Only one winner this weekend in the SPL and it was WHO?

By: Ian Rose | September 14th, 2009

After the long international break that saw Scotland break my heart, we’re back to the regular league season, so Inverness can break my heart instead. But first, a look at the big boys of the SPL.

In a Saturday sure to have excited absolutely no one, we had three SPL matches, and three SPL draws. Rangers started the sharefest with their scoreless trip to Motherwell. Celtic, surely licking their chops with 2 points on the table to be stolen from their bitter rivals, were unable to do the job, and finished 1-1 at home to Dundee United. And in the battle of the fightin’ saints, St. Mirren managed only a point at home in their new creatively-named park hosting promoted side St. Johnstone, 1-1.

The other Saturday match, Killie at Hearts, was postponed due to a lorry fire on the highway which prevented Killie’s traveling support, and incidentally their squad bus, from reaching Edinburgh in time. Tynecastle will still be there on Wednesday.

On Sunday, utterly pointless early strugglers Hamilton (seriously, they had zero points) hosted the capital city Hibees. It’s been a rough start for the Accies, but they did the job and took the match 2-0, on an early penalty from Mensing and another from Antoine-Courier. Hibs man Colin Nish certainly didn’t help anything with two yellows in the final 10 minutes, getting himself taken off with barely enough time to get a wash before the final whistle. By the way, if you picked Hamilton to be the only winner in the entire league this week, hats off to you – that took some guessing.

Monday saw Falkirk taking on Aberdeen, and once again, Scottish fans were rewarded with very, very little to watch, as the two went scoreless.

So far, things look familiar at the top, with the Old Firm tied on 10 points from 4 matches and a two-point lead on United. The surprise is at the bottom, where Hearts sit on just a single point from their first three times out. They must have been looking forward to hosting the inconsistent Kilmarnock this weekend, and will hope for those points on Wednesday. If they are not taken, count on escalating talk about change at Tynecastle.

Meanwhile, Celtic and Rangers both start their European group stages this week, with Rangers going to Stuttgart on Wednesday and Celtic to Israel to face Hapoel Tel Aviv. Both are tough trips, but those of us not embroiled in the unending pissing contest that is Glasgow football wish them both well. Good luck lads.