Forget Novo, there's a real Scott in the Scotland team

By Ewan Watt on Nov 17, 08 11:59 AM in

Thank you, Scott Robertson. I was about to dwell on Saturday's disappointingly poor show at Kilmarnock when in came the news about your Scotland call-up.

I don't think too many Arabs will disagree that Scotty has been our most consistent player this season. He's turned out to be a real engine in the heart of midfield, taking on a lot of the thankless duties that Mark Kerr and the Fresh Prince did last season.

But Scott has added an attacking element that, combined with Jimmy Gomis' trickery and the strong running of Craig Conway and Willo Flood, has made us a joy to watch at times.

In case you haven't heard, Scott has just been called up today as a replacement for the Scotland squad for the Argentina game at Hampden on Wednesday. It's a big step up for a guy who has played only 14 league games in the SPL. But he deserves it.

On to Saturday at Rugby Park. It was our poorest show since the Hamilton game on opening day. The first half was dull beyond belief and we just didn't show up in the second.

Killie's Mehdi Taouil was the big difference, winning a penalty on the stroke of half-time. United's defence was all over the place in the second half and Sandaza and O'Donovan didn't do much up front.

Conway was right off the boil and it was a surprise when Willo went off for Danny Swanson rather than Conway. Jon Daly should have got a penalty when he was shoved from behind - but at 2-0 down I'm not sure it would have made much difference.

The United support, to their credit, sang all day. And the Rugby Park announcer seemed determined to tell us there were 617 Arabs in the ground - he mentioned it three times in his Tannoy announcements and thanked us for coming. Very civilised!

Anyway, we're back at the fortress this Saturday for a chance of revenge against the Accies and hopefully the start of another unbeaten run.

Maybe it's time to freshen things up. I'd bring back Daly for O'Donovan, reintroduce Prince Buaben into the centre of midfield and put Gomis wide left instead of Conway. But then what do I know?