SPL Matchday 11: Celtic back on top

By: Ian Rose | October 28th, 2007

We are 11 matches and one quarter of the way into the SPL campaign, and it turned out to be the perfect weekend, at least in terms of results, for a little team in Glasgow you might have heard of. Celtic not only took their match, 3-0, over Motherwell on a Scott McDonald hat trick, but they also gained a game against both Rangers and Hibernian. Hibs lost yesterday 1-0 at home to St. Mirren, a shocking result to a team near the bottom of the table. Two weeks ago, Hibs were undefeated and tied for first in the league. Now, they are on two losses in a row, and down to fourth place and out of the European slots. Meanwhile, Rangers lost 2-1 to Dundee United today, in a match with two penalties and a real lack of drive from the Glasgow side. Dundee United is now the only team other than Celtic in Scotland to be undefeated at home. Inverness gave themselves some vital room at the bottom by beating last-place Gretna 4-0 at Fir Park. Inverness now have three players in the top 15 scorers in the league, and they look to be on the rise to somewhere closer to mid-table. Falkirk, one of their rivals at the bottom, took a vital point from their match at Pittodrie, drawing Aberdeen 1-1. Killie beat Hearts yesterday 3-1, dropping the red side of Edinburgh to eighth place and raising Kilmarnock to 5th.

So Celtic is now alone in the lead with 25 points from 11 matches. Rangers are three points behind, along with Dundee United who are now tied on points with Rangers, but ten goals behind in differential. Hibs are still close with 21 points despite their recent slide. Gretna now sit alone by five points at the bottom of the table, with only 4 points from 11 matches. If they lose to Falkirk next week like they did to Inverness this week, they will be marooned with a dwindling hope of survival before the season is even half over. They continue to be on pace to beat Livingston 2005-06 as the worst team (in terms of points) in SPL history. They are now on pace to pick up only 14 points this season, which would demolish Livi’s record low of 19. It’s been a harsh welcome to the top tier of Scottish football for Gretna, and there are few signs of it letting up anytime soon.

My picks this week suffered from the upsets over Hibs and Rangers. I only picked two out of six games correctly. That’s the cost of a league with some parity in the middle. Oh well.