The Scotsman Football Show - Boxing Day preview - video Dailymotion

The Scotsman

Mark Atkinson takes a look at the Boxing Day card in Scottish football.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Boxing Day Preview Football Show. My name is Mark

00:07Ankinson, Sports Editor, and I hope you've been enjoying the Christmas festivities with

00:11your loved ones. And looking forward, of course, to the glut of Scottish Premiership football

00:19on Boxing Day. It's a full card on Thursday, six fixtures running from half past 12 right

00:26on the way through to the early evening. Where do we start? It has to be the Edinburgh

00:31Derby, half 12 kick-off at Tyne Castle for the game between Hartle-Midlothian and Hibbernian,

00:37the second league derby of the season. And it's a big one. It always is when these two

00:42teams meet, but you could argue the stakes are much, much higher this time around because

00:47of where both Harts and Hibs find themselves in the league table. Harts are currently sitting

00:53two points clear of bottom spot, while Hibs are a further two points ahead of them in

00:58eighth place, both teams grossly underachieving this season. And while Hibs have managed to

01:04clamber off bottom spot, they were there for some weeks. It was Harts until last weekend

01:09that were sitting there amid fan unrest and boycotts from their ultras group, the Gorky

01:15Ultras. They'll be back, I imagine, for the game at Tyne Castle. I would say to the victors

01:22some serious spoils because they will get derby bragging rights and move further clear

01:27off the relegation zone. For the loser, it could reignite a lot of pressure on the club's

01:34hierarchy and the head coaches, respective head coaches, Neil Fitchley at Harts and David

01:39Gray at Hibs. Therefore, don't be surprised if this fixture, which often does end the

01:42draw, is in fact a stalemate. I don't think a point would be a problem for either side

01:49and it would probably maintain a little bit of the recovery factor that's going on there.

01:55Hibs haven't won at Tyne Castle for five years, but that was exactly five years ago on Boxing

02:00Day when Martin Boyle scored twice in a 2-0 win in a season that Harts were relegated

02:06during the pandemic. After that, there are four three o'clock games. I'll start at Celtic

02:11Park. They take on Motherwell. A rare blip from Celtic this season. They drew 0-0 at

02:16Dundee United on Sunday. You'd expect them to come out firing against a Motherwell team

02:21that's doing really, really well and looking to fight for the European places. But you'd

02:26imagine Celtic will put in some sort of response at Celtic Park, a rare home game for them

02:31on Boxing Day. Brendan Concher is very happy about that. A little bit further down the

02:36coast at Ayrshire, Kilmarnock take on Aberdeen. This is a fascinating game because Aberdeen

02:41are on a six-game winless run and they've now seeded second place to Rangers. Jimmy

02:46Tilleen's team will be looking to get back on track at a venue that has not been a happy

02:51hunting ground for them in recent years. They are boosted by Dimitar Mitov's return, the

02:56Bulgarian goalkeeper. But Kilmarnock have Derek McInnes, a former Dons manager, very

03:00strong at home and needing points themselves as they're looking to get out of the relegation

03:05battle. We've got a mini sort of Perthshire Tayside derby taking place at MacDermid Park

03:10as well. A really big match between St Johnson and Dundee United. St Johnson are bottom of

03:14the league after their defeat at Hearts and while Simo Valarcari, their new manager, has

03:18brought a different style of football to MacDermid Park, ultimately results haven't been that

03:25good and they'll be looking to bounce back. Valarcari after the Hearts game saying they

03:31need to use the moment as a reset. But Dundee United under Jim Goodwin this season going

03:36along very nicely and they'll take a lot of confidence from that goalless draw against Celtic

03:42at the weekend. Back in the city there's a Dundee take on Ross County. Now Dundee are

03:49are one of the teams that you don't think are in a relegation battle but essentially they're only

03:52five points clear bottom spot in seventh place. But they'll see this game as a really, really

03:58winnable match against a Ross County team that hasn't won away from home in the league in the

04:04whole of 2024 and this is their last chance to do it when they go to Dens Park. Dundee will be

04:11warm favourites to win that match. County you feel under Donald Kerry really need to start picking up

04:16some wins especially on the road otherwise they'll become one of the favourites for relegation. They

04:21currently sit in 11th place so that is a really, really big match as well. And then we have a game

04:28at 5.45 live on Premier Sports. St Mirren against Resurgent Rangers. Both teams sitting pretty high

04:36up in the form guide right now. St Mirren are always very strong at home against the Old Firm

04:42and they all fancy their chances. One would imagine under the lights on boxing but Rangers

04:48under Philippe Clement you have to say are starting to hit their stride a little bit more

04:53and while you still see nine points, a big gap between them and Celtic at the top of the table,

05:00what they have to do is keep winning and make sure that they put as much pressure as they can

05:06on Brendan Rochester. Celtic and Rangers meet on the 2nd of January at an Old Firm game so Rangers

05:12must maintain their levels if they're to go into that game with confidence. Six games starting of

05:18course the Edinburgh Derby live on Sky Sports at half past 12 and then the four three o'clock games

05:23and then you have the match itself between St Mirren and Rangers on Premier Sports at 5.45.

05:27We've got all of the action, analysis, comment and coverage on scotsman.com. I do hope you've enjoyed

05:34your Christmas day and we'll be looking forward to a glut of football on Boxing Day.

The Scotsman Football Show - Boxing Day preview

Category

Transcript

Recommended