Celtic made it four wins on the spin for the first time in a long time with a come from behind 2-1 win at St.Johnstone yesterday.
The win keeps us a mere 18 points behind Rangers though more importantly 12 points ahead of third-placed Hibernian.
The first half was a pretty sorry affair with home keeper Zander Clark saving from Tom Rogic after a sweeping move probably the highlight.
In the second half, our defensive frailties were once again exposed for all to see when Shaun Rooney rose high unopposed to head home the opener for the McDiarmid Park men on the 50-minute mark.
You got that all too familiar sinking feeling but then 10 minutes later Odsonne Edouard kicked into gear and proved once more that when he wants to be he is by a distance the best player playing in Scotland with a superb near post finish after a wonderful cross in from Ryan Christie.
Only two mins later he collected a dangerous Greg Taylor ball into the box and looked to have passed up the chance to put us ahead before turning and smashing home.
Incredibly that’s six straight games the Frenchman has scored in with seven goals in total during that run.
And that was all she wrote.
In the context of our season and how effective League Cup final bound St.Johnstone have been it’s actually a pretty good win.
We now move onto Aberdeen on Wednesday night to play our game in hand.
But not before addressing the board releasing a statement in which the usually anonymous chairman Ian Bankier finally acknowledged the existence of the fabled mid-season review we were told about in early December.
To be honest, Bankier doesn’t say much.
He accepts it’s been a disappointing campaign – a massive understatement – and that changes are afoot before going on to pretty much lay the blame for our season-long woes at the feet of Covid.
Why all other teams haven’t been similarly affected isn’t mentioned.
He also says the club won’t be rushed into any big decisions and that they are taking their time to make the right moves.
So basically don’t expect anything significant to happen until the summer.
Nice to know he actually acknowledges that we do exist at least.
To be honest I’m not surprised.
The board were never going to announce that Neil Lennon was moving on – if that even is the plan – this late in the game and that’s all the fans are really interested in at the moment.
It’s been clear for a while now that Lenny was getting until the end of the season at least and so it’s proving to be.
Anyway back to the football and on Wednesday evening we play an Aberdeen side whose own manager Derek McInnes is also under severe pressure.
His side have only won once in nine and none in the last five with no goals scored since a 2-0 home win over Motherwell nearly a month ago.
With star striker Sam Cosgrove sold to Birmingham City along with Scott Wright flogged to Rangers and Curtis Main released not to mention young Bruce Anderson loaned to Hamilton Accies it’s probably no surprise that they can’t score for toffee.
They have brought in the unproven striking pair Fraser Hornby and Callum Hendry on loan along with Swiss hitman Florian Kamberi who was formerly of Hibs and briefly Rangers.
But as of yet none of their new additions have improved their fortunes.
Kamberi, easily their most impressive looking recent addition, has hardly kicked a ball yet only making his debut in a goalless draw with St. Mirren on Saturday and will likely start on Wednesday night.
The Dons really need him to come good in their hunt for a precious third spot which guarantees European football until Christmas.
Currently, they sit fourth on 44 points five behind third-placed Hibs.
Anything less than catching the Hibees would likely see McInnes facing the chop.
The former Rangers midfielder has undoubtedly been a success at Pittodrie overseeing four second-place finishes, a League Cup win in 2014 and three other cup finals during his eight-year reign.
But it’s been diminishing returns of late with the Dons having finished fourth for the past two seasons and it looks likely it’ll be a third on the trot or worse based on current placings and form.
They are not in a good way right now and we should really be turning them over and cutting the gap to 15 points no that that really means anything in the grand scheme of things.
Fantasies of a Rangers collapse have long since sailed but we should still be determined to at least make them work to secure their inevitable league title win whilst recovering some meagre dignity in what has been a truly shambolic season.
....Always A Tim! 