Matchday 8 in the SPL

By: Ian Rose | October 1st, 2007

The eighth week of the SPL is over. There were a few changes, a few surprises, and a few confirmations of what we already knew. In true Offside style, here is what we learned from the SPL this week:

1. The Old Firm Leapfrog continues
Celtic and Rangers are still in leapfrog mode, each one taking advantage of the mistakes of the other. They have switched places at the top of the SPL tables three times now, and now Celtic sits on top, tied on points but ahead on goal differential. The Old Firm derby later this month is going to be a wild one.

2. Motherwell is for real
Under star manager Mark McGhee, the Well have come on strong in September, winning away at Aberdeen, kicking holders Hibs out of the CIS Cup, and holding Rangers to a draw. That most recent match will give Walter Smith some pause, and force him to take Motherwell very seriously when Rangers return to Fir Park for the League Cup quarterfinals. The monthly SPL awards have not yet been announced, but McGhee is my pick for Manager of the Month, hands down. Their road record alone is scary - they are tied with Celtic for the best ratio away from home, with three wins and one loss.

3. Gretna hit bottom
With Inverness Caley Thistle finally hitting something resembling form and winning three matches in a week, Gretna now sits in the bottom spot, and many in Scotland (myself included) believe they will stay there for the duration. To get out, they’ll have to beat Inverness in October, and their recent CIS trip there (3-0 to Caley) suggests that may be difficult. We’re all waiting to see if they can rise above their expectations, or if they’ll be content to play spoiler, taking the occasional point here and there from higher teams.

4. Hibs refuse to go away
Everyone knows that the title race in Scotland doesn’t often leave Glasgow, but the green side of Edinburgh apparently has something to say about it. Hibs stand only one point behind both Rangers and Celtic, and beat Celtic in September. Admittedly, that game had some flukes in it, with the horrible day that normally rock-solid Artur Boruc had, but Hibernian have nonetheless had a hell of a start. It’s even sweeter considering how badly cross-town rivals Hearts are doing.

5. That other team in Edinburgh
Hearts are in absolute disarray. Despite their win over St. Mirren on Sunday, they have given away points to the lowest teams in the league, and sit in sixth place. Even the St. Mirren win took a very questionable penalty from Michael Stewart to put away, and the best thing you can say about Hearts right now is that at least Vlad Romanov is keeping quiet. The clock’s ticking on that too - believe me.

6. Hamilton in ‘09?
Right now, the early favorite for promotion into the SPL has to be the awesomely named Hamilton Academical. The Accies only lead the First Division by 1 point over Dundee, but they are also making an impressive early Cup run, having knocked Kilmarnock out of the league cup to become the only non-SPL side in the final 8. After falling to the millionaire-funded freight train that was Gretna last season, the Accies would love nothing more than to replace them in the SPL after only one season.