The 10 best Scottish lower league players this week

December 13, 2016

elgin-goal

1. Shane Sutherland (Elgin City)

With ten goals in just two games, Elgin City have hit a rich vein of form, as they closed the gap to Forfar Athletic to two points after an emphatic 6-0 demolition on Berwick Rangers. In this kind of form Elgin look untouchable, and as Wee Rangers manager John Coughlin alluded to in his post match comments, were miles ahead of his team in every measurable way. Shane Sutherland’s excellent season continued apace with the forward plundering a hat-trick in a match which could easily have ended up with a scoreline in double figures. With Forfar stuttering, albeit with games in hand, the top four in League Two are now just separated by five points. It looks like Scotland’s fourth tier is going top be a battle royal once more. Smashing.

2. Andrew Shinnie (Hibernian)

The arrival of Neil Lennon was supposed to provide Hibs with the impetus and nous to not just win the Championship, but absolutely skoosh it. Six months into his tenure though, and that’s not how things are going. Sure, they won against Dumbarton on Saturday, but it was a long, forgettable affair with Dumbarton digging in and Hibernian’s turgid hoofball struggling to break down the obdurate visitors. Lennon’s defensive minded, safety-first approach is ill-suited to such opponents, while Dylan McGeough’s presence on the bench, rather than the park, seems curiously counter-productive. Andrew Shinnie did provide some vavavoom in the middle of the field and, in a low key win, was easily the pick of the bunch. More will be needed from Hibernian this Saturday, however, as they travel to Cappielow.

3. Stephen Dobbie (Queen of the South)

The Doonhamers left the Falkirk Stadium in finer fettle than their Bairns counterparts after this 2-2 draw on Saturday, but in truth neither set of supporters are particularly happy at how this season is panning out. Peter Houston’s team look to have regressed significantly from last term’s overachievers, while Queens’ leap backwards has come at a fair greater pace, sliding from top to seventh in a matter of weeks. However, the unexpected nature of this point, coupled with Stephen Dobbie’s goal and return to prominence, hints at a potential upturn in fortunes for Queens. Peter Houston’s troops should take one of the top four positions, but unlike last season they appear to have little in their armoury to trouble the Championship big dogs.

4. Kallum Higginbotham (Dunfermline Athletic)

We’ve given the Pars a bit of good-natured joshing about missed penalties this season, but after Tom O’Ware missed at East End Park on Saturday, perhaps it’s actually the venue that’s hexed when it comes to spot-kicks. The save from Sean Murdoch proved decisive on the match with the score tied at 0-0 at the time, but that wasn’t the only way in which the Greenock galoots made it difficult for themselves, with two dreadfully weak pass-backs handing Michael Moffat as easy a brace as he’ll ever get. After missing two penalties last week, Kallum Higginbotham was due a big performance and he supplied one, as he outshone Murdoch, Moffat and Paul McMullan to be the game’s star man. The win moves Dunfermline up to the relative safety of seventh, while Morton remain in the play-off spots by the skin of their teeth.

5. Rocco Quinn (St Mirren)

There’s certain things which will always occur in winter. Temperatures will plummet, trees will become bare, and Raith Rovers will be absolutely honking at football. It’s now four games without a win for Raith, all against teams populating the bottom four places in the league with just one goal scored during that sequence. The latest setback saw them go down by a single goal to St Mirren, who kept their first clean-sheet of the season against Gary Locke’s lamentables. The return of Rocco Quinn to the middle of the park has predictably bolstered things for the Buddies, who have now won two in two after no wins in the 14 games prior. Props too for goalkeeper Scott Gallacher, who from the 55th minute onward ordered the ballboys to actually throw the ball further away rather than retrieve it. A low-down heel move that amusingly sent some Raith fans into fits of apoplexy.

6. David Marsh (Stenhousemuir)

There’s no doubt about it, Stenhousemuir’s 5-0 win over Airdrie was the most sensational and unpredictable news to come from the Excelsior Stadium since it was announced that Elton John had booked the venue for his Wonderful Crazy Night Tour next June (incidentally, tickets are still available at a very reasonable £160.) Going into the game on the back of six straight victories, it was presumed by all and sundry that Airdrieonians would have too much for the hitherto feckless Warriors. However, an excellent first half showing from Stenny, allied with a red card for Daniel Boateng, saw Brown Ferguson’s men emerge as surprisingly easy winners. Central defender David Marsh made off with the man-of-the-match offerings with two goals in what was the Warriors biggest league win since a 5-0 hammering of Montrose in August 2006.

7. William Edjenguele (Dundee United)

Both Ayr United and Dundee United fans have spent the season to date whining and moaning about their clubs dire need of a striker. And, in their defence, this match suggested that they’re both bang on the money. The Honest Men’s desperation would seem to be slightly the greater though, as the 1-0 defeat to Ray McKinnon’s team, underlined in bold type their deficiencies in front of goal. That said, their problems weren’t all their own making, with Mark Durnan and William Edjenguele excelling in the centre of defence. ‘Edge’ was the best player on the park for the second week running. The Terrors now have five clean sheets in their last six league matches. With shot-shy Raith Rovers up next, stick your mortgage on it becoming six in seven.

8. Tom O’Brien (Forfar Athletic)

Arbroath fans must have been striding about De Vito’s nightclub on Saturday night like they were the cock of the walk after an Angus derby victory over their erstwhile nemesis Forfar Athletic. They may not have the best player on show, that particular accolade fell to The Loons Tom O’Brien, but they did get the win they required to cut the distance to Gary Bollan’s table-toppers to four points. Of late, things haven’t been going quite so well for Bollan or his side. Indeed, since his confused looking Chevy Chase was photographed in a gymnasium for his second manager of the month award, his team’s lead has been whittled down from a hefty eight points, to a rather slender looking two. Sadly, they’ll be no miserable looking SPFL photo-shoots for Gary this month.

9. Paul Woods (Queen’s Park)

Queen’s Park have pretty much flown under the radar this season, but considering their current form, which has seen them take 13 points from their last five matches, that may have to change. Their 2-1 win over Albion Rovers on Saturday lifted them to fifth in the table, as thoughts about just being happy to stay up shift towards possibly challenge for the playoffs. In all likelihood, that may prove beyond them, but credit has to go to Gus MacPherson for guiding his side into such a position that the prospect doesn’t seem so outrageous. Right winger Paul Woods had a fine game, involved as he was in the move which led to the penalty award for Queen’s equaliser, while his winning goal slithered over the line after being mishandled by Ross Stewart. Queen’s have a tough looking sequence coming up, but you wouldn’t want to bet against them coming through it reasonably unscathed.

10. Scott Robinson (East Fife)

Barry Smith was appointed as the new East Fife boss on Monday, and if he happened to be watching BBC Alba on Saturday evening, he may be forgiven for thinking what he was viewing was par for the course at his new club. Two dozen or so East Fife fans were dressed head to toe in yellow, all armed with musical instruments which they didn’t appear to have any knowledge of how to use. Even by Methil standards, that’s quite unusual. It wasn’t the only unexpected aspect of the Fifers 1-0 win over Brechin at Glebe Park, with the away side controlling large swathes of the match, something which hadn’t been the case of late as they’ve cascaded down the League One table in recent weeks. Scott Robinson had an eventful match, scoring the only goal, receiving the man-of-the-match award and getting dismissed as his team held on for the points in his absence. The win shoved East Fife up to eighth, with Stranraer replacing them in the playoff spot.

 

Written by Shaughan McGuigan


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