The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Raith gaffer bemoans ‘cheap goal’, as keeper makes rare mistake
RAITHROVERS INVERNESS CT
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John McGlynn was left to rue a rare error from Jamie MacDonald as a “cheap goal” condemned Raith Rovers to a 1-0 defeat against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
A Daniel MacKay effort grabbed all three points despite the efforts of Raith, who played 80 minutes with 10 men following the dismissal of Iain Davidson.
Raith have now gone three matches without a victory, or a goal, as they continued a bizarre hoodoo – they have now failed to beat Caley in 23 attempts, dating back to October 2000.
And McGlynn believes the game hinged on goalkeeper MacDonald’s decision to rush out from his goalmouth when MacKay was sent clear, letting the winger chip home a decisive strike.
McGlynn rued: “Jamie (MacDonald) has had a brilliant season for us.
“However, he makes a misjudgment to come for it and that makes it very easy for the player to put the ball over him and into the net.
“So, one mistake cost us the game. If we don’t make that mistake, we take a point after playing with 80 minutes with 10 men – we’d accept that.
“It’s a sore one to lose out to such a cheap goal.”
Inverness signalled their intent with just four minutes on the clock when a super Sean Welsh corner-kick found the towering Scott Allardice, only for the midfielder’s thundering header to crash off the cross-bar.
Rovers were left with a mountain to climb moments later when Davidson led with his arm as he sought to beat Inverness striker Nikolay Todorov to a high-ball.
The Bulgarian hit the deck and referee Colin Steven gave a red card.
McGlynn said: “Inverness played a longball game, was hitting the striker all the time and – of course – there will be confrontation and jumping for the ball.”
Inverness almost made the most of their numerical advantage when MacKay skinned Reghan Tumilty, dashed into the box and unleashed a fine curling effort, but MacDonald pulled off a stunning fingertip save.
After knocking on the door for 45 minutes, Caley kicked it open five minutes after the break.
A thundering punt from Mark Ridgers caught the Rovers defence square, allowing MacKay to scamper through with a delightful dink over the out-ofposition MacDonald.
To their credit, Rovers carved out several presentable opportunities to restore parity but, as a frustrating run of four blanks in their last five outings suggests, the ball will simply not go in.
Inverness interim boss Neil McCann said: “I’m absolutely thrilled for the boys. They have given everything again... I’m so happy for them.”
The European Championships are drawing ever closer and, after Scotland manager Steve Clarke’s latest squad announcement, it’s looking like there will be no Dundee United or St Johnstone players at the summer finals.
Three Saints Betfred Cup winners in with a chance of selection for this month’s World Cup qualifying triple-header have been overlooked, as has the Tangerines striker who played a part in getting the nation to its first finals in more than two decades.
Eric Nicolson assesses the reasons Lawrence Shankland, Jason Kerr, Shaun Rooney and Zander Clark haven’t been picked for the matches against Austria, Israel and the Faroe Islands and if they should feel hard done by. Also on the “close but no cigar” list of local heroes is former United wonderkid Ryan Gauld, who is starring in Portugal’s Primeira Liga. Lawrence Shankland
It wasn’t that long ago it felt as if Shankland was competing with Leigh Griffiths for a place at the Euros. Now both of Scotland’s most natural penalty box predators have been dropped.
The timing will come as a huge blow to the United star given he’s actually playing better than when he was last selected – or perhaps more pertinently, Micky Mellon’s team is set up to allow him to play better.
It will sting that there are other Scotland attackers who aren’t scoring for their clubs, but have been retained.
Clarke has made it clear he feels attack is the part of his side where there is greatest room for improvement.
Shankland doesn’t have the all-round skillset to rival an English Premiership forward like Che Adams and the Kevin Nisbet selection will have been made to get a close-up look at a promising young Scottish-based striker with eye-catching numbers, just as Clarke did when he picked the United No 9, then just a Championship player.
It is now hard to escape the reality Shankland will have to do something spectacular to be part of Euro 2020.
It’s even harder, however, to see how he is going to do that by playing against bottom-six sides in the Premiership after the split.
Jason Kerr
“I won’t be getting a call-up because I always have a nightmare against Kilmarnock! I’ve been sent off twice and I was taken off in another game, so I don’t think Steve Clarke will be picking me on the back of what he’s seen against them. But hopefully he’s seen me playing well in other games, too.”
That’s a quote from nearly two years ago, and Jason Kerr was joking, but you do have to wonder if the St Johnstone captain is indeed suffering from perceptions formed by Clarke in his time as a Premiership club manager.
Kerr’s form dipped in December after he picked up a back injury and his red card against St Mirren was his season’s low point but, other than that, he has been a consistently highlevel performer in 2020/21.
There have been many reasons Saints’ results improved after the turn of the calendar year, but at the top of that list should be the skipper’s return to the team following his coronavirus lay-off and the impact that had on others around him.
Most importantly, he has been the leader and positionally astute presence Callum Davidson needed – never more so than when it was all about headers, blocks and interceptions in the Betfred Cup final.
Kerr has international pedigree with the under21s you would have hoped might have helped his case and he plays his club football in a backline formation the Scotland boss has been using.
The Scott McTominay right-sided centre-half gamble paid off spectacularly for Clarke in the Euro 2020 play-offs.
Clarke has talked about moving him back into central midfield, where he is now a regular starter for Manchester United, but Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry have been preferred as the potential replacement if that happens.
Hanley may be more physically imposing than him and Hendry may be his equal in terms of distribution, but Kerr is a more complete player than both and his excellence for Saints deserved to be rewarded at this stage in his career.
Shaun Rooney
There hasn’t been a meteoric rise Scottish football story like it this season.
The man who couldn’t get in the St Johnstone starting line-up until Danny McNamara returned to Millwall has become the Perth side’s most potent attacking weapon in what feels like next to no time.
Scoring in the quarterfinal, the semi-final and then the final of the Betfred Cup has turned the right wing-back into a McDiarmid Park legend.
Many other Scottish footballers down the years – and many others playing for different clubs – have been called up for far less. Rooney is certainly entitled to look at Stephen O’Donnell and think ‘I’m playing much better than you’.
He probably isn’t ready to start a match for Scotland in important World Cup qualifiers, but he would be the perfect last 10 minutes option to throw on if Clarke’s men were chasing a late equaliser or winner.
Combine Rooney’s longthrow, his power and direct running, his aerial threat from open play and setpieces and you have a perfect game-changer in waiting.
Rooney can create chaos and thrive in the middle of it.
Zander Clark
Third-choice goalkeeper is probably the least important selection a national coach has to make.
Unless it’s a meaningless friendly, how often does one play? Not very is the answer.
As such, it’s the position that will provoke the least fury in Tartan Army debates, but try telling that to Clark.
He saw a keeper who now can’t hold down his status as Dundee No 1 getting chosen in front of him a few years ago, then a keeper who is in and out for Livingston these days and was at fault for the only goal in the Betfred Cup final and, for this squad, a keeper who last played for Rangers in the league at the start of November.
In the event of a crisis whereby both David Marshall and Craig Gordon get injured, a Premiership regular in the form of his life would be more reliable than one who has had his slippers on for nearly five months.
Ryan Gauld
When Scotland qualified for the Euros, the bar appeared very high for an attacking/creative midfielder hoping to break into the squad when next there was one announced.
If a regular in the English Premiership like Stuart Armstrong couldn’t get a start, what hope was there that Clarke would look to bring in anyone new?
The No 10-types who Gauld is in direct competition with are Ryan Christie, who was at the top of his game in the play-offs and scored in the final against Serbia, and John Fleck, one of the stars of a recently promoted Sheffield United team.
Christie’s form drop hasn’t been as marked as Fleck’s, but neither are the player they were back in November.
Gauld, on the other hand, has found the consistency he previously lacked and his numbers are weighty.
Seven goals (one of them voted the best in Portugal for February) and four assists represents excellent work in a Farense side destined to either be relegated or very close to it.
The fact that Gauld got a name-check by Clarke in his media duties should soften the blow a bit.
However, when you consider that Fleck hasn’t actually played very well for Scotland when he has been given a start and his club performances have dipped significantly, this feels like an opportunity missed and an example of the scales tipping too far in favour of loyalty.
MISSING OUT: Dundee United striker Lawrence Shankland, above, has lost his place in the Scotland squad with manager Steve Clarke, left, calling up Southampton forward Che Adams, right, and Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet. Other hopefuls to miss out on the squad were, clockwise from top right, former United midfielder Ryan Gauld and the St Johnstone cup-winning trio of Zander Clark, Jason Kerr and Shaun Rooney.
Ayr United piled the pressure on Dundee and manager James McPake as inconsistency struck once more in a poor 3-1 defeat at Dens Park.
McPake’s side went behind to a goal of their own making as midfielder Paul McGowan was dispossessed, allowing Mark McKenzie to open the scoring on 18 minutes.
Just like at Somerset Park in November, Cammy Smith was on target for Ayr as he made it 2-0 shortly after the break.
And a desperate night for Dundee was capped on 84 minutes as McKenzie smashed in his second from 22 yards.
Osman Sow would pull one back with five minutes to go but it was too little too late for the hosts.
Dundee made two changes from the 2-0 win over Arbroath as Charlie Adam returned to the starting XI following his positive Covid-19 test.
He would take up the No 10 role in a 4-2-3-1 set-up with Jason Cummings leading the line.
Also in was young Sam Fisher, covering for the injured Liam Fontaine and Malachi Fagan-Walcott in central defence. However, that left no option on the bench if injury struck that position once again.
There were three changes for Ayr in David Hopkin’s second match in charge with Michael Moffat, Andy Murdoch and Tom Walsh dropping to the bench. Incoming were Joe Chalmers, Mark McKenzie and Michael Miller.
A solid start from the Dark Blues saw Danny Mullen having the first effort after six minutes. A deflection, though, took the sting out of the effort.
The next one tested Ayr goalie Viljami Sinisalo far more as Cummings found space in the area and cut back for Max Anderson who fired low but saw his strike saved by the goalie’s feet.
Hopkin’s men were doubling up on McMullan but the winger was still carving out deliveries into the area.
However, it was the Honest Men who grabbed the lead on 18 minutes when they robbed Paul McGowan of the ball inside his own half. Luke McCowan grabbed it and laid it on a plate for Mark McKenzie to find the corner.
On 24 minutes, Aaron Muirhead fired a volley just over the bar as the visitors looked to cement their lead while Dundee were getting frustrated at referee Alan Newlands.
McCowan curled an effort just over the bar from 30 yards as the Honest Men kept their one-goal lead into the break.
And they immediately stretched it after the restart, with Patrick Reading beating Christie Elliott on the left wing.
Adam got a toe on the cross but it fell straight to Smith and the former Dundee United man fired his team 2-0 up.
Moments later Dundee were inches from getting on the score sheet as Mullen looped a header goalward, only for the ball to come off the upright.
McPake sent for reinforcements, with Osman Sow, Jonathan Afolabi and Declan McDaid coming on and making it a 4-4-2 for the home side.
However, Ayr repelled everything thrown at them.
Hopkin’s side sent on defensive midfielder Andy Murdoch for Smith before goalie Sinisalo was booked for time wasting with 20 minutes to go.
On 74 minutes, Sow tried his luck from range but his 30-yarder flew straight into the stands.
Moments later McDaid did better as he stung the goalie’s fingers from a similar position.
The ever-dangerous McCowan almost sealed the points with 10 minutes left after cutting inside, but curled his shot a yard wide.
Ayr’s victory was assured on 84 minutes when McKenzie grabbed his second of the evening, this time smashing in a fine strike from outside the area.
Dundee would get one back as Sow poked past the on-rushing goalkeeper but it was Ayr’s night.