Image Credit:  Wikimedia Commons

Scottish football is well and truly back, with 17 goals taking place over matchday one. It was a tough weekend for Hearts and Rangers, who lost ground to Celtic already. Meanwhile, Motherwell, St Mirren and St Johnstone showed positive signs, starting their campaigns with victories. Felix Shoolbread analyses all the action, analysing each match and giving his weekly awards at the end.

Dundee United 1-1 Rangers

The Derek McInnes era at Rangers got off to a poor start, as they were booed off the pitch both at half-time and full-time. Rangers’ fans were noisy with their disappointment, and it could be argued for good reason. They were sloppy in possession, wasteful with the ball and their defending for United’s goal was poor. It came from a Jesse Randall cross, with Lachlan Rose getting on the end of it, nudging into the far corner past the scrambling Ivor Pandur.

The first half did not offer much and after the break, it looked like a new Rangers side, much more productive and free-flowing. Thelo Aasgaard levelled the score with a brilliant strike, with an impeccable first touch setting himself up for a volley into the far side of the goal. The best chance to win the game came for United’s Jesse Randall, who broke the line and was one-on-one with Pandur, yet scuffed his shot and dinked it into the keeper’s hands.

Dundee United will take many positives from this game, with a solid performance earning a well-earned point in the first game of the season. Rangers, however, not so much. The performance was poor and there was no real fluidity in play. New signings Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin looked out of place, not offering much and nowhere near the levels both are capable of. Thelo Aasgaard, however, played well, scoring a wonderful goal and looking much improved from last season.

With a Europa League qualifying game away to Poland’s Jagiellonia Bialystok, it feels like Derek McInnes is already under a decent amount of pressure. They follow their European trip by welcoming Hibs to Ibrox, with both teams looking to turn around poor first games. Dundee United face a trip away to Tynecastle to take on Hearts, one of four games played this coming Sunday.

Player Of The Match: Thelo Aasgaard. Very well taken goal and overall played much better than the rest of the Rangers team.

Falkirk 0-2 St Mirren

Many (including myself) have tipped St Mirren to be relegation favourites this season, so having an opening game against a Falkirk side who finished sixth last season, you would’ve preferred the Bairns’ chances over the Saints’. Yet St Mirren looked far from a relegation side in this game, winning with a dominant performance to finish the weekend top of the league. Killian Phillips bagged a brace, scoring at both ends of the game. His first goal was a well-taken, proper striker’s finish, beating his man to get on the end of Henry Fieldson’s cross to poke it past Scott Bain. Falkirk responded in the 73rd minute through Ben Parkinson; however, after a lengthy VAR review, it was chalked off for handball. St Mirren continued to have chances to increase the advantage, missing a couple of golden chances. Phillips sealed the game in the 87th minute, a heavily deflected goal giving him his second of the game.

For the Saints, this was a statement win that could very well be the start of something special in Paisley. Last season’s League Cup winners looked a solid team and were creating many chances through players such as Phillips, Fieldson and Roland Idowu.

Falkirk were always going to struggle after losing key players like Dylan Tait, Calvin Miller and Barney Stewart. They were able to come close a couple times, had a goal chalked off but ultimately were not that threatening.

Next week St Mirren face a St Johnstone team also tipped for relegation by many, another team who in turn provided a slightly surprising win. Falkirk make the trip down south to take on Motherwell, where they won 3-2 to secure top 6 football in their last trip there.

Player of the Match: Killian Phillips. Brilliant brace, perhaps could’ve had a hat trick after missing a couple chances.

Aberdeen 2-1 Hearts

This was probably my most anticipated game of this matchweek: Hearts and their fresh start after last season’s agonisingly close title run against a new-look Aberdeen, beginning their first full season in the Stephen Robinson era. With a dramatic finish that sent Pittodrie into raptures, this game had it all.

Hearts started considerably well, with Oisin McEntee opening the scoring, capitalising on some shocking defending from Aberdeen. The Jam Tarts kept the pressure up in the second half, yet it would not be enough. Aberdeen got their equaliser off a set piece, with Kevin Nisbet bundling the ball in from a couple of yards out. It would only get worse for Hearts in the game’s final moments, with Stuart Finlay taking down Toyosi Olusanya in the box, resulting in a sending off for the defender. Kevin Nisbet calmly rifled it into the top right corner, sealing the points for the Dons.

A resilient win, Aberdeen will be happy with the start and look forward to a trip to Dens Park to face Stephen Pressley’s Dundee. Hearts face a trip to Lisbon to take on Benfica in Europa League qualification, with a league return to Tynecastle against Dundee United on the cards this Sunday. Overall, it was not a terrible performance for Hearts, with blips of poor defending allowing a scrappy goal and penalty to be conceded. Whilst alarm bells may not be ringing yet, Wouter Vrancken will be wanting the form to turn as soon as possible.

Player of The Match: Kevin Nisbet. Two goals against last seasons near champions under an immense amount of pressure, ice cold.

St Johnstone 4-3 Kilmarnock

Well, that was fun. For the neutral, that is. Going into this match, both Kilmarnock and St Johnstone have been tipped for relegation by many. Yet both looked like teams very much capable of creating and scoring freely, with the 4-3 scoreline summing up a brilliant game.

It was end-to-end, heart-in-your-mouth, pure football. The defending from both teams, however, was poor. Kilmarnock were sloppy on the ball to give away the first goal of the game, with Aaron Tshibola tripping over the ball to lose possession, allowing for it to be carried forward, where Josh Fowler finished the cutback pass from Jamie Gullan. Greg Kiltie equalised in the 37th minute, before St Johnstone’s lead was restored just after half-time from a Cheick Diabate set-piece goal. Kilmarnock were practically gifted their final two goals, with a comical own goal giving them a 3-2 lead in the 53rd minute, a scoreline untrue to the game after a dominant first half for St Johnstone.

The Saints did, of course, manage to claw back to get the win, with a Kilmarnock own goal levelling the score, before Kai Fotheringham finished off a nice move from 10 yards out to put them 4-3 up and seal the points.

A wonderful game that displayed the good, the bad and the ugly of football; both teams will take positives into their next games, Saints more so than Kilmarnock. St Johnstone face a tough away test to a St Mirren team who opened their account with a brilliant 2-0 win over Falkirk. Kilmarnock face the dreaded Celtic test early on, playing the Glasgow side at home in Sunday’s early kick-off.

Player of the Match: Josh Fowler. Goal and assist helped the Saints get over the line.

Hibernian 1-2 Motherwell

Motherwell’s fairytale journey looks set to continue after a tough but resilient win against Hibs away from home. Josh Mulligan gave away a penalty after crashing into Oscar Priestman, which Lukas Fadinger coolly slotted into the right side of the goal. They were the more dominant team in the first, although the momentum swung in Hibs’ favour in the second half. The Hibees equalised through a Martin Boyle penalty after the Australian forward was brought to ground by Priestman. Hibs kept the pressure up and came close through Nathan Lowe and Owen Elding, both of whom forced terrific stops out of Alex Paulsen. Martin Moormaan also made two crucial goal-line clearances to keep the Hibees out. Despite Hibs’ constant pressure, it would be Motherwell who went on to win the game, through a beautiful counter-attack goal finished by Ibrahim Said.

Hibs will be kicking themselves over the chances missed and David Gray is already under a huge amount of pressure to start the season, with many Hibs fans online calling for managerial change. For Motherwell, it signifies a new start under Alfred Johansson and continues their fine form from last season into the new.

Both teams are in European competition this Thursday, with Motherwell away to Finland’s HJK, having beaten the Faroe Islands’ HB 5-0 over two legs in the previous round. Hibs face North Macedonia’s Shkendija at home, having turned around a shock first-leg 2-0 defeat against KF Mlisheva. Both will be looking to progress; however, they face tough challenges in these games. In the league, the steelmen are at home to Falkirk whilst Hibs are away to Rangers, both being played this coming Sunday.

Player of The Match: Martin Moormann. Two crucial blocks to keep Hibs out.

Celtic 1-0 Dundee

Celtic are back playing competitive football and didn’t quite come back with a bang. The flag was raised to celebrate another league win, the toughest one in many a year. The performance put out after, however, was lacklustre. Record signing Kasper Høgh was presented with a couple of chances to start the game, dragging his first well wide. His second was a golden chance, played in by Nygren and slotting it wide from six yards out. Dundee, in turn, came close through Charlie Reilly, who curled a shot just wide off a corner. Arne Engels also came close in the first half with a header going just wide of the far post. The deadlock was broken by Benjamin Nygren, who got on the end of a beautiful cross from Kieran Tierney, heading past Owen Goodman.

Dundee came close to an equaliser late in the game with Ashley Hay forcing a great save from Viljami Sinisalo before Kasper Høgh came agonisingly close to opening his Celtic account.

It was a very typical first game of the season for both teams, with Celtic missing 3 golden opportunities. Kasper Høgh missed two of these chances and, in hindsight, should have really put at least one away. He is, however, coming into the game having had little to no training with the team, on a grass pitch which he has said himself he is not used to, coming from Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and also of course settling into a new league. However, he managed to position himself well to get those chances and it shows promise that the goals will come. Dundee were unlucky not to score. They looked a solid side, held their own well, yet were lucky it was not a larger scoreline due to the missed chances.

Celtic face Kilmarnock away from home in Sunday’s early kick-off, the first league game on Killie’s new hybrid pitch. Dundee host an Aberdeen team on a high after the weekend’s comeback win at Hearts.

Player of the Match: Kieran Tierney. Looked like the Tierney of old, brilliant assist to set up Nygren.