1. Ousman See (Edinburgh City)
Never before, and presumably never again, will the Top Ten have two such magnificent names at the pinnacle. We’ve been short of impressive monikers since Smart Osadolor left us and his club in the lurch, so praise be to Furtado and this week’s numero uno, Edinburgh forward Ousman See. City might still be chasing their first league win since joining the fourth tier of Scottish football, but with See, a recent signing from Selkirk, in this kind of form it’ll presumably be along fairly soon. His brace in a 3-3 draw with Arbroath secured a point for Edinburgh in a game where they trailed twice, led late on, but were unable to see the match out. With a touch more guile and steel about them, Gary Jardine’s team might just be able to start closing the gap to Cowdenbreath in ninth.
2. Willis Alves Furtado (Stenhousemuir)
After appearing to be a down-on-their-luck busted flush, Stenhousemuir have girded their loins and found a bit of form at last, with their 1-0 win over East Fife their third consecutive game without loss. The Warriors first league win lifted them above Peterhead at the bottom of League One, and while they rode their luck against the Methilites at times, the wonderfully named Willis Alves Furtado put in a hell of a shift in the middle of the park, as Stenny saw out a fine away win. Furtado seems like quite the addition for this level, with the Portuguese 19-year-old plucked from French side US Ivry at the beginning of September. You’d still imagine that Brown Ferguson’s men will be involved in the machinations of any relegation skirmish this term, but their hopes of staying up are not quite as forlorn as they appeared just a few short weeks ago.
3. Danny Mullen (Livingston)
Peterhead’s season lurched from bad to Douglas Bader on Saturday, with this 2-1 loss to Livingston combined with Stenhousemuir’s win over East Fife, leaving them bottom of the crumpled heap that is League One. The Blue Toon support can perhaps take some succour from the fact they started last season in a reasonably sucky manner, although that campaign also ended really badly, so in hindsight that’s really not the most upbeat tale to improve their mood. In fairness, they weren’t too bad against Livingston, matching them for long spells, but Danny Mullen’s eighth and ninth goals of the season wrestled a scarcely deserved three points away from Jim McInally’s men. Livingston fans will probably be hoping that their quest for promotion is aided by Alloa making a poor choice in replacing Jack Ross.
4. Scott Fraser (Dundee United)
Considering Dundee United went from October 2015 until May 2016 bottom of the Scottish Premiership, you’d think their fans would be absolutely cock-a-hoop that new boss Ray McKinnon has led them to the lofty heights of mid-table in the Championship. Incredibly however, some appear to be non-plussed at how this season is panning out, conclusive proof that there’s just no pleasing some folks. Admittedly, Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Hibernian may go some way to perking up those dank, depressed Dundonians, with a decent second-half showing making up for a downright shoddy one in the first 45. Scott Fraser may not be everyone’s (anyone’s?) cup-of-tea, but in a midfield that was cobbled together by sticky-tape and prayer due to injuries, he did more than most to aid United’s comeback in a game that was, at best, lacklustre.
5. Craig Sibbald (Falkirk)
A 1-1 draw with Falkirk should be taken as one step forward for St. Mirren, but with almost a quarter of the season gone, and an oncoming fixture list that includes Hibernian, Dundee United and Queen of the South in the next four rounds of league fixtures, things aren’t looking easy for newly installed Jack Ross. They weren’t too hot against Falkirk either, truth be told, as Peter Houston’s team frittered away both a lead, and a dominant performance, with a result that was very much two points dropped. Saturday’s live Alba fare certainly wasn’t a patch on the previous week’s, with Craig Sibbald having his best performance of the season to date, but this Falkirk team still seems a pale imitation of last term’s. Both teams, to a greater and lesser degree, have something to work on.
6. Jamie Lindsay (Morton)
There’s something curiously admirable about Jim Duffy’s approach to assembling a squad. We’re fairly sure he’s aware that there’s such a thing as a transfer window, he just doesn’t particularly interested in finalising a squad during it. Desperate for a centre-half, he waited until mid-September to bring in Gavin Gunning, while Andy Murdoch was brought in just last week. Morton could probably do with another forward, but knowing Jim, he’ll probably wait until November. Fair play to him though, Duffyball appears to be working, eventually at least, as The Ton deservedly beat Raith Rovers by a goal to nil. On-loan Celt Jamie Lindsay bossed the midfield, which may have explained the moment Iain Davidson, with the ball at his feet and no-one near him, attempted to pass it, missed the ball altogether, then fell over it as he tried to control it again. The beautiful game.
7. Joe Gorman (Airdrieonians)
Jack Ross’ departure from Alloa Athletic is proving to be a long, drawn out affair. It was expected that this 2-1 defeat to the Diamonds of Airdrieoninans was to be his last in charge, especially when it was announced that he was taking the helm at St Mirren. Apparently though, the allure of the Irn Bru Cup was too much for Ross, who’ll remain in charge as Alloa head to Wales to take on Bala Town this Saturday. You can see why the Buddies were interested, how could you not be impressed with his record of two wins in 18 last term, while his comparatively large budget this time around sees Alloa third, just three points behind Brechin. Impressive. Admittedly, the Wasps latest defeat was a tough one to take, as they looked the better side against Airdrie, who were helped along by an unusually fine defensive showing from Daniel Boateng, and in particular Joe Gorman. At last, something to build on for Kevin McBride’s team.
8. Garry Fraser (Montrose)
All good things must come to an end. Love for example, or a packet of chocolate digestive biscuits, or perhaps most depressingly of all, Jim White’s moustache. Despite these and countless other examples though, we just weren’t prepared for Forfar Athletic’s brilliant bubble to be burst by the Gable Endies of Montrose. This Angus derby was a rip-snorter from beginning to end, with more chances created in the first-half alone than in a handful of other games combined. Montrose hit the bar twice, Forfar in response hit the post twice, while a cornucopia of other chances were saved or spurned. The sheer weight of numbers had to tell though, and Montrose forward Gary Fraser, a livewire throughout the game, jumped to the top of the League Two scoring charts with his double seeing off the Loons in a 3-1 win for Paul Hegarty’s team. Considering how miserable Gary Bollan looks after a win, we’d hate to have seen his pus after this one.
9. Ross McGeachie (Stirling Albion)
After the defensive abomination of Stirling Albion’s 4-0 going on 17-0 loss to Elgin last time out, it was doubtful that any Binos player would be making the Top Ten soon, never mind a defender. Mind you, playing Cowdenbeath is normally one way of ensuring one of your troops manage to sneak in. With just 20 wins in their last 84 league games, these are bleak times for the Blue Brazil, and they could get worse if they fail to shake off the cloak of lugubrious gloom that appears to be wrapped tightly around the club. Stirling Albion leapfrogged them with this 2-0 win, with right-back Ross McGeachie taking the man of the match honours, while a trialist who looked suspiciously like James Fowler offered the back-four some much needed protection. Albion’s first away win since December 2015 certainly won’t do any harm to caretaker boss Martyn Corrigan’s chances of landing the job on a permanent basis.
10. Michael McKenna (Berwick Rangers)
It’s normally extremely impressive behaviour that we like to highlight on this list. You know the drill. Goals! Tackles! Saves! And all that jazz. There’s no rules to this though, we’re free spirits after all, which is why we once included Brechin City goalkeeper Graeme Smith after he ran the full-length of the park to attack a last minute corner, but decided instead to elbow-drop Ayr’s Peter Murphy. To that end then, we have to tip the hat to Michael McKenna, who, after his dismissal during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Clyde, has now been jettisoned early from games three times in just ten matches this term. Even with our poor maths, that’s 30%, or three tenths if you’re more a lover of fractions. His latest, involved raining so much verbal hellfire towards referee Greg Aitken that he flashed two yellow cards in his face in the space of 30 seconds, despite the best efforts of his colleagues to drag him away and shut him up. It was a fine piece of madcap bampottery from McKenna, and whilst for Berwick’s sake it may be better if he stopped, we kind of hope this platinum rogue’s form continues.
Written by Shaughan McGuigan