10 best Scottish lower league players this week

November 4, 2015

hibs jason cummings

10. Dylan Easton (Elgin City)

Elgin returned to the play-off spots with a 2-0 win over Arbroath, which in the process completely scuppered this writer’s coupon. While the Borough Brigg’s outfit have been off the boil of late, Saturday’s 2-0 scoreline probably didn’t do justice to their performance, which would have secured a more comfortable scoreline if not for some poor finishing, bad luck and good goalkeeping from Lichties ‘keeper Allan Fleming. The recent acquisition of former St. Johnstone midfielder Dylan Eason looks a shrewd one, and while the forward thinking player has struggled at times during the formative years of his career, he appears far too good for this level. His Wikipedia page however, needs a little work.

9. Isaac Layne (Brechin City)

With Alloa Athletic in desperate need of goals, they did the most logical thing last week by shipping their top-goalscorer from the development side out on loan to Brechin. With just 11 goals to their name prior to Saturday’s 1-0 Angus derby victory over Forfar, goals have been in short supply for City this season too, and whilst Layne failed to score on his debut, he was one of the few skilful performers in a game that involved two dismissals and umpteen yellow cards. The 20-year-old has yet to truly make the breakthrough at any of his sides to date, but he showed enough glimpses in this snotters-and-thunder derby to suggest he can at least make a difference at this level, bringing the ball down nicely before threading a through ball to Andy Jackson, who slid home the game’s only goal. Brechin remain bottom, while Forfar’s season continues to impress pretty much no-one.

brechin goal v forfar

8. Mark Kerr (Falkirk)

St Mirren’s travails show no sign of subsiding. Whilst their reduction to nine men seemed harsh, their 3-0 defeat was very-much merited, and brought about a change in the Buddies management team. Not, as most Paisley denizens would prefer, with the removal of Ian Murray, but with his assistant Mark Spalding, who no-one had ever heard of and probably never will again. While Falkirk’s form has been inconsistent at times, it generally flim-flam’s from average to excellent, and Saturday’s win was very much the latter. John Baird was his usual nuisance self, pestering the Saints defenders all afternoon, as well as grabbing his first ever league goal at the Falkirk Stadium. But it was Mark Kerr who particularly stood out in midfield, rarely misplacing a pass as he cantered through proceedings. With games coming up against Raith, Alloa and Q.O.S, Falkirk have an ideal opportunity to put a huge gap between themselves and fifth place.

will vaulks goal v st mirren

7. Robbie Crawford (Ayr United)

Apart from the film career of Jason Statham, and possibly the annual Christmas Day episode of Eastenders, there’s almost nothing more exciting than an unknown, exotic import signing for a lower league Scottish football team. You can only imagine, then, how excited Stranraer fans felt on Saturday morning when they discovered they’d signed Argentinian dreamboat Luciano Nequecar. Unfortunately their joy would only last until the afternoon when their team, minus Luciano, put in a powder-puff display as Ayr United dismantled them ruthlessly 3-1. Robbie Crawford’s opening goal was a cracking finish, although admittedly he was afforded far too much room to turn before striking the ball in off the inside of the post. While Crawford was the game’s star man, he wasn’t the highlight’s highlight, as they also featured someone from the Stranraer bench swearing for eight minutes and five seconds, and an elderly Stranraer supporting lady gesticulating furiously at Jamie Adams. Wonderful.

ayr crawford goal

6. Gary Fraser (Montrose)

While a plethora of teams have been mentioned in the League Two equations this season, Montrose, seemingly whilst no-one was looking, have crept up into second place in the table. It shows just how even the division is that Montrose can sit so close to the top, despite losing almost as many games as they’ve won this term. Indeed, since the last weekend of August, they’ve lost every other league game. Paul Hegarty was understandably delighted with his players efforts, but he perhaps should have reserved a special mention for Fraser, who scored two and set up another in a one-sided contest. The defeat was a loss too far for the Berwick board, who elected to bring the curtain down on Colin Cameron’s tenure as Berwick manager in the aftermath of the match. Look out for him popping up at a Junior venue near you soon.

5. Gary Oliver (Queen of the South)

Gary Oliver didn’t just break his Queens’ duck on Saturday, he stamped it to smithereens as James Fowler’s men came back after a dreadful start to beat Alloa 2-1. Graeme Holmes put the home side ahead after just 35 seconds, but incredibly, Oliver top-trumped that in the second-period when he equalised just 13 seconds after the referee’s peeps. It was in the knick of time too, with the Doonhamers support starting to get ugly, yes, even uglier than usual, about Fowler’s tenure at the club. However, Oliver’s second goal won the match, and with Raith Rovers suddenly appearing vulnerable, the Dumfries side look handily placed to take advantage.

4. Jordan White (Livingston)

You may not be aware of it as neither the club nor their fans like to make a big deal about it, but Raith Rovers once took the lead against Bayern Munich. I know what you’re thinking, “jeezo, they kept that quiet.” Well, Saturday was the 20th anniversary of that proud achievement, and what better way to celebrate it than being utterly bodied by Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena, with the additional bonus of listening to The Macarena every time a goal goes in. Wunderbar! Big Jordan White was the main man once again, scoring twice as Rovers ran in arguably their worst performance of the season, while Livingston simultaneously turned in one of the better ones. The 3-0 win lifted Livingston to seventh place in the table, their highest placing all season. Rovers fans however, could console themselves by looking at a framed picture of a scoreboard from 1995.

3. Rory McAllister (Peterhead)

It was only last week that this very Top-Ten list pointed out that Rory McAllister’s exceptional personal form was being undermined by the Blue Toon’s bum-season, and Saturday was surely the perfect example. 3-0 up and cruising at half-time, they somehow ended up taking nothing from a game which appeared done-and-dusted at the interval after a magnificent display from Big-Mac. It’s been obvious all season that Stenny’s defence has been their achilles heel and it was almost the case again on Saturday, with McAllister at times resembling an adult who had gate-crashed a kids game, bullying opponents left-right and centre. His goal-glut on Saturday took his tally for the season to 17. Ridiculously, it still counted for nought.

peterhead rory mcallister

2. John McGinn (Hibernian)

If there can be such a thing as a must-win game before November has even arrived, then Hibernian versus Rangers was probably it. Not for Mark Warburton’s Magic-Hatters right enough, their previously-perfect start to the campaign meant they could afford a slip-up or three, but definitely in the case of Hibs. The Leith side’s 2-1 win may just have planted a kernel of self-doubt in the minds of the Rangers players, whilst simultaneously bolstering the resolve of Stubbs’ Stormtroopers. Jason Cummings was understandably wheeled out to speak to the press, not just because he isn’t shy about coming forward, but because he’d also managed to spank a fantastic opener past the future England Number One, Wes Foderingham . However, Alan Stubbs elected to eulogise over the influence of John McGinn, who for the second week running was the best player on the park, showing an intelligence and vision that wasn’t always on display at St Mirren. Admittedly though, it’s trickier when you’ve got a spiky pole stuck in your leg. We might just get a Championship title race, yet.

hibs cummings goal v rangers

1. Jason Scotland (Stenhousemuir)

The history of sport is festooned with great sporting comebacks. The 2005 Champions League Final for example, or the Miracle In Medinah in 2012 or even Rocky Balboa defeating Ivan Drago in Rocky IV back in 1985. Each and all are solid-gold nuggets of sporting achievements, but none of them surpass Stenhousemuir’s jack-in-the-box victory against Peterhead on Saturday. 3-0 down and with apparently all hope gone, they threatened to make a game of it just before half-time when Colin McMenamin lobbed Blue Toon goalkeeper Graeme Smith from a quite improbable distance. The second-half belonged to just one man, however. Jason Scotland dragged the Warriors across the winning line, nabbing their second before rifling home the equaliser from the edge of the box, side-stepping umpteen challenges in the process in a manner that most Roy of the Rovers enthusiasts would have regarded as far-fetched. In the unlikely event that Jason Scotland never scores for Stenhousemuir again, his contribution on Saturday alone would justify his signing.

stenny jason scotland

 

Written by Shaughan McGuigan (@ShaughanM)

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