Monday kick-off
ONE player who might be capable of immediately providing competition in the Scotland attack for Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams is the Sunderland striker Ross Stewart. The 25-year-old, who six years ago was playing for Kilwinning Rangers in the juniors, took his tally to 17 for the season with two goals in his side’s 3-3 draw at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday. He has been watched on several occasions by Scotland scouts as he has emerged as one of the best strikers plying their trade outside of England’s top two divisions and must be an outside contender to be named in Steve Clarke’s squad for the World Cup play-off against Ukraine in March.
If the words of Gareth Ainsworth – a man who played in the Premier League for Wimbledon in the late 90s – are anything to go by then it won’t be long before Stewart, dubbed the Loch Ness Drogba by Sunderland fans, could be making a step up. “Ross Stewart is a hell of a player,” said the Wycombe manager. “He’ll go on to huge, huge things. That was a learning curve for some of my defenders.”
STEPHEN
ROBINSON, the Morecambe manager once of this parish, was asked by a prominent English broadcaster – who may or may not share his name with a large Canadian deer – prior to Morecambe’s FA Cup third-round trip to Tottenham if the fixture would be his biggest game as a manager.
The Northern Irishman was quick to set the record straight and swiftly reminded his interlocutor that he had been involved in a Scottish Cup final, a League Cup final, finished in third place in the SPFL, taken his team to Ibrox, Celtic Park and Hampden and secured a place in the Europa League during his time in charge of Motherwell.
English exceptionalism when it comes to Scottish football and perceptions about the paucity of the game here remain as strong as ever despite increasing interest in the SPFL’s best players and young talents from bargain-seeking Premier League clubs.
PLENTY has already been made of Joe Aribo’s participation at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon this month and next and what it might mean for Rangers to go without the in-form midfielder for the duration of Nigeria’s time in the tournament.
At least his absence comes at a time when the top flight is in shutdown, albeit he will miss February’s Old Firm derby. Championship side Hamilton have lost their joint-second leading scorer, the Zimbabwean David Moyo, for the next fortnight, while League 1 Alloa Athletic have been shorn of centre-back Fernandy Mendy who will play for Guinea-Bissau. Both sides are in trouble and will no doubt feel the absences much more keenly than Rangers.