1. Steven Thomson (Berwick Rangers)
There were a fair few lower league raspers in the SPFL goal-of-the-month competition for January, and there’s already a shoo-in for February’s short leet thanks to Steven Thomson. The Berwick forward grabbed his eighth, ninth and 10th goals of the season against a ragged looking Annan Athletic, but he saved the best till last, lashing a thunderous drive into Blair Currie’s top right-hand corner to seal a 4-1 win for John Coughlin’s outfit. The victory put some breathing space between themselves and bottom of the table Cowdenbeath just a matter of weeks after they were bottom of the pile. With teams at the foot of League Two starting to pick up wins Cowden’s concerns are intensifying.
2. Chris Duggan (East Fife)
East Fife forward Chris Duggan has missed much of this season through injury, and based on his return performance in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Queen’s Park Barry Smith’s side may have been even higher in the table had the former Partick Thistle man been available. The equilibrium between the two sides meant that neither took advantage of fourth placed Brechin’s 2-2 draw with Stenhousemuir, but if you were of a betting disposition you’d suggest East Fife are the side more likely to do so in the future. Considering the flow of the first-half, the boys from Bayview would have been scunnered to go in at the interval two down but an excellent fightback, led by Duggan, sealed a well deserved point. His excellent curling effort past Willie Muir got them back in it just after half-time and his gossamer-weighted knock down assisted Scott Robinson for the equaliser. There’s no reason why they can’t give St. Mirren a fright in the cup this weekend.
3. Kyle Jacobs (Queen of the South)
Morton’s fine run of form ended in a fairly abrupt manner on Saturday, with a scoreline which was arguably a tad harsh on the visitors. Make no mistake, Queen of the South deserved all three points but the 3-0 scoreline hints at a gulf in quality, which on the balance of play wasn’t quite that wide. Morton goalie Derek Gaston won’t want to see a replay of Kyle Jacobs’ goal but the midfielder had an excellent all-round performance, and while Stephen Dobbie is the main focus of attention down Palmerston way the 25-year-old South African is becoming an equally integral part of Gary Naysmith’s team.
4. Liam Buchanan (Livingston)
David Hopkin’s side did the necessary on Saturday as they held Alloa Athletic at arm’s length, to ensure their lead at the top remains in double digits with a game in hand. Jim Goodwin’s team selections continue to be as brutal as some of his elbow-led assaults, and the sight of Greig Spence, Jason Marr, Jon Robertson and Iain Flannigan all starting on the bench was a perplexing one, albeit a 2-2 draw with the runaway leaders is no bad result, so what do we know? They may have been slightly fortuitous to snatch a point with Liam Buchahan leading the line in the domineering fashion he always does. He scored Livi’s first, and whilst it was a surprise to see him substituted, it was far from a shock to see The Lions performance regress in his absence, as Alloa grabbed a late equaliser.
5. Craig Sibbald (Falkirk)
It was hoped that the Falkirk-Dunfermline derby-which-isn’t-a-derby was going to be a real blood and snotters affair, but instead we were served up a fairly tepid and one-sided spectacle. Dunfermline were unbeaten in 11 going into this but they were a poor second best against a Falkirk side who had too much for Allan Johnston’s team all over the park. Lee Miller and John Baird tied up the shipshod looking Pars defence, whilst the Pars midfield wilted in the face of new signing Joe McKee and especially his central partner, Craig Sibbald. If there is to be a challenge from a team currently outside the Championship’s top-four, it’s looking more likely it’ll originate from Dumfries rather than Dunfermline.
6. Sam Stanton (Dumbarton)
Considering how seethey St Mirren fans are at the best of times, you can imagine their reaction when one of their former players, Stuart Carswell, decided to wind them up on Saturday afternoon. Fair play to him for sticking it to the haterz and trollz but we doubt he’ll be welcome for a pint in Paisley anytime soon. Not that he’d ever want to head there for a night out anyway, presumably. This type of performance from St Mirren is exactly why they’ll likely go down come the season’s end, leading twice against Dumbarton but failing to cash in as The Sons fought back twice to draw two each. Sam Stanton picked up where he left off against Raith the week before and impressed in the central area once again as Steve Aitken’s men moved up the table to seventh, at the expense of Gary Locke’s* laughing-stocks.
7. Paul Dixon (Dundee United)
One Raith Rovers fan was so angry about Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Dundee United, the club’s 13th consecutive game without a win, that they popped into Kirkcaldy’s branch of Asda on the way home and rearranged some lettered candles to spell out ‘SACK LOCKE.’ Considering barely anyone in the Kingdom can spell our money is on Val McDermid. It was little wonder the soft-furnishing rabble rouser was annoyed though as United dominated the second period, after a first-half which was devoid of pretty much anything. Left-back Paul Dixon had one of his better games in tangerine, supplying two assists as United closed the gap to Hibernian at the top to six points. If matters don’t improve for Raith soon goodness knows what message we’ll stumble upon in the spice aisle.
8. Greg Fleming (Ayr United)
You’ve got to wonder what exactly Jason Cummings has done to Neil Lennon. After all, it would appear the strawberry-blonde dentist-avoider would sooner diminish his team’s chances of winning a game than start the only genuine goal-scorer in his squad. Perhaps Jason and his neebs just wouldn’t let him join the Flame Gang? Hibs certainly toiled without him in the 1-1 draw with Ayr United, with the home team only coming to life once he was introduced after an hour, by which time Ayr led through a Robbie Crawford goal, which included some quite incredible defending from Hibs. It was difficult to pick out the defensive ‘highlight,’ either Liam Fontaine falling over, Darren McGregor inexplicably trying to tackle using a back-heel or Ross Laidlaw palming it into his own net before blaming everyone else. His opposite custodian Greg Fleming had a better day, proving he’s more than just a penalty takers natural enemy by repelling *almost* everything as Ayr retained their seven point lead over St. Mirren.
9. Simon Mensing (Airdrieoninas)
It wasn’t too long ago that Airdie owner Tom Wotherspoon was claiming that the club would only be signing players under the age of 26. However, considering they’ve just signed 34-year-old Simon Mensing we’re guessing that slightly odd and ageist approach has bitten the dust, a bit like their title ‘challenge.’ That said, the move looks like it may pay dividends. Mensing has been places and dun hings as the saying goes, and his appearance at the heart of the Airdrie defence can only be a good thing, especially it it breaks up the axis of disaster that is Joe Gorman and Daniel Boateng. Mensing certainly brought an increased bulk to the back-line as Airdrie rebounded from a goal down to pump Peterhead 4-1. With automatic promotion surely gone winning the play-offs must be the new aim.
10. Michael Travis (Forfar Athletic)
The teams were piped onto the park for this huge Angus derby between the top two at Gayfield Park, and whilst that was a nice touch from Arbroath, we think we prefer Forfar’s approach of running out to Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero and high-fiving a six foot tall bridie. As is normally the case, Gayfield was afflicted by wind speeds which would probably rate as a category one on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which made playing conditions particularly tricky in a match which Arbroath really had to win. However, shorn of the mercurial talents of Ryan McCord in midfield, they never really got going, while their attacking impetus was also impeded by a fine defensive performance from Forfar, with Michael Travis in imperious form at centre-half. The 1-0 win put the Loons 11 points clear at the top. It’s surely there’s to lose now.
Written by Shaughan McGuigan (@ShaughanM)