1. Lawrence Shankland (St. Mirren)
Alex Rae’s arrival at the Paisley 2021 Stadium may have arrived too late to eke out much success from this dog of a season for St Mirren, but it has succeeded in giving the supporters a heaped tablespoon of hope for the next one. The home win over Queen of the South last week meant that Rae had more home league wins under his belt than the last three St Mirren managers combined, while Saturday’s 3-2 win over Livingston ended any chance of the Buddies ending up in ninth place. On-loan forward Lawrence Shankland, a player who has frustrated as much as impressed during his spell in Paisley, was very much involved with the latter on Saturday, scoring an excellent first goal before top-trumping it with a winner that was so spectacular it stopped us from using footage of Jason Cummings miss to illustrate this article. As women-bothering Andy Gray might say, take a bow son.
2. Mark McGuigan (Stranraer)
It wasn’t too long ago that Brian Reid was regarded as a bone of contention for Stranraer fans and a figure-of-fun for other clubs supporters. His Blues team were rock bottom as recently as December and his position as manager had slipped past Crisis Crescent and was making its way to Untennable Avenue. Three months and 28 points later, however, and Stranraer and Brian Reid have performed a spectacular volte-face with the side apparently now a decent outside bet to win the promotion play-offs. With just two defeats in 14 matches, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, especially if the team continue to perform as well as it did on Saturday where they, and especially Mark McGuigan, ran roughshod in a 3-1 win over Stenhousemuir, a team who are in a cast-iron slump. With a reasonable run-in in front of them, Airdrie and Albion Rovers may struggle to fill that last spot.
3. Andy Ryan (Forfar Athletic)
Many moons ago, a wise old lady told me that you should never trust a man whose name is comprised of two first names. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but then I thought about corrupt snooker player Stephen Lee as well as that racist no-gooder John Terry, and it became clear the old biddy had a point. Proving that they’re not all bad-eggs however is Forfar forward Andy Ryan, whose goals are helping the Loons out of a mire which seemed inescapable just a few weeks ago. His two efforts against Ayr United in Saturday’s 3-1 win now makes it seven goals in just eleven appearances for the the Station Park outfit, although admittedly his cause was helped by an Ayr team who now look incapable of even the simplest of tasks at the back. This win, coupled with Brechin’s fine victory over Albion Rovers, leaves Cowdenbeath bottom of the table, and while that’s obviously good news for fans of both Angus clubs, it potentially ruins any hopes us neutrals had of seeing all four teams from the region duking it out in League Two next season. Spoilsports.
4. Sean Higgins (Clyde)
With Clyde leading 2-1 against East Stirlingshire on Saturday and the game, and arguably the season, on a fairly narrow ledge, the Clyde management team knew exactly what was required to see out the match. “FORWARD, FORWARD” they screamed, looking for the ball to get crashed towards Sean Higgins up-top. Instead, the defence played keep-ball, starting off a well-worked move that ended with David Gormley flicking on to Higgins who toe-poked the ball into the bottom corner. They repeated the process in the final minute, “KEEP IT IN THERE, KEEP IT IN THERE,” they implored Gormley, who had the ball at the corner flag at the time. Completely ignoring the advice, he whipped in a cross for Higgins to grab his second in a 4-2 win, making it six wins and a draw from the Bully Wee’s last eight games. In the aftermath of the victory, Barry Ferguson signed a new deal with the club, allowing Clyde players to ignore his mid-game promptings until 2019.
5. Denny Johnstone (Morton)
Pictures uploaded onto Twitter in the build up to Morton’s match against Alloa appeared to show that Star Wars bounty-hunter Boba Fett in attendance at Cappielow on Saturday. His usual hangout, the Mos Eisley Cantina, was once described by Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars as the most wretched scum of hive and villainy. We can only presume that now that he’s visited both, Big Bobba may be considering it a close run thing. Also threatening to remain close is the hunt for fourth place in the Championship, as Denny Johnstone’s 15th goal of the season, along with an assist for Declan McManus, contributed to Morton’s 4-1 win over Alloa Athletic. It helped keep Morton within sight of Raith Rovers, with the two clubs meeting at Boba Fett’s new hang-out this weekend.
6. Kevin Smith (East Fife)
Stirling Albion weren’t necessarily expected to put a halt to East Fife’s title charge on Saturday, but with Nathan Austin reduced to a place on the bench while he recovered from a knock, it was felt that the Binos could give Gary Naysmith’s table-topers a decent contest. Instead, the Fife ran in half-a-dozen without reply, with Austin still managing to contribute a double despite just playing the final twenty minutes. His hectic cameo wasn’t quite enough to win a man-of-the-match award, however, which instead went to Kevin Smith. The striker’s goal and two assists helped East Fife to a memorable win. Three points clear but with Clyde still in pursuit, the head-to-head meeting between them at Broadwood in April could be pretty special.
7. Gary Oliver (Queen of the South)
What deserved harsher criticism on Saturday: Dumbarton’s performance, or Queen of the South’s decision to play a recorded GOOOOOOOOLLLL over their PA system, followed by a few bars of hard rock music after each strike? Dumfries curiosities aside, there’s certainly something very strange going on at Dumbarton Football Club. The huge difference in home and away form has been evident for some time, with the Sons picking up just nine points on their travels this season – the worst record in Scotland along with Dundee United and East Stirlingshire – but Saturday was different still. That a squad of players can go from outplaying Hibernian and Falkirk in a matter of weeks then lose 6-0 (going on 10-0) to Queen of the South hints at a greater malaise than just bum-tactics and bad luck. The Doonhamers were the ultimate beneficiaries of Dumbarton’s fecklessness, and although Gary Oliver failed to register a goal, he arguably turned in his finest performance in a Queens jersey, providing a couple of assists in a fine showing. The gap to the top-four may be too much for Queens to close, but don’t bet against Dumbarton slipping into ninth based on that display.
8. Myles Hippolyte (Falkirk)
Rangers fans must be sick of the sight of Myles Hippolyte’s gymnastic style flips and twists that make up his goal celebrations. Oddly enough, they’re about the only group of fans to have witnessed it, since Hippolyte makes something of a speciality of scoring against them, netting three of his four league goals in Scottish football against the Championship leaders. His latest was as eye-catching as it was important with Falkirk moving six points clear of Hibernian in the sprint to finish second after an improbable come-from-behind 3-2 win. The Hippo was only introduced to the fray early in the second-period, but he continued Peter Houston’s fine record of making game altering substitutions. If he could start to become as influential in games that don’t involve the Teddy Bears, Hippolyte could prove an astute signing.
9. Robert Thomson (Brechin City)
With ten minutes remaining on Saturday, Brechin trailed Albion Rovers by a goal to nil, while elsewhere Forfar Athletic were cantering to victory over a punch-drunk Ayr United. It appeared that the side with the coolest topiary in world football would be remaining rooted to the bottom. However, manager Darren Dods took advantage of Albion Rovers dropping deeper and deeper as the match progressed, flinging on forward Liam Coogans for midfielder Craig Molloy, and it reaped dividends with two goals in the game’s closing stages, the win lifting them out of the relegation spot in the process. Robert Thomson was the difference, striking the equaliser from close range before setting up Coogans for the winner. With both Angus teams now showing a bit of life, things are starting to look grim for newly bottom Cowdenbeath.
10. Craig Barr (Raith Rovers)
“A WISH AD STIDE IN THE HOOSE AN’ GOT F@#*ING BLOOTERED” screamed one typically demure Fife female as Hibernian led by a goal to nil on Saturday evening. However, the mince from her pie which she’d spayed over the back of the gentleman in front’s head had barely time to cool before Rovers equalised, so presumably she quickly changed her tune. Rovers boss Ray McKinnon crammed as many centre-halves as he could into the starting line-up – four in all, with Craig Barr the best of the quartet – as Raith fought-back then held-on to win 2-1. While Barr and his cohorts dealt admirably with the sum of Hibernian’s exertions, they were also reliant on one of the misses of the season from Jason Cummings, whose humiliation was then exacerbated by being substituted, throwing a hissy-fit and hiding in the hood of a jacket which was far too big for him. If all that hullabaloo isn’t greater entertainment than sitting in the house drinking cheap cider, then we don’t know what is.
Written by Shaughan McGuigan