The gap between ourselves and our two main rivals grew again today as Hearts drew and Aberdeen, shockingly, lost 2-1 against Ross County, who played the latter part of the game with ten men and yet managed, in that time, to get a winner.
We never looked in any real trouble in our match, having a 2-0 lead before Dundee pulled one back. The Griffiths free-kick was majestic, and Bitton took his own goal well to put us in cruise control before the away team mounted a minor rally, but it never looked like it would cost us as much as a point. We deserved the win.
This is Brendan’s 20th match unbeaten in Scotland, and our 11th win in a row. We scored goals our 73rd goal of the season. The stats are piling up and they are looking impressive. The wins are piling up and you can see how this could be a record busting year.
But oh my God how dismal things look elsewhere.
Hearts are clearly in a transitional period. Their new manager is slowly putting his mark on the team, but today points were dropped in a performance that saw the fans boo their team off the park at the end. I find that ridiculous, frankly. What exactly do Hearts expect? Cathro is a new guy in a new job. This is his first managerial role. He clearly has skills or he wouldn’t have gotten experience in various clubs all around the world … but this is a new environment for him and they owe him some time to get things right. Booing is a pretty poor way to help him.
Aberdeen fans, on the other hand, are fully entitled to be asking hard questions. Their season is unravelling right in front of them, and it’s not going to be long before they’re facing the difficult choice about how they turn it around.
Derek McInnes leads a charmed life if you ask me. The media loves this guy in spite of his utter inability to make his team better than also-rans. Second place finishes are all very well in a league where that’s as good as it gets, but what excuse does he have this season if he doesn’t get that? The press he gets flatters him. The fans aren’t so easily conned.
Aberdeen are damned fortunate for the goings on at Tynecastle right now. A settled team under the tutelage of Robbie Neilson would have had a right good chance of casting their team into fourth spot. St Johnstone drew against Motherwell, or they would be within three points of them. I have no doubt they’ll ship more points before New Year.
Aberdeen needs to decide whether or not it’s a club with ambition. We all know that they’re third tonight, behind a Newco operating on debt. Aberdeen have thus far talked a good game off the park but done nothing to challenge it. Their slide into a “comfortable” third spot is unacceptable. It risks making this into a watered down version of the duopoly again, where two Glasgow teams sit first and second and no-one even thinks about breaking the mould.
As I’ve said repeatedly, Sevco’s structural issues are so dire (no pun intended) that they won’t challenge us for many, many, many years if they ever do. The challenge is going to have to come from somewhere else. Aberdeen can act resolutely, save their season, nail down second spot and hold it or they can slip into their familiar role as a club that gets spooked by the Glasgow floodlights, knows its place and is content to drift.
The choice seems clear to me. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.