Nothing to savour but Reds are on the up

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ST MIRREN are the SPL's kings of the nil-nil draw. Only three matches in the top flight this season have ended without a goal, and the Buddies have endured two of them. Eight-ninths of one here, too, in a game which surely was no more enthralling than their stalemates with Hibs and Kilmarnock.

With their 13 league games to date producing a mere 22 goals, it's almost as if they're doing their best to avoid any excitement on Love Street's farewell tour lest any loud cheers bring the old place crashing down ahead of schedule. Perhaps the nets there are on their last legs and they're trying to avoid having to buy new ones for the sake of a couple of games.

On this evidence it's easy to see why St Mirren are the spread gambler's best friend. They keep the ball well enough to minimise the number of chances their opponents will create, but when they get within sight of goal themselves they are relatively benign.

Short of both manpower and anything remotely unusual in the final third, Saints' lack of menace ought to have enabled Aberdeen to throw caution to the biting wind.

But, despite an awful first half in which the Dons threatened only from set-pieces, little was forthcoming by way of alteration. Particularly unusual given the immediacy with which Jimmy Calderwood's substitutions have enlivened his side in the last two fixtures.

At long last, though, Jimmy woke up and played an attacking card. It is probably no coincidence that the shift in emphasis was followed almost straight away by a goal whose appearance had until then seemed as unlikely as Arnold Schwarzenegger getting the gig as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.

The entertainment on show will have few among the four-figure crowd declaring that they'll be back, but however scratchy (and however temporary) the Dons are in the top six.

Chris Crighton is the editor of Dons fanzine the Red Final