Quite aside from the fact that it finally gives fans on football message boards something to talk about that isn't the endless and pointless conjecture about Craig Thomson's internet usage or analysing every statement that comes out of their club to the Nth degree, I love the start of the season. Dropping into Fir Park for the friendly against Leeds was good, but its only a friendly, and winning or losing doesn't matter. All respect to the Leeds fans that made the trip, hearing 'Marching on together' and seeing guys like Howson and Snodgrass at Fir Park, was exciting.
You'll also note the lesser-spotted Fir Park Grass.
Unfortunately, I missed the first weekend of the season on holiday in France, which I'll admit, was an oversight. Lesson learned though, getting home and watching the highlights to find that Stevie Hammell and Keith Lasley are joint top scorers, and Motherwell are sitting at the top of the league, I won't be going on holiday again. Oh, and Lasley pinging it into the postage stamp from the edge of the box? They knew I wasn't there, I'm sure of it.
Anyway, paranoid delusions aside, I made my way to Paisley for my first competitive game of the season. St Mirren have had a good pre-season, picking up former Scotland internationalists, Gary Teale and, Stephen Thompson, Dutch full-back Jeroen Tesselar, former Celtic players Paul McGowan and Graham Carey and Hamilton's Nigel Hasselbaink. Aberdeen haven't had quite the same turn-around. Fraser Fyvie is returning from injury and Craig Brown has signed up stoppers Kari Arnason and Youl Mawene and keepers Jason Brown and David Gonzalez.
As I said, I love the start of the season. Heading to games in July in shorts and t-shirt, pubs in Paisley embracing European cafe culture by sticking some of Asda's finest patio furniture outside by the cigarette bins and a stand full of teenagers and men, all twitching as they've managed to escape shopping with their parents/girlfriends/wives for a Saturday afternoon. The pitches are lush and conducive to a game of football and every game seems to matter more. It’s the start of the season, everything is possible and every good result proves that this could be the season! Your new signing is everything you hoped he was. Your new strip really does look great. It certainly beats piling on five or six layers and hiking boots to walk through the snow to Pittodrie in December when you're fifteen points adrift of the top and the bottom.
As for the game, St Mirren came racing out of the traps and only so poor finishing saw the game at 0-0 at half-time. Aberdeen struggled to get the ball out of their own half for much of it and Hasselbaink and Thompson passed up fine chances from corners. With the St Mirren attack pushing so high up the pitch and closing down Aberdeen at every opportunity, they were rushed off the ball and were unable to form any kind of rhythm in the game. The second half was more of the same, with McGowan and Teale in midfield running the show. McGowan's close control and six-pence turning circle regularly showing up Aberdeen's midfield and Teale popping on the left, the right and then through the middle making him hard to pin down. All of this was coupled with the work-rate of Hasselbaink and Thompson and the calm and competitive play of Goodwin. Hasselbaink finally got his reward in the second half after some nightmarish defending from Aberdeen saw three defenders drift away from him to put him clean through on Gonzalez.
It was a tough result to take for the large Aberdeen support, but given the chances that each side created, St Mirren should've been far more comfortable winners.
Thursday night took me to Tynecastle for Hearts - Paksi in the Europa League. Despite what turned out to be a fairly hairy journey to Edinburgh (dismantling wind-screen wipers at the side of the A90), there was an exciting air of expectation around Gorgie. The stability of Hearts has been shaken in the past week, with the sacking of Jim Jeffries and Billy Brown. Now begins the era of Paolo Sergio. It was a decision that appeared to come completely from left-field, but I get the feeling that things have not been quite right on the Good-Ship Gorgie for a while. Vladimir Romanov's apparent meddling last year included dropping Captain Marius Zaliukas and goalkeeper star Marian Kello at points last year. Romanov also appeared to have a different take on the Craig Thomson affair and has subsequently shipped him out to FBK Kaunas. Add to that the fact that Hearts have only actually won one game in fifteen attempts, and the decision, while still surprising, is not remarkable (For Hearts, at least!).
The Wheatfield offers a fine view.
Having watched the first leg, I was confident Hearts would progress, but the ball is round, after all, so an early Hearts goal would settle plenty of nerves. Despite having the lion's share of possession in the first half hour, the majority of that was knocked around the back four and midfield two of Black and Mrowiec. The breakthrough came from Danny Grainger's corner in the end, with Ryan Stevenson getting up highest and directing the ball past the hapless Paksi keeper. From then on, Hearts didn't look back, with Stevenson adding a second on the stroke of half-time. The second half saw the withdrawal of Zaliukas, with Hamill brought into midfield and Mrowiec pushed to centre-half. For me, this made all the difference for Hearts. Hamill showed composure on the ball and gave Black another body in midfield to knock the ball around with. Hearts finished the tie off with a cleverly worked goal on fifty minutes with Sutton laying up a shot for Driver to bury, before Templeton stung the keepers hands enough to parry it directly onto Skacel's toe for a fourth.
Paksi bagged a goal before the end, but Hearts went through comfortably and have drawn Tottenham Hotspur in the playoff round. Paolo Sergio graciously praised Jim Jeffries after the match; "Nobody changes everything within two days, there is a lot of Mr Jefferies in this game today, I want to dedicate this win to Mr Jefferies. This win is for him too. Our qualification is through his work." Which will go a long way to smoothing his passage with the Scottish Press. I would imagine that if he were to beat Spurs, or at the very least, put up a contest at home, his passage would be smoothed considerably more.
