Scottish Championship Round up 19/10/24

After a week out (other than Partick Thistle vs Falkirk 12/10/24) championship action returns. Red cards and new favourites see the league table shaken up. Ayr United drop into 3^rd with Livingston edging closer to the top spot, still unbeaten.

Ayr United 1-2 Livingston

This was so far one of the biggest games for each side this season as Ayr look to continue their title charge and to get back on track after a loss to Falkirk. Livingston went into, and came out of the game remaining unbeaten (5W, 4D, 0L). However, with 4 draws they find themselves having to climb for the top spot.

It did not take long for Livingston to go ahead, in the 8^th minute of the game as Robbie Muirhead found the top left corner of the net (assisted by Stevie May). Away from home this gave them much needed momentum as before this game Ayr had not lost a league home game (4W, 1D).

It would be the West Lothian side to strike twice in the 38^th minute as Tete Yengi slipped the ball through and Scott Pittman was there to roll it by the keeper. All goals would come in the first half with Conner McLennan scoring his first goal for Ayr. This loss is Ayr’s 2^nd consecutive in the league, both losses from league favourite sides. Scott Brown will hope to turn results around before Ayr slip further down the table.

Partick Thistle 2-1 Airdrieonians

After a half hour delay to kick-off due to an injury on one of the match officials the game finally got underway. Fans who waited that extra half hour only waited 3 minutes for Brian Graham to put Thistle 1-0 up as he slips the ball into the net from Logan Chalmers’ cross. The ex-Ayr United player continued to impress, hitting the cross bar from a chip later on in the half.

Airdrie were able to equalise before the end of the first half with a goal from Adam Frizzell – assisted by Lewis McGrattan. The Diamonds’ game looked in jeopardy during the 51^st minute with McGrattan getting shown a straight red card for diving into a challenge on Kyle Turner. Partick Thistle would capitalise through a 2^nd goal from Brian Graham (assisted by Harry Milne) which saw the game end 2-1.

With this result, Airdrie sit bottom of the table with 1 win in 9 games and Partick Thistle in 5^th edging closer to a play-off spot.

Raith Rovers 1-1 Queen’s Park

Queen’s Park look to keep their good form – having not lost in 7 games while Raith Rovers are hoping to climb the table after a poor start in the league. The first half would be rather uneventful until Raith were awarded a penalty in the 39^th minute. The foul was conceded by Ryan Duncan and the penalty was converted by Jack Hamilton. Raith would be unable to double their lead and the Glasgow side would equalise from a deflected shot in the 62^nd minute (Goal. Liam McLeish, Assisted by Roddy MacGregor).

The drama did not end until the final whistle- Raith’s Dylan Easton got consecutive bookings. The first for punching the ball and the second for dissent. Queen’s Park remain in 4^th, the final play-off spot with Partick Thistle only 2 points behind them. Neill Collins will be looking for a quick turn around before his job at Raith is in danger with only 8 points in the opening 9 games.

Dunfermline Athletic 0-0 Greenock Morton

Neither side were able to break the seal for the 90 minutes.  Dunfermline are the worst attacking side in the league with only 5 goals and Morton not much better with only 7. The best chance in the game came from the Pars in the 84^th minute with Chris Kane’s header being saved by Gary Woods.

If Dunfermline want a chance to survive this season, they will need to either rally together as a team or find a proven goal scorer. The Pars top scorer this league season is Ewan Otoo with 2 goals in 9 games. Otoo has been playing left back for most of the season. In comparison, Striker Craig Weighton has 0 goal in all competitions and has played 13 games.

James McPake will be using the January window to find some creativity and a player who has something to show in front of goal if he can’t get his current squad to start finding the net.

Hamilton Academical 1-3 Falkirk (18/10/24)

Falkirk, along with Partick Thistle are the only sides who competed in the league last week – with that game ending 1-1. Hamilton come back into league action after being knocked out of the challenge cup by Morton.

Hamilton would remain unfortunate when in the 5^th minute Barry Maguire would score an own goal. The first half of the game would be won by Falkirk who were able to go 3-0 up with goals from Calvin Miller (assisted by Aidan Nesbitt) and Brad Spencer.

Hamilton started the 2^nd half strong with a goal from Euan Henderson in the 47^th minute. However, they were unable to build on this and Falkirk would walk away with 3 points away from home.

After playing 10 games Falkirk sit top, 4 points clear of Livingston. Hamilton sit in 7^th, 4 points from the bottom and have conceded 17 goals in 10 games. Two vastly different starts to a league campaign and one side will have hopes to stay top and the other to turn the season around.

4 out of 10 teams have played 10 games – the rest 9 games. Already we can see teams at the top begin to slip with Ayr, and teams who started poor try to work their way up with Partick Thistle.

So Far Ayr’s Anton Dowds is the top scorer with 5 goals and the Jags’ Kyle Turner is the most creative player with 4 assists. Falkirk and Ayr are tied as best attacking teams (17 goals) and on the other end Airdrieonians are the worst defensive team (18 goals against).

The league table sits:

1. Falkirk – 23 PTS
2. Livingston – 19 PTS
3. Ayr United – 18 PTS
4. Queen’s Park – 15 PTS
5. Partick Thistle – 13 PTS
6. Greenock Morton – 10 PTS
7. Hamilton Academical – 9 PTS
8. Raith Rovers – 8 PTS
9. Dunfermline Athletic – 6 PTS
10.  Airdrieonians – 5 PTS