1. Ross Caldwell (Brechin City)
The general perception was that Brechin were going to struggle away to Peterhead on Saturday. Two defeats from their last three outings had walloped them off their lofty perch at the top of the table, while the presence of Ross Caldwell to replace top-goal scorer Andy Jackson had been met by a somewhat lacklustre response. Ninety minutes and a 3-1 win later, Caldwell was away down the road with the match ball thanks to a well taken hat-trick, while the doubters were left with both egg and humble pie on their Chevy Chase. Darren Dods’ team have struggled against Livingston and Alloa so far, but they’ve excelled against the rest, dropping just two points from the teams currently sitting fourth to tenth. Despite residing just behind Livingston, the Glebe Parkers probably still remain underrated. Many more results like this one, and that’ll soon change.
2. Martin Boyle (Hibernian)
There’s an interesting little sub-plot being played out at Easter Road at the moment. Neil Lennon has never been backwards about coming forward, and his recent decision to relegate Jason Cummings to the bench seems very much as if a point is being hammered home to the silly-haired striker. Hibs certainly aren’t struggling without him, indeed, they’re positively thriving – with this 3-0 win over Ayr United their third triumph in succession – albeit against a trio of sides whom they were probably expected to defeat. Martin Boyle was once again a stand out, following up last week’s goal with a brace here. The ex-Montrose man appears to have rediscovered his verve, with his pace and directness a constant pest to McCall’s men. With Falkirk, Queen of the South and Dundee United coming up, Hibs might find their next three fixtures a bit more testing.
3. Scott Fraser (Dundee United)
Well, we didn’t see that one coming. We don’t mean the 4-1 tonking Dundee United inflicted on Queen of the South, as those two sides have been embarking on differing trajectories for four or five weeks now, but rather the aftermath. Gavin Skelton’s departure on Monday evening caught virtually everyone unawares, with rumours flying willy-nilly about a fall-out with assistant Jim Thomson after the Raith game, as well as disgruntlement with the board for putting the kibosh on possible loan deals. Perhaps the conjecture is all true, perhaps it’s all bunkum, but regardless, Queens are now in a bit of a pickle after an excellent start to the campaign. They were certainly looking far from their best on Saturday, as United ran up a comfortable scoreline, with Scott Fraser grabbing a great goal in amongst a surprisingly competent performance. The Terrors keep pace with Hibs, while Queens are left to look for their fourth boss in just three years.
4. Jean-Yves M’Voto (Raith Rovers)
There was a 150 foot long scarf walked around the East End Park playing surface during the interval on Saturday. Now, whilst we appreciate this had been created for an extremely worthwhile charitable cause, if knitting parades is the extent of the half-time entertainment at Halbeath Road these days, we can understand why the home fans are such a hostile bunch of hombres. At one point in this Fife derby, one old soak charged down to scream at Kevin McHattie from close range, but unfortunately he chose to lean against an unlocked gate, causing the slavering jabberwocky to fall arse over tit as it swung open. The game unfortunately was far less memorable, with Dunfermline holding the whip hand for the majority of it, only to find the tougher-than-teak Rovers defence in fine form, especially Jean-Yves M’Voto, who was a just a shade more imperious than his colleagues. The 0-0 draw saw the Pars slide to ninth, but hopefully they’ve got more arts and crafts based interval shows in the pipeline.
5. Liam Buchanan (Livingston)
East Fife boss Gary Naysmith could possibly have felt a little hard done by with this 3-1 defeat to Livingston at the Tony Macaroni. However, even if he was mad as hell about the end result, he’d probably have been slightly less bitter than the East Fife TV commentator, who reacted to Michael Miller’s sensational set-piece strike as if he was describing paint drying tournament. In-form Amber Machine striker and man-of-the-match Liam Buchanan struck either side of Miller’s rasping effort, taking his tally to the season to 15 goals in all competitions, and ensuring that Livingston remained top of League One on a day all of the top four sides secured three points. With a favourable looking set of fixtures coming up, they may be there for a little while longer yet.
6. Greig Spence (Alloa Athletic)
After a couple of matches without a victory, the Wasps returned to winning ways with a 4-1 triumph over Stenhousemuir. While the scoreline makes the encounter sound like a one-sided romp, only some Warriors profligacy up-top, combined with their now customer slipshod defending, prevented this from being a far closer encounter. Greig Spence scored the opener with his fourteenth goal of the season, after a dismal hoof up the park from Stenny goalkeeper David Crawford, and he also provided an assist for the third, when his shot cannoned off the bar to allow Jamie Longworth to head home. New boss Jim Goodwin has made a steady start at the Indodrill, although some observers would prefer if he remained on the sidelines, rather than assuming a player/boss role. If that means seeing less of the biggest pantomime villain of all time, then we really couldn’t disagree more.
7. David Smith (Dumbarton)
It shows you just how poorly Dumbarton have been served in the right-back position this term that David Smith, a man generally considered a workshy, defensively-naive right-winger, has now become Steve Aitken’s go-to man for the full-back berth. Mind you, considering Smith’s performances in that neck of the woods over recent weeks, maybe he’s just spent the first five years of his career being played out of position. He was certainly one of the better performers on show in the Sons 1-0 win over St Mirren, who are now the only team across the eight divisions in Scotland and England without a win after those other guffers, Sunderland and Edinburgh City, rustled up their first three points of the season. Not to fear though St Mirren fans, you can now enter a competition to pick the new club slogan. Goodness knows how they’ll fit the word “boo” into a motivational sentence though.
8. Derek Gaston (Greenock Morton)
After ripping apart those jokers from Paisley in midweek, Jim Duffy’s outfit found the going a little tougher on Saturday against a Falkirk side who probably warranted all three points from this 1-1 draw. That said, the Bairns were seconds away from receiving not a jot from this encounter, before Lee Miller equalised in the final minute following a late Lee Kilday opener. Morton goalie, Derek Gaston was probably main reason the Greenock outfit preserved their unbeaten league run, with two excellent saves in the second period in particular, retaining parity and giving the Ton a platform from which they so nearly won again. At the beginning of the season, one of these teams was expected to be a shoe-in for the playoffs, whilst the other was more of a maybe. With a third of the term now gone, it’s looking like that opinion may need reassessed.
9. Joe Mbu (Edinburgh City)
There’s no doubt it’s been coming, but finally, at their twelfth attempt, Gary Jardine’s Edinburgh City side notched up their first ever SPFL league win. Truth be told, it wasn’t the prettiest of things with neither side playing particularly well, albeit the Edinburgh defence, led manfully by Joe Mbu, managed to shut out the somewhat sporadic attacks from a soporific Montose team. Not only did the result lift Edinburgh to within two points of both Cowdenbeath and a misfiring Mo’, it also led to a cornucopia of Mr Blobby pictures on their Pie and Bovril thread. Smashing.
10. Scott Linton (Clyde)
There was a nice bit of beef on show in Clyde’s 2-1 win over Elgin City on Saturday. The managers, Barry Ferguson and Jim Weir, were both involved in some kind of contretemps. While the abuse that was thrown in Ferguson’s direction from Weir should be frowned upon (if true), we did enjoy reports that he called his son ‘a big ginger giraffe’. Perhaps ungentlemanly, Jim was a crabbit bissum after watching his team go two down after just six minutes in this table-topping match-up after a whirlwind start from Ferguson’s men. Scott Linton’s own form has been as up-and-down as Clyde’s this term, but he was presented with the man-of-the-match award as the Bully Wee went level on points with City after a thoroughly deserved three points. It’s back to the drawing board for Weir, both in terms of both his tactics, and his piss-poor insults.
Written by Shaughan McGuigan