07/10/2012 Sportscene

Last weekend's SPL goals total of 26 was the biggest in nearly 10

Aberdeen scored two of those 26 goals and manager Craig Brown is

here with Billy Dodds and myself, as we review this weekend's SPL

action. The pair of them have a relationship which goes back a long

way. I seem to remember this one didn't have a happy ending. We will

hear from them after we've seen highlights of today's SPL meeting

A Celtic team showing just one change from the 11 who started

Tuesday night's Champions League win in Moscow. Skipper Scott Brown

rested, winger James Forrest started. One change for Hearts as

well. Scotland defender Andy Webster record, midfielder Scott

take them back... Hears Charlie here. In a clash with Charlie

Mulgrew. That was brave goalkeeping. Play continued but it is the end of

of the situation. But Andrew Driver initially there by Andrew Driver.

But he gets away with it and goal. Commons did really well to

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opening goal. It's a first in the space. He hit that with a fair bit

vital role in the Champions League victory over Spartak Moscow and

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Couldn't quite find the target, perhaps in the dying seconds?

Andrew Driver with a chance. He Dragsic wide, he should have hit

Jamie MacDonald is OK. It looked bad at the time but the guy who

replaced him, Peter Enckelman, didn't cover himself in glory at

didn't cover himself in glory at tour. It's a great way to pass, he

doesn't even have to take a touch. He got power on it but he has been

littered by mistakes. It's these mistakes that people remember. He

has to make maybe 20 saves after that for them to forget about it,

but they keep on sticking with him. There's been a few. It's a shame

because he's had a good career but it was his fault for the goal.

didn't look as if that would be the only goal of the game because

Celtic had so much possession and pressure and chances. Gary Hooper

drifting into space, nobody picks him up at all. When the ball is

played out wide, Kris Commons cuts it quite well. He scored five last

time against Hearts and you expected him to score their. On

another day these go in. Celtic had so many chances they could have

scored. Three of four goals quite comfortably. But Stevenson, a great

shot for Hearts as well. This is great play from Celtic. I was very

surprised they played the same team. They were brilliant in Moscow. But

with international break, Neale would say, I can play them in this

game and then they've got a couple Given hindsight, Neil Lennon

probably would have freshened it up because there was a bit flat at

times. It's OK in hindsight. I think it's a testament to Hearts.

They've always given Celtic problems. They always play for 51

and make it very different. Maybe Neil Lennon thought he had to play

the best team. But they've won the game. You know your teams when they

play bad and they still win, you take that home. But they have a big

Poole. You would think they could freshen it. But the team did so

well in Moscow, on you go. Many will get a break. To me, they

didn't look too flat. I watched the game on TV and I thought Celtic

played very well. How much of a boost is it for Scottish football

that they are in the Champions League and are pulling back of

against Moscow? They are doing great, even better at Liverpool. He

played the right side of midfield against Liverpool, Pedersen. He's

up front there. A 17-year-old. What a player he is. And he could have

scored, it would have made for a different game if he'd taken the

coming from the other side on to his right foot, it would have been

back in the net. It was through two People talk about Hearts because of

the size of the club, being a top- six team this season, but a lot has

changed at Tynecastle. Will they make the top of? He I've ticked

them not to but... Does that mean they will? On their wage bill they

should. They still have a big squad of players. They've lost one or two

but they still have a good squad, a big squad and a talented group of

players. Some of the young boys coming through operate, Paterson

the example. Hibs have to be happy with the first couple of months of

the season, which continued with a It has on the whole been pretty

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Kearney. It's 1-0 to Hibs. Doyle, who scored a cracker at Aberdeen

last weekend, flushing a head from the Kearney cross. Paul Kearney has

made such a big difference to Hibs they are currently at the bottom of

the SPL. Four points adrift of Dundee United. It is Colin Nish on

the offensive. Was Ian Davidson's cross? -- was he in Davidson's

It was Jim McAllister's challenge. Kearney had the legs taken from him.

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Griffiths. This one comes against David Wotherspoon. Role did with

Hibs were top of the lead briefly for less than 24 hours but you beat

them last weekend. Is it a bigger Trans formation in a team than the

Hibs we saw finishing last season? They have performed as a team

without doubt. Pat Fenlon does very well on the loan market. He's got

some good signings. The latest, Ryan McGivern from Man City,

absolutely outstanding. Came on against us last week, just after

half-time. He was absolutely first class. Great pace, good left foot.

Delivery terrific. You can't ask a ball from a full-back. I'm told

that is not an exception, that's the norm for him. He will be a

fixture in the Hibs team now. two players everyone is raving

about in a Hibs context were Griffiths and McPake. But two

Griffiths and McPake. But two others to grab the attention, they

are involved in all three goals here, that is Owen Doyle. I like

Kearney because at Thistle, you can see them in the circle. They always

hit the box. Doyle works hard. Kearney played central area for

Partick Thistle, but he always gets in the box. He wins the penalty. He

is wide left, he's getting in the box, he is forced to play wide left

to get a game at Hibs but he's He's done it again. So Wotherspoon,

Scottish under 21 player - he does very, very well indeed. Billy is

right about Kearney. He does not play in the wide position. He plays

more central, as he did for Thistle. He is competitive. Hibs, you are

right, they have transformed the team. They will stay at the top, or

near the top throughout the season. Is that part of them getting in the

type of player they want? He was under pressure. He gets results. He

another three points. Paul Mitchell in! O'Leary made the move to

deflect the goal. It's paid off. He certainly moved to deflect the

target. It his first ever goal for Kilmarnock. Kilmarnock lead after

plays well. I tell you what - he was lucky.

first time they have trailed all seconds from the start of the

second half and Aberdeen are level wrong way. It is the fourth goal of

the season and about -- Aberdeen are level.

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lead. 54 minutes played. A delightful chip in from Fraser. He

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knew what he wanted to do. Aberdeen 3-1. The ball came in from Hayes.

He did so well, even to get there to make the chance.

three points. It's a fantastic finish for the first SPL goal of

the season for Scott Vernon. Kilmarnock could not get there.

That's a great finish by Scott Vernon. Aberdeen will take all

three points and their fine run continues. The Kilmarnock manager

said his team did not deserve to lose. Discuss? I am bias as well,

but I think we did enough in the game to get the result we got - 3-1.

There was a goal between the teams, maybe twoment Fraser is a fantastic

talent to watch, isn't he? He is indeed. This was by far from his

best game. He's had some sparkling games earlier in the season. Games

in which we didn't score, but he created numerous chances. You see

him here - it is interesting, he prefers to cross it with his left

foot. At that occasion he crossed it with his right. Young player of

the month for September? Certainly. He's taken the SPL by storm and the

way to that cross, as Craig was saying, usually by the left. He is

strong. I think he's so sharp and quick that teams struggle with him.

Is he the target for rough treatment, Craig? He probably is.

To be fair to kill far mock, I don't think they -- kill far mock I

don't think they set out to be have lent in any way. It is a tribute to

him, isn't it, the way guys try to stop him.

It is a compliment to him. There are occasions, in Inverness, some

hard tackling on him. That was a bit fierce that one. I don't think

anyone is setting out - there's Kearney - not setting out to injure

him or be violent. They find it difficult to stop him without

impeding him. That is getting free kib force us and yellow cards for

the opposition. He's so sharp. Of course you want protection. Some

of the players - these are big, solid defenders. Do you have

sympathy for defenders? Never. You talk to the wrong person!

There's no question, the one major thing about him is he does not take

a dive. He never goes down unnecessarily. When he goes down he

gets back up. He is brave. He has been warned you are not to put it

on. I see him quote as saying, if you are fouled you don't go down

unless you have to. There are some obgkaigs he is staggering on.

If you go down a bit - you don't want them to do that. You want them

to be honest about it. I never thought I would say this about

Gavin Rae, but three goals for him. Gavin was playing off the front

quite a bit and was good for a goal there. He's very versatile, Gavin

Rae. Niall McGinn, two with headers. He's not the tallest guy in the

world. He's a very good spring. He's got electric pace, so he gives

us movement. How promising are things - I know you will not say

Aberdeen will win the league at the moment - how promising are things

for the rest of the season? We want to improve every year. That was the

target. In recent times, we have sold five players. Very few SPL

clubs have sold five. We have lost five. They were all sales. Two guys

like Maguire. It is difficult to replace guys like that - we have

not bought anyone. We have simply gone into the market and bought

players who were out of contract. So, I think we have managed to

build a reasonable good squad. Hopefully it will get stronger. The

experience of Anderson of Rae, of Hughton and Vernon up front has

helped us greatly. We have some wonderful young boys. Before I came

to Aberdeen, there was a great supply of youths coming through.

You can see that, Fraser is one of them. The list goes on. Was the

goal off the training goal - is this one he has been practicing

with his knee? He acts well. I don't think he tried to put it in

the net, tried to put knit the area. I don't know what Craig thinks of

that one. He has punched it straight into the bodies. His

reaction, maybe a bit quick there. Credit to him, I think he's not

trying to no knock it back into the area. He will wish he pushes it

away from goal rather than into bodies and it caused a lot of

problems. Maybe a bit harsh because I thought

he should run backwards and put it over the bar. I am sitting in the

middle of the park with a dog out there, looking at that situation.

It was a good safe. You lose your sight in older age. I knew you

would repeat my age. You will repeat that tomorrow morning?

hiper critical yesterday. I am not a goal-keeping coach. I am looking

at it, trying to be as fair as possible. Up quicker, keep your

eyes on the ball, put it over the bar. Seems simple to me. Now the

only season question marks over Lomas as St Johnstone seem

ridiculous now - September's manager of the month was looking to

an SPL win yesterday at St Mirren. Lomas, taking manager of the month

award for September. This St Johnstone side looking to

side in front. It's all too easy - shrugs off the defender. It's a

cool finish that gives St Johnstone almost ended in the back of the

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the start of the second half. The allowing St Mirren that kind of

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are furious, they want a penalty five if you include their League

Cup result as well. What's changed? A little bit of luck, getting some

players back. Not great defending their, Hasselbaink is strong. I

think when you get confidence, it's a testament to Steve Lomas because

let's make no mistake, he was under serious pressure. Usually you lose

your game when you get voted manager of the month. You can see

the results. A big rush of confidence going through that club.

They've got a good look about them at the moment. I think the big

turning point was the Celtic result. I watched the four-game. -- fall

game. Peter was a good contribution in that match. They played

exceptionally well against Celtic. This is the gain you were talking

about. St Johnstone have lost a few players with illness that week as

well. They were under strength and yet they beat Celtic. They have

taken off since then. There's no doubt they've done exceptionally

well. St Mirren are a good side. Looking at the highlights, I think

St Murer -- St Mirren were a bit unfortunate not to get something

from the game. Aberdeen contributed to the early-season pressure on

Steve Lomas because he won in Perth. It all seems crazy now, that people

were questioning his future at the club. They are a few points off the

top of the league. We are only a quarter of the way through this

league. There's a long way to go. Things will change before the end

of the season. St Johnstone started in a different fashion, now they

are on this great run. By Steve Lomas, I hope it doesn't stop. But

I think they will come a cropper. you get huge confidence. It goes

through every player and the whole team. They seem to keep winning.

St Mirren haven't really made a lot, St Mirren haven't really made a lot,

a couple of penalty claims near the end. This one looks a Stone wall

against Robertson. It is. You would rather have the penalty. I don't

know if he is playing advantage. I'd rather have a penalty kick than

a cross coming into the box anyway. You've got St Merryn in the League

Cup quarter-finals. Great respect for St Mirren. My pal Tommy Craig

is now working there, he's an excellent coach. There's a big

improvement in St Mirren. They've got the injury to McGowan, which

will obviously upset them. He was a key player, they will have to do

well to get a replacement for McGowan. But there are a couple of

young players, McLean. They are a tough team. We will have a

difficult game in the Cup against St Mirren. Four good League Cup

quarter-finals coming up and the milestone match in the north on

Friday night launched this SPL weekend. The first of a top-flight

Highland derby. Inverness against team was the return to the midfield

after a three-match ban of Owain Tudur Jones. Derek Adams was able

to record his captain and the main striker McManaman, in place of

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Shinnie can't get there. Ross has taken the credit for the

opening goal. Roberts was there, too, he seemed to go up for it from

the corner. It seems to have come off the back of frost Draper. Caley

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Denied by Michael Fraser. What a the ball cleanly enough but then he

His first ever goal for Ross County came against Caley Thistle. He

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Mikaele is going through. -- Billy McKay. Quinn caused the problem

Doran finishers with a sensational Borlee. Aaron Doran has won the

game for Caley Thistle. What a I was acting as your official

interpreter. The best part of 7000 there, how special of a night was

it? It was a great night for football. And then the type of game

we got, because I was expecting an old fashioned, physical Derby. It

never materialised. Inverness started particularly well. At 2-0

up I thought they should have had the game over. Then Ross County had

a brilliant second half. Aaron Doran's second goal sealed it.

was Inverness setting the tone from the start. It did have a big

influence in this match because there was really no looking back

for them because of their strong start. They were right in the faces

of Ross County. Draper had a bit of luck, Consob is back, but he could

have scored before that. The timing changed in the first half was when

they hit the bar. Suddenly Ross County came in. Inverness scored

their second slightly against the run of play, but I thought

Inverness were the better team and deserved to win it. You be

different - that you know the difference back-to-back wins can

make. Inverness have done the same thing. A fantastic result. His team

played brilliantly with him up there. I don't know the rules

because I haven't been suspended yet, but he's not allowed an hour

before the game in the dressing room or at half-time. They played

exceptionally well. Good credit to both teams. Excellent teams. They

are doing the north of Scotland proud. When we see the run that

Ross County had, it was sensational. Now it's been arrested a little,

they'll come back I'm sure. We will see in a couple of weeks' time. I'm

hoping that we can do what Inverness did to Ross County, but

it will be very difficult. A good game. Great quality. Some fine

goals. Aaron Dorrans's goal to Clinton was spectacular. Inverness

3-1 winners of that first of a Highland derby in the SPL. Going