I had made a celtic thread but alot of people asked me to make a SPL thread so for you SPL fans this is where you should be, for any,news,speculation,rumours,discuissions,articles,etc.
Scot Prem League P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Celtic 31 28 3 0 97 18 79 87
2 Rangers 31 22 4 5 63 25 38 70
3 Hearts 31 15 9 7 46 34 12 54
4 Dunfermline 30 12 9 9 33 40 -7 45
5 Dundee United 31 11 7 13 38 48 -10 40
6 Motherwell 31 10 9 12 36 37 -1 39
7 Livingston 31 8 10 13 36 46 -10 34
8 Hibs 30 8 9 13 31 49 -18 33
9 Dundee 31 8 8 15 37 51 -14 32
10 Kilmarnock 31 9 5 17 39 64 -25 32
11 Aberdeen 31 8 7 16 36 51 -15 31
12 Partick Thistle 31 3 6 22 30 59 -29 15
CELTIC
A interview on last nights match from
www.celticfc.net
Martin O’Neill has admitted that neither he nor Alan Thompson could have any complaints about the booking which has cost the midfielder his place in Wednesday’s UEFA Cup Quarter-Final second leg. Thompson, one of three Celts last night who were;within one yellow card of suspension, left referee Kyros Vassaras with no option when he lunged needlessly into a late challenge on Villarreal winger Jose Mari, and will now look on helplessly as his team-mates attempt to progress to the tournament’s last four. And O’Neill acknowleged that he will have no-one to blame but himself.“Yeah, I thought it was a silly challenge,” said the Celtic manager. “There was nothing happening on the half-way line and the player, Jose Mari, is close to the touchline, so there’s not a lot of room for manoeuvre there. “I think it might have come back to an incident a couple of minutes earlier when Jose Mari had gone down pretty easily, but you can’t run around for the whole game looking for other moments to sort things out. It was a silly challenge, and Alan's paid the price with a booking.”Supportive of Vassaras on this matter, etc.O’Neill believes that, impressively though Villarreal played yesterday evening, his Celtic;side can do to the Spaniards on Wednesday what they did last season to Liverpool and Boavista, both of whom crumbled in their own back yard;having drawn;1-1 at Celtic Park. “We’re still in it,” he said. “We’ve got a chance because we’re always capable of scoring away from home. It was a pulsating game, and I thought that second half we were absolutely terrific.
RANGERS
Steven Thompson he is not frightened if a new striker comes this summer and will do every thing in his power to establish in Alex Mcleishs side for more info vist
www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk
Hearts
Craig aware of “relaxed” Thistle. Hearts boss Craig Levein met with the press ahead of tomorrow’s trip to relegation certainties Partick Thistle. Hearts enter Glasgow with the unusual tag of favourites, backed up by a solid performance in the East End of the same city last Saturday. But Craig warned that Derek Whyte and Gerry Britton’s basement boys will not be pushovers. He began by listing the unfortunate number of casualties and doubts for tomorrow: – he’s available for selection. Webster has this problem with his ankle but we’ll give him til tomorrow to see if there’s a chance he can make it. “Scott Severin still has a groin problem. He played at Motherwell when I hadn’t planned to play him. Patrick Kisnorbo has a tight hamstring. But he and Seve will also be given until tomorrow.His back is better but he’s not ready to feature just yet.” When asked if the events at Celtic Park had swayed him in favour of eighty minute matches, Craig took the comment on the chin but rejected the notion: “We score a lot of goals ourselves at the end of matches. Until recently it’s been unusual for us to concede at that time. There’s the old adage of playing to the final whistle and we’ll be doing that tomorrow.” When asked what his priorities were for the rest of the season, Craig had no doubts: “We have a hell of an important league position to try and maintain. We’re nine points ahead of Dunfermline, they have a game in hand but we have a vastly superior goal difference. “So for all intents and purposes they need ten points to try and overhaul us. If we can win tomorrow then I think it will be very difficult for Dunfermline to make up the twelve-point gap in eight games – which also assumes we lose all our remaining games too. The additional aim is to beat last season’s total of sixty-three points. We’re on fifty-four points right now so it’s achievable. Dunfermline have a fixture congestion coming up so they could be very close to us in a week or so or we could be in the clear. “It’s a difficult schedule for them but not impossible.Craig insisted it would still be a tough game however: “We’ve got a difficult match tomorrow. I’m pleased with how we’ve played recently but we need to start racking up points again. “We’re on a good unbeaten run, with a few too many draws, but most of those have been away from home so I don’t have any real issues over that. We’ll try for three points tomorrow but it will be tough. As he uttered these words, memories came flooding back of that horror-show against St Johnstone a couple of years ago, when the Perth side, already down and out of the division, raced into a 3-0 half time lead. Jambos will hope this present side has a bit more steel about them. www.heartsfc.co.uk
Dunfermline
JC ready for Hampden Test
With less than 48 hours to go before Dunfermline Athletics' first Scottish Cup semi-final since they won the trophy in 1968, manager Jimmy Calderwood reported that his squad had no new injury worries to contend with. That means that missing will be the injured Scott Thomson, Noel Hunt, plus cup-tied Greg Shields and suspended Scott Wilson. As one of only four managers to have taken Dunfermline to a Scottish Cup semi-final, JC knows only too well just how important the Caley game is:"It's massive, but John (Robertson) and Donald (Park) will be saying the same to their players. We've got eight league games left with a nine point deficit and a game in hand on Hearts. Depending on the circumstances, if we had the luck to win this game depending how it goes, you could be in Europe after ninety minutes and into a cup final. "Years ago when I was smaller, Dunfermline was a big big club. Ever since then they've been trying to get back there. This is the Jock Stein suite, and the man was magnificent. I'll never get anywhere near what he's done, but if I can try and emulate a couple of things that would be great. Obviously we're disapointed in the level of our support, but we've just got to get on with it and a club of this standard has got to try and get into the semi finals and finals of the cups. You obviously need the luck of the draw, and there have been a few times when we thought we were going to get there, and we've ended up getting either Rangers or Celtic in the quarter-finals. That's the luck of the draw. Normally along the way you've got to beat them some time or other, but it would be much nicer in the final." Despite Dunfermline being favourites to progress to the final, "We're definitely the big favourite, but look at what's happened in the Champions League this week, and they're much bigger teams than us. Football can be a strange game. We're not good enough just to turn up and try and win the game. We've not got that kind of quality - we're not a Celtic. If we turn up with an attitude like that we'll get beaten in any game. To be honest our best games since Christmas have been our cup games. We played very well against Dundee United at home, and in the one and half games against Clyde - we did really well the second game with six people out, and then going to Partick Thistle, which was a bit of a bogey ground, and winning three-nil."JC hopes that lessons have been learnt following past cup defeats against teams from the lower divisions."We've been on the end of more defeats, and they've had the victories. We were very poor against Ayr United a few years ago, this year at St Johnstone, and St Mirren a couple of years ago in the quarter-finals of the CIS Cup. At the moment with the three and a half performances we've had this year in the cup, we've luckily not sunk to that level or we would have already been out." "We've improved every year and I think we're a harder team to beat. We've worked a lot on our defensive side, and I hope I'm not tempting fate, that is a lot better than it has been through the years. I think with Darren and Derek coming in it gives us a lot more steel. Through the experiences we've had through the years, the quality of player is getting better every year and we've improved points wise every year, and hopefully we can take the next step.""You never know with the finances of the club whether you are going to keep everybody. They're a great bunch of lads, but how long are they going to be together? I would think the way it's looking at the moment that 99% of them will be together. But we're so close and we've worked so hard for so many years it would be a shame to give it away now. But you've got no divine right to win things. Your attitude has got to be right, we've got to be lucky on the day, and luckily enough we've got the best referee in Scotland (Hugh Dallas), so there won't be a problem there. Hopefully you get the luck on the day and if we can play to the quality we've got then we should win the game."
http://www.dafc.co.uk
Dundee United
IAN McCALL WINS MANAGER OF THE MONTH
Dundee United is delighted to anounce that Manager Ian McCall has been selected as Manager of the Month by the Bank of Scotland Premierleague for March.
Presented with the award by the Bank of Scotland today, Ian said: "I am delighted to receive the award on behalf of the Club. I would especially like to pay tribute to all of the backroom staff and, of course, the players."In the course of March 2004, United won matches against Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell and drew against Partick Thistle. Well done.
http://www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/
Motherwell
Hammell - confident of top 6 place Interview
He said, "It's probably the worst we've played in a long time and it's one of the best points we will get this season."We were terrible in the first half and just didn't get going at all so the gaffer had a few words to say to us at half-time."We played a lot better in the second half and maybe could have nicked it at the end but we were definitely happy with the point."We're still confident that we can hold onto the top six place but I think we need another win to clinch it."Like boss Terry Butcher he reflected on how poor our pitch is at the moment, "To be honest, the boys here hate playing on the pitch.It's so poor that you can't even play one simple pass without the ball bobbling and bouncing."Sometimes it's good to get away to other grounds just to play on a different pitch - we don't relish playing on ours at all but I'm sure it will be better next season."We are a team who like to pass the ball a lot and you can't really do that so we have to change our game plan quite a lot. It's a disadvantage for us but in saying that I'm sure other teams don't look forward to coming to Fir Park."
http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/
Livingston
Match reportThe game was a tight affair with few clear chances for either side, until an explosive final ten minutes which saw the ball hit the back of the net three times, but with only two goals counting.Both midfields battled for possession in the early stages. The first real danger came on the quarter hour, when McKenzie in the Lions goal had to spring in to action, denying Locke. Kilmarnock continued to press down their left flank, with Skora and Hay both just missing the target with their efforts. At the other end Fernandez latched on to a poor clearance by Hay to get a clear sight of goal, only to see his attempt cleared by Meldrum, the Kilmarnock keeper. From his clearance, Skora collected the ball and ran at the Lions defence, unleashing a powerful drive over the bar.Neither defence was giving much away, and despite the efforts of Fernandez and McMenamin the score remained goalless at half-time.Second-Half.Both sides made changes to their strikeforce during the interval, Pasquinelli replacing McMenamin, and Dargo coming on for Invincible. The Livingston substitute worked hard in the second forty five minutes, linking well with Fernandez and hassling the Kili defence at every opportunity. .The Livingston management introduced Lee Makel after sixty two minutes in an attempt to unlock the Kilmarnock defence, but the Lions suffered a blow shortly after when Marvin Andrews had to limp off. McNamee joined the fray as his replacement, marking a welcome return from his injury. Kilmarnock used this enforced change on Livingston to push more players forward in search of an opening goal, but the reorganised home defence continued to cope with the pressure. Efforts by Fowler and Murray came close, and a header by Boyd should have tested McKenzie but went wide.With the match appearing to be heading for a goalless draw, Livingston took the lead on eighty two minutes. A long ball down the centre wasn’t dealt with by the Kilmarnock defence, and a clever flick on by Pasquinelli saw David Fernandez make no mistake from twelve yards, lobbing the ball in to the net past the helpless keeper.Kilmarnock however were not beaten. Within two minutes they equalised through a scrambled goal from Dargo, with the Lions defence failing to clear the ball in the six yard box.
Makel then produced a surprise shot from the halfway line direct from the restart. Spotting the Kilmarnock keeper on the edge of his box he fired on goal, but his attempt failed to hit the target. Livingston then saw the ball cleared off the line after Rubio had headed goalwards from a cross delivered in from the right, and Richard Brittain just failed to connect with a cross fired in a minute later.It was Kilmarnock who then proceeded to put the ball in the net during added time. Substitute Colin Nish hit the post with a header and then forced the rebound home, only to see the flag up and the referee disallow the goal. The final whistle came within seconds and the points were shared between the two sides. Commenting afterwards, David Hay praised his young players for their commitment and felt they had played well. The match had also provided an opportunity for Pasquinneli and McNamee to return from injury.Livingston now move on to Hampden to face Celtic, in what will certainly be a stern test. Hopefully Marvin Andrews will recover from his knock in time to start on Sunday and the Lions can reach a second final this season.A crowd of just over 2677 witnessed tonights game, with David Fernandez being awarded the man of the match.
www.livingstonfc.co.uk/
HIBS
Hibernian have confirmed this afternoon that the Club intends to take part in the Intertoto Cup competition next season. It has been widely reported this week that Hibs would seek to take part in the tournament should the only other Club to have expressed an interest, Hearts, qualify for the UEFA Cup competition. Provided that Hearts do indeed qualify then Hibernian are the only other club who have met the required deadlines and so would be Scotland's sole representatives in the tournament's second round stage when it kicks off on the 3rd or 4th of July.
MORE...The Club has put itself forward for the one Intertoto Cup place available to Scotland for Season 2004-05. It is understood that the only other contender for the place is Hearts although they may well qualify for a place in the UEFA Cup instead. No other Club has met the criteria required by the SFA and UEFA to enter the Intertoto competition and so if Hearts duly qualify for a UEFA Cup place then Hibernian will be Scotland’s sole representatives in the Intertoto.As Scotland's representative, Hibs will join the competition in the second round and have been drawn at home for the first leg on the 3rd or 4th July with the second leg taking place seven days later. The Scottish representative's opponents will be the winners of the first round tie between representatives from Lithuania and Estonia. They are due to play their first round tie on 16/17 June and 26/27 June.The third round of the Intertoto Cup has also been drawn. The winners of the Scotland tie will play the winners of a tie between a team from France and the winners of the first round tie between clubs from Denmark and the Faroes. The home leg of the third round tie is due to be played on 17/18 July with the away leg taking place on 24 July.The SFA is required to confirm Scotland's representative to UEFA by 31 May.
http://www.hibs.co.uk/
Dundee
Much has changed since Dundee last won a derby at Tannadice, incredibly we have to go back to November 2000 to find the last time that the Dark Blues came out on top across the road, they’ve only lost one of those matches since then though, with four of the last five ending in draws. Set against that record is Jim Duffy’s excellent derby record since returning to the club at the start of last season.He’s won two Dens fixtures and drawn three at Tannadice in the city fixtures since taking over from Ivano Bonetti, with the most recent clash at Dens in January seeing Nacho Novo and Steve Lovell score second half counters to overturn a half time United lead. They’d gone ahead shortly before half time when Brent Sancho upended Charlie Miller, the same player picking himself up to score from the spot.Two of those personalities won’t be involved on Sunday, Novo and Miller have been derby specialists but they are both suspended and they will be missed by Dundee fans. Novo has been in electric form, scored in the last three city clashes, and his goal threat will be difficult to replace, while Miller has become something of a pantomine baddie to the Dark Blue support during his spell at Tannadice, and nearly always turns it on against the Dee.Jim McIntyre too has usually performed well against Dundee, even when his general form was poor, and by all accounts he’s performing well at the moment. He scored the equaliser at Tannadice in October and he and Steve Lovell will be the only players who’ve scored at the correct end in a derby who will feature this weekend. Dave Mackay won’t like being reminded that he too has got on the scoresheet in a derby, but his looping header beat Julian Speroni rather than Paul Gallacher.
There’s an outside possibility of a famous United name being on the team lines – How would Hegarty scoring the winner go down with the home support? Young Chris has only had a couple of minutes top team action for the Dark Blues, and he’s one of the youngsters who could be involved, although on an occasion like this Jim Duffy is likely to field his most experienced available players. Back to that last win for Dundee at Tannadice, the date November 11th 2000 and a heady afternoon for followers of the Dees, United were rock bottom of the SPL with only two points and how the Dark Blues fans reminded them of the fact. Dundee had Claudio Caniggia in their ranks and he scored in the 38th minute running onto Willie Falconer’s neat pass to net. With seventeen minutes to go things got even better with arguably the best goal ever scored in a derby, Barry Smith fed Georgi Nemsadze and the Georgian magician drove towards goal before playing a one two with Caniggia and lobbing the most delicate of shots over Alan Combe and into the net. It seems a very long time ago indeed.For the rest of this article view the website below
http://www.thedees.co.uk/
Kilmarnock
Livingston 1
Kilmarnock 1
http://www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk/index.cfm
Aberdeen
sorry no news
http://www.afc.co.uk/
Partick Thistle
LOTS TO PLAY FOR
It is now almost certain that we will finish in 12th spot in the Premier League this season, but don't tell Derek Whyte that the season is over yet:to read this article go to the website
http://www.ptfc.co.uk/v2/
Scot Prem League P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Celtic 31 28 3 0 97 18 79 87
2 Rangers 31 22 4 5 63 25 38 70
3 Hearts 31 15 9 7 46 34 12 54
4 Dunfermline 30 12 9 9 33 40 -7 45
5 Dundee United 31 11 7 13 38 48 -10 40
6 Motherwell 31 10 9 12 36 37 -1 39
7 Livingston 31 8 10 13 36 46 -10 34
8 Hibs 30 8 9 13 31 49 -18 33
9 Dundee 31 8 8 15 37 51 -14 32
10 Kilmarnock 31 9 5 17 39 64 -25 32
11 Aberdeen 31 8 7 16 36 51 -15 31
12 Partick Thistle 31 3 6 22 30 59 -29 15
CELTIC
A interview on last nights match from
www.celticfc.net
Martin O’Neill has admitted that neither he nor Alan Thompson could have any complaints about the booking which has cost the midfielder his place in Wednesday’s UEFA Cup Quarter-Final second leg. Thompson, one of three Celts last night who were;within one yellow card of suspension, left referee Kyros Vassaras with no option when he lunged needlessly into a late challenge on Villarreal winger Jose Mari, and will now look on helplessly as his team-mates attempt to progress to the tournament’s last four. And O’Neill acknowleged that he will have no-one to blame but himself.“Yeah, I thought it was a silly challenge,” said the Celtic manager. “There was nothing happening on the half-way line and the player, Jose Mari, is close to the touchline, so there’s not a lot of room for manoeuvre there. “I think it might have come back to an incident a couple of minutes earlier when Jose Mari had gone down pretty easily, but you can’t run around for the whole game looking for other moments to sort things out. It was a silly challenge, and Alan's paid the price with a booking.”Supportive of Vassaras on this matter, etc.O’Neill believes that, impressively though Villarreal played yesterday evening, his Celtic;side can do to the Spaniards on Wednesday what they did last season to Liverpool and Boavista, both of whom crumbled in their own back yard;having drawn;1-1 at Celtic Park. “We’re still in it,” he said. “We’ve got a chance because we’re always capable of scoring away from home. It was a pulsating game, and I thought that second half we were absolutely terrific.
RANGERS
Steven Thompson he is not frightened if a new striker comes this summer and will do every thing in his power to establish in Alex Mcleishs side for more info vist
www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk
Hearts
Craig aware of “relaxed” Thistle. Hearts boss Craig Levein met with the press ahead of tomorrow’s trip to relegation certainties Partick Thistle. Hearts enter Glasgow with the unusual tag of favourites, backed up by a solid performance in the East End of the same city last Saturday. But Craig warned that Derek Whyte and Gerry Britton’s basement boys will not be pushovers. He began by listing the unfortunate number of casualties and doubts for tomorrow: – he’s available for selection. Webster has this problem with his ankle but we’ll give him til tomorrow to see if there’s a chance he can make it. “Scott Severin still has a groin problem. He played at Motherwell when I hadn’t planned to play him. Patrick Kisnorbo has a tight hamstring. But he and Seve will also be given until tomorrow.His back is better but he’s not ready to feature just yet.” When asked if the events at Celtic Park had swayed him in favour of eighty minute matches, Craig took the comment on the chin but rejected the notion: “We score a lot of goals ourselves at the end of matches. Until recently it’s been unusual for us to concede at that time. There’s the old adage of playing to the final whistle and we’ll be doing that tomorrow.” When asked what his priorities were for the rest of the season, Craig had no doubts: “We have a hell of an important league position to try and maintain. We’re nine points ahead of Dunfermline, they have a game in hand but we have a vastly superior goal difference. “So for all intents and purposes they need ten points to try and overhaul us. If we can win tomorrow then I think it will be very difficult for Dunfermline to make up the twelve-point gap in eight games – which also assumes we lose all our remaining games too. The additional aim is to beat last season’s total of sixty-three points. We’re on fifty-four points right now so it’s achievable. Dunfermline have a fixture congestion coming up so they could be very close to us in a week or so or we could be in the clear. “It’s a difficult schedule for them but not impossible.Craig insisted it would still be a tough game however: “We’ve got a difficult match tomorrow. I’m pleased with how we’ve played recently but we need to start racking up points again. “We’re on a good unbeaten run, with a few too many draws, but most of those have been away from home so I don’t have any real issues over that. We’ll try for three points tomorrow but it will be tough. As he uttered these words, memories came flooding back of that horror-show against St Johnstone a couple of years ago, when the Perth side, already down and out of the division, raced into a 3-0 half time lead. Jambos will hope this present side has a bit more steel about them. www.heartsfc.co.uk
Dunfermline
JC ready for Hampden Test
With less than 48 hours to go before Dunfermline Athletics' first Scottish Cup semi-final since they won the trophy in 1968, manager Jimmy Calderwood reported that his squad had no new injury worries to contend with. That means that missing will be the injured Scott Thomson, Noel Hunt, plus cup-tied Greg Shields and suspended Scott Wilson. As one of only four managers to have taken Dunfermline to a Scottish Cup semi-final, JC knows only too well just how important the Caley game is:"It's massive, but John (Robertson) and Donald (Park) will be saying the same to their players. We've got eight league games left with a nine point deficit and a game in hand on Hearts. Depending on the circumstances, if we had the luck to win this game depending how it goes, you could be in Europe after ninety minutes and into a cup final. "Years ago when I was smaller, Dunfermline was a big big club. Ever since then they've been trying to get back there. This is the Jock Stein suite, and the man was magnificent. I'll never get anywhere near what he's done, but if I can try and emulate a couple of things that would be great. Obviously we're disapointed in the level of our support, but we've just got to get on with it and a club of this standard has got to try and get into the semi finals and finals of the cups. You obviously need the luck of the draw, and there have been a few times when we thought we were going to get there, and we've ended up getting either Rangers or Celtic in the quarter-finals. That's the luck of the draw. Normally along the way you've got to beat them some time or other, but it would be much nicer in the final." Despite Dunfermline being favourites to progress to the final, "We're definitely the big favourite, but look at what's happened in the Champions League this week, and they're much bigger teams than us. Football can be a strange game. We're not good enough just to turn up and try and win the game. We've not got that kind of quality - we're not a Celtic. If we turn up with an attitude like that we'll get beaten in any game. To be honest our best games since Christmas have been our cup games. We played very well against Dundee United at home, and in the one and half games against Clyde - we did really well the second game with six people out, and then going to Partick Thistle, which was a bit of a bogey ground, and winning three-nil."JC hopes that lessons have been learnt following past cup defeats against teams from the lower divisions."We've been on the end of more defeats, and they've had the victories. We were very poor against Ayr United a few years ago, this year at St Johnstone, and St Mirren a couple of years ago in the quarter-finals of the CIS Cup. At the moment with the three and a half performances we've had this year in the cup, we've luckily not sunk to that level or we would have already been out." "We've improved every year and I think we're a harder team to beat. We've worked a lot on our defensive side, and I hope I'm not tempting fate, that is a lot better than it has been through the years. I think with Darren and Derek coming in it gives us a lot more steel. Through the experiences we've had through the years, the quality of player is getting better every year and we've improved points wise every year, and hopefully we can take the next step.""You never know with the finances of the club whether you are going to keep everybody. They're a great bunch of lads, but how long are they going to be together? I would think the way it's looking at the moment that 99% of them will be together. But we're so close and we've worked so hard for so many years it would be a shame to give it away now. But you've got no divine right to win things. Your attitude has got to be right, we've got to be lucky on the day, and luckily enough we've got the best referee in Scotland (Hugh Dallas), so there won't be a problem there. Hopefully you get the luck on the day and if we can play to the quality we've got then we should win the game."
http://www.dafc.co.uk
Dundee United
IAN McCALL WINS MANAGER OF THE MONTH
Dundee United is delighted to anounce that Manager Ian McCall has been selected as Manager of the Month by the Bank of Scotland Premierleague for March.
Presented with the award by the Bank of Scotland today, Ian said: "I am delighted to receive the award on behalf of the Club. I would especially like to pay tribute to all of the backroom staff and, of course, the players."In the course of March 2004, United won matches against Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell and drew against Partick Thistle. Well done.
http://www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/
Motherwell
Hammell - confident of top 6 place Interview
He said, "It's probably the worst we've played in a long time and it's one of the best points we will get this season."We were terrible in the first half and just didn't get going at all so the gaffer had a few words to say to us at half-time."We played a lot better in the second half and maybe could have nicked it at the end but we were definitely happy with the point."We're still confident that we can hold onto the top six place but I think we need another win to clinch it."Like boss Terry Butcher he reflected on how poor our pitch is at the moment, "To be honest, the boys here hate playing on the pitch.It's so poor that you can't even play one simple pass without the ball bobbling and bouncing."Sometimes it's good to get away to other grounds just to play on a different pitch - we don't relish playing on ours at all but I'm sure it will be better next season."We are a team who like to pass the ball a lot and you can't really do that so we have to change our game plan quite a lot. It's a disadvantage for us but in saying that I'm sure other teams don't look forward to coming to Fir Park."
http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/
Livingston
Match reportThe game was a tight affair with few clear chances for either side, until an explosive final ten minutes which saw the ball hit the back of the net three times, but with only two goals counting.Both midfields battled for possession in the early stages. The first real danger came on the quarter hour, when McKenzie in the Lions goal had to spring in to action, denying Locke. Kilmarnock continued to press down their left flank, with Skora and Hay both just missing the target with their efforts. At the other end Fernandez latched on to a poor clearance by Hay to get a clear sight of goal, only to see his attempt cleared by Meldrum, the Kilmarnock keeper. From his clearance, Skora collected the ball and ran at the Lions defence, unleashing a powerful drive over the bar.Neither defence was giving much away, and despite the efforts of Fernandez and McMenamin the score remained goalless at half-time.Second-Half.Both sides made changes to their strikeforce during the interval, Pasquinelli replacing McMenamin, and Dargo coming on for Invincible. The Livingston substitute worked hard in the second forty five minutes, linking well with Fernandez and hassling the Kili defence at every opportunity. .The Livingston management introduced Lee Makel after sixty two minutes in an attempt to unlock the Kilmarnock defence, but the Lions suffered a blow shortly after when Marvin Andrews had to limp off. McNamee joined the fray as his replacement, marking a welcome return from his injury. Kilmarnock used this enforced change on Livingston to push more players forward in search of an opening goal, but the reorganised home defence continued to cope with the pressure. Efforts by Fowler and Murray came close, and a header by Boyd should have tested McKenzie but went wide.With the match appearing to be heading for a goalless draw, Livingston took the lead on eighty two minutes. A long ball down the centre wasn’t dealt with by the Kilmarnock defence, and a clever flick on by Pasquinelli saw David Fernandez make no mistake from twelve yards, lobbing the ball in to the net past the helpless keeper.Kilmarnock however were not beaten. Within two minutes they equalised through a scrambled goal from Dargo, with the Lions defence failing to clear the ball in the six yard box.
Makel then produced a surprise shot from the halfway line direct from the restart. Spotting the Kilmarnock keeper on the edge of his box he fired on goal, but his attempt failed to hit the target. Livingston then saw the ball cleared off the line after Rubio had headed goalwards from a cross delivered in from the right, and Richard Brittain just failed to connect with a cross fired in a minute later.It was Kilmarnock who then proceeded to put the ball in the net during added time. Substitute Colin Nish hit the post with a header and then forced the rebound home, only to see the flag up and the referee disallow the goal. The final whistle came within seconds and the points were shared between the two sides. Commenting afterwards, David Hay praised his young players for their commitment and felt they had played well. The match had also provided an opportunity for Pasquinneli and McNamee to return from injury.Livingston now move on to Hampden to face Celtic, in what will certainly be a stern test. Hopefully Marvin Andrews will recover from his knock in time to start on Sunday and the Lions can reach a second final this season.A crowd of just over 2677 witnessed tonights game, with David Fernandez being awarded the man of the match.
www.livingstonfc.co.uk/
HIBS
Hibernian have confirmed this afternoon that the Club intends to take part in the Intertoto Cup competition next season. It has been widely reported this week that Hibs would seek to take part in the tournament should the only other Club to have expressed an interest, Hearts, qualify for the UEFA Cup competition. Provided that Hearts do indeed qualify then Hibernian are the only other club who have met the required deadlines and so would be Scotland's sole representatives in the tournament's second round stage when it kicks off on the 3rd or 4th of July.
MORE...The Club has put itself forward for the one Intertoto Cup place available to Scotland for Season 2004-05. It is understood that the only other contender for the place is Hearts although they may well qualify for a place in the UEFA Cup instead. No other Club has met the criteria required by the SFA and UEFA to enter the Intertoto competition and so if Hearts duly qualify for a UEFA Cup place then Hibernian will be Scotland’s sole representatives in the Intertoto.As Scotland's representative, Hibs will join the competition in the second round and have been drawn at home for the first leg on the 3rd or 4th July with the second leg taking place seven days later. The Scottish representative's opponents will be the winners of the first round tie between representatives from Lithuania and Estonia. They are due to play their first round tie on 16/17 June and 26/27 June.The third round of the Intertoto Cup has also been drawn. The winners of the Scotland tie will play the winners of a tie between a team from France and the winners of the first round tie between clubs from Denmark and the Faroes. The home leg of the third round tie is due to be played on 17/18 July with the away leg taking place on 24 July.The SFA is required to confirm Scotland's representative to UEFA by 31 May.
http://www.hibs.co.uk/
Dundee
Much has changed since Dundee last won a derby at Tannadice, incredibly we have to go back to November 2000 to find the last time that the Dark Blues came out on top across the road, they’ve only lost one of those matches since then though, with four of the last five ending in draws. Set against that record is Jim Duffy’s excellent derby record since returning to the club at the start of last season.He’s won two Dens fixtures and drawn three at Tannadice in the city fixtures since taking over from Ivano Bonetti, with the most recent clash at Dens in January seeing Nacho Novo and Steve Lovell score second half counters to overturn a half time United lead. They’d gone ahead shortly before half time when Brent Sancho upended Charlie Miller, the same player picking himself up to score from the spot.Two of those personalities won’t be involved on Sunday, Novo and Miller have been derby specialists but they are both suspended and they will be missed by Dundee fans. Novo has been in electric form, scored in the last three city clashes, and his goal threat will be difficult to replace, while Miller has become something of a pantomine baddie to the Dark Blue support during his spell at Tannadice, and nearly always turns it on against the Dee.Jim McIntyre too has usually performed well against Dundee, even when his general form was poor, and by all accounts he’s performing well at the moment. He scored the equaliser at Tannadice in October and he and Steve Lovell will be the only players who’ve scored at the correct end in a derby who will feature this weekend. Dave Mackay won’t like being reminded that he too has got on the scoresheet in a derby, but his looping header beat Julian Speroni rather than Paul Gallacher.
There’s an outside possibility of a famous United name being on the team lines – How would Hegarty scoring the winner go down with the home support? Young Chris has only had a couple of minutes top team action for the Dark Blues, and he’s one of the youngsters who could be involved, although on an occasion like this Jim Duffy is likely to field his most experienced available players. Back to that last win for Dundee at Tannadice, the date November 11th 2000 and a heady afternoon for followers of the Dees, United were rock bottom of the SPL with only two points and how the Dark Blues fans reminded them of the fact. Dundee had Claudio Caniggia in their ranks and he scored in the 38th minute running onto Willie Falconer’s neat pass to net. With seventeen minutes to go things got even better with arguably the best goal ever scored in a derby, Barry Smith fed Georgi Nemsadze and the Georgian magician drove towards goal before playing a one two with Caniggia and lobbing the most delicate of shots over Alan Combe and into the net. It seems a very long time ago indeed.For the rest of this article view the website below
http://www.thedees.co.uk/
Kilmarnock
Livingston 1
Kilmarnock 1
http://www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk/index.cfm
Aberdeen
sorry no news
http://www.afc.co.uk/
Partick Thistle
LOTS TO PLAY FOR
It is now almost certain that we will finish in 12th spot in the Premier League this season, but don't tell Derek Whyte that the season is over yet:to read this article go to the website
http://www.ptfc.co.uk/v2/
Boothy who has 10 goals in 25 games this season will be ditched so Pele (alcholic cock) can bring in 2 new attackers for next year! apparently we cant afford scotty, who is on £675 a week! i wonder who the new strikers will be? lets have a look at the strikers Pele has brought in so far to give us a clue! 
Celtic's record brekaing run ended, shocking. Hearts should have ended it a couple of weeks ago.
