Scotsman Football Show

The Scotsman

Mark Atkinson rounds up the main talking points from Saturday's Scottish football action.

Transcript

00:00Hello, welcome to the Scotsman football show.

00:06My name is Mark Atkinson, Sports Editor, and I'm speaking after an eventful and

00:11busy day of Scottish football on Saturday.

00:15I'm going to start with events at the Smyther Stadium,

00:18the game that I was covering between St Mirren and Hearts, which finished 2-1 to

00:24the Saints, as a result condemning Hearts to their eighth successive

00:29competitive defeat, and heaping even more pressure on embattled manager

00:34Stephen Naismith, who faced calls for his head from a number of the travelling

00:39support in Paisley, and the team did not play well once again.

00:45This was a poor performance, toothless in attack.

00:48That'll be the thing that will concern Hearts fans the most.

00:51They just don't like scoring goals.

00:53Only three so far in their nine matches this season,

00:56Laurence Shankland, a pale imitation of the man that scored 31 goals last season.

01:04The Hearts board now has a very big decision to make.

01:07Chief Executive Andrew McKinley and his fellow directors will be pondering

01:11what their next move should be.

01:12Hearts don't play again until Saturday when they host Ross County.

01:17It remains to be seen if Naismith will be in charge.

01:20The manager himself spoke very well after the game and said that he is still

01:24convinced he can turn things around, but he said he's realistic enough to know

01:29that the situation is perilous for him.

01:32St Mirren got their first win since the opening day of the season,

01:36and that moves Stephen Naismith's men into the top half of the division.

01:39They played well, their goals coming from Toyosi Olasanya,

01:43and an own goal from Gerald Taylor.

01:46There was one other game in the premiership today, and that was between

01:49the manager of St Johnstone and Ross County in Dingwall.

01:53The Saints were 3-1 up with just five minutes to go,

01:55but Ross County staged an impressive comeback to draw 3-0.

02:00The reason why there are only two games in the premiership is because it's also

02:03Premier Sports Cup quarterfinal weekend.

02:06We saw Motherwell defeat Dundee out at 2-1 on Friday night to book their place

02:10in the last four, and they'll be joined at Hamden by Aberdeen and Rangers.

02:14No surprises in the 2-5 30pm kick-offs today.

02:18The Dons won 4-0 over League Two side Spartans,

02:21a very straightforward victory for Jimmy Tolleen's in-form side.

02:25While there was a 3-0 win for Rangers on their return to Ibrox,

02:29with Sylvester scoring twice for this Rangers' first game in Govan

02:33for 130 days due to delays to their construction work in the stadium.

02:38They were good value for their victory in an international match

02:41against Tony Docherty's Dundee side.

02:43We'll find out on Sunday who will meet in the semi-final of the Cup

02:50when Celtic take on Falkirk.

02:52Celtic were very, very hot for years to win that match,

02:54and should they do so, they'll join Aberdeen, Motherwell and Rangers

02:58in the half of the draw, which takes place at around about five o'clock

03:02on Sunday evening, assuming that game at Celtic Park finishes in regulation time.

03:09The story of the weekend though so far is definitely hearts,

03:11and it'll be fascinating to see what happens in the corridors of power

03:16at Tyne Castle over the next 24 to 48 hours.

03:19We'll have all the action and reaction from the weekend's football

03:23on scotland.com or in print.

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