surprise.
Mark Stewart and Carl Finnigan did well in attack and have staked their claim for a regular start. In midfield, Scott Arfield was back to his best while Patrick Cregg, so much a bit-part player this season, has, in recent games, shown why we all rated him so highly in the past. At the back Steven Pressley continues to steady the ship, while Lee Bullen seems to have found his best position at right back. The real bonus has been the arrival of goalkeeper Dani Mallo who has now had five shut-outs in nine games.
Brian Guthriewww.bairnstrust.comMOTHERWELLAFTER a disappointing performance at Kilmarnock we can reflect on our situation over the international break.
A draw at Rugby Park in itself is not a bad result, even with Killie struggling. We haven't lost ground on anyone and we can still be optimistic about finishing in the top six.
As for the internationals, Cillian Sheridan will be playing for the Irish Under-21 side while Jamie Murphy, despite hardly getting off our bench recently, will do so for the young Scots.
Steven Craigan and David Clarkson will join up with the Northern Ireland and Scotland full squads. Craigan is now our most capped player ever
while Clarkson has been in several squads to earn his two caps but with Lee Miller and McFadden both missing, he may have a chance.
Derek Wilsonwww.firparkcorner.comDUNDEE UNITEDI'M BEGINNING to wonder just what on earth United have to do to put a win over Celtic to bed! After looking decidedly shaky in parts of the first half, the more familiar, gutsy United appeared for the second with Sandaza's sublime headed goal. As the Sandaza song goes 'feed him and he will score' and his second showed what a clinical finisher he can be … and what a prospect he is.
The less said about the sadly almost inevitable sucker-punch from Lee Naylor the better but, again, it's a measure of the continued progress we've made under Craig Levein's tutelage that a draw with the league leaders felt a little like a defeat come the final whistle.
It's been a tricky month for United but a performance like Sunday's will hopefully lift the lads for the visit of Hibs on 4 April.
Hamish Mackintoshwww.dundeeunited-mad.co.ukKILMARNOCKOUR latest in 'must win' games ended in a draw at the Theatre of Pies in what can only be described as a no-score bore. Killie started brightly but gradually got worse, and in the second half it was Motherwell who were in the ascendency. What is it with professional football players who cannot seem to manage to pass a ball more than three yards or put a decent cross in? Mehdi Taouil has more tricks than a bag of monkeys, but someone should tell him to get into the box and have a shot at goal now and again!
The away fans apparently boycotted the game because they were not happy at paying £20 to see a televised SPL match, despite the fact their club charged us £2 more when we were shown on TV at Fir Park a few months back. Quite frankly I think a lot of them just couldn't be bothered.
Barry Richmondwww.killiefc.com
