The Toast Is - The Lassies

YET again our lassies have done their bit for the tarnished name of Scottish Fitba - I reckon my wee pal Eck Salmond would declare three days of national rejoicing if WGS's brave lads ever travel to Poland and stick four past big Artur; but, Anna's girls just about slipped under the radar with that great win yesterday.

 

Of course, THE test in their qualifying group is Sweden, but, worryingly for the girls, because beating Abba in Adidas boots will still be a huge ask, given our national ability to build ourselves up, they are creating a real sense of: maybe this time, about their qualifying campaign.

 

 

 

BUT, enough of the good things. The need to traverse the A9 in the rain yesterday - this piece is being written in a wee but an ben on the Black Isle - meant I couldn't post yesterday.

 

This has given me time to reflect on the televised Edinburgh Derby of Wednesday night. I am still struggling for the correct word to describe this match: Pish, Shite, Garbage, Rubbish just don't quite fully-describe the awfulness of the fare  on offer. There, for the world to see, were the many inadequacies of Scottish domestic football - poor first touches, an inability to trap anything more lively than a bag of cement, rashness in the tackle, lack of discipline, terrible passing, slack marking.....I could go on and on.

 

Yet these teams were, supposedly, two of the top 12 teams in the country. I despair.

 

I was pleased for Jamie Macdonald in the Hearts goal, for hissterling part in his team's victory. I used to watch Jamie on an almost weekly basis when he was out on-loan at Queen of the South, and reckoned then, he had the makings of a good keeper.

 

He had his problems when he returned to Hearts, with the soldiers of the Eastern European Mafia at the club obeying orders and not playing him at a time when he was clearly the best keeper on the books, but, he has hung-in there and has made the number one jersey his own. That said, he cannot let-up, for, on the basis of watching him once defy Killie at Rugby Park, during his own loan spell with East Fife - young Mark Ritgers, the Hearts' back-up keeper, is another emerging talent.

 

 

 

I MUST say this, because you may never read these words again on this site: Well done Peter Lawwell, for making clear his decision to exclude himself, should the need arise, for any decision from the SFA on a return to Rangers by Dave King. Of course, the conspiracy theorists amongst the brown brogue wearers will still try to insist that he is pulling strings behind the scenes, but, by steering clear of any decision-making, he has shown real wisdom.

 

Mind you, I feel his past "crimes" both real (in South Africa) and imagined down Edmiston Drive, have ruled Mr King as an unfit person to be anywhere near the decision-making around Rangers. I hope, if the matter ever arises, the SFA will feel likewise.

 

 

 

AND good luck to Fernando Ricksen, he will need it. Motor Neurone Disease is still a death sentence, may he be spared the very worse which can befall a sufferer.