SPFL Team of the Week – Scottish Professional Football League
Craig Fowler picks his SPFL Team of the Week, reverting back to his favoured Guardiola-esque 3-5-1-1 formation. Arbroath winger Bobby Linn has been chosen as star man after his hat trick against Stirling Albion.
GK – Kevin Walker (Berwick Rangers)
Berwick kept their hosts Edinburgh City rooted to the bottom of the table after Jordyn Sheerin bagged a four-minute double at Meadowbank. The visitors rode their luck at times, relying on Walker to keep them in the game with a number of eye-catching saves.
DC – John Souttar (Hearts)
The young centre back has been in excellent form since replacing captain Alim Ozturk prior to the draw against Aberdeen a fortnight ago. Against Partick Thistle he continued his assured displays, defending stoutly while also showing poise on the football as Hearts won 2-1 thanks to an injury time goal from Tony Watt.
DC – Kolo Toure (Celtic)
Another impressive performance from the veteran centre back who has already vindicated Brendan Rodgers’ decision to bring him to Glasgow. His reading of the game is top notch, allowing to him to continually repel opposing attacks and he stood out again in Celtic’s 4-1 win over Aberdeen.
DC – Scott Gibson (Queen’s Park)
The centre back put in a dominating performance as Queen’s Park ended Livingston’s 100 per cent winning record with a 1-0 victory at Hampden. It’s still early days in League One, but with only one defeat from their first four games, the recently promoted Spiders are showing the rest of the division they are no pushovers.
MR – Greg Kiltie (Kilmarnock)
Stationed slightly out of position in this team, though there’s no way we could omit the Killie playmaker after his performance in his side’s 1-1 draw with Rangers. In front of the BT Sport cameras, Kiltie put himself at the centre of every Killie attack, using his dribbling ability to drive at the Rangers defence. He also played the ball through for Kris Boyd to open the scoring.
MC – Fraser Fyvie (Hibernian)
Fyvie returned to the starting XI for the first time since the first leg Europa League qualifier against Brondby, but he showed zero sign of rust in Hibs’ 4-0 victory over Morton. The midfielder was excellent on both sides of the ball, setting the tempo for his side while halting opposing attacks with ease.
MC – Darian MacKinnon (Hamilton Accies)
The combative midfielder was the driving force in the centre of the park as Hamilton picked up only their second win in 17 home league games with a 1-0 win over Ross County. And even though he failed to bag the winner himself, as he was unable to dig the ball out from his feet, his presence in the penalty area caused the chaos that enabled Dougie Imrie to net the game’s only goal.
MC – Ross Draper (Inverness CT)
The Caley Jags picked up their first victory of the season thanks to a hard fought win over St Johnstone, where the hosts battled to the end (netting the winner in injury time) against a tough opponent. At the heart of many an attack was Draper, who epitomised the home side’s determination to get off the mark this campaign by running himself ragged.
ML – Bobby Linn (Arbroath)
The Arbroath winger helped himself to a hat-trick in the 5-3 win over Stirling Albion which put the Red Lichties second in the table. Linn had a quiet first 45 before exploding into life after the break. He netted three times and terrorised opposing right back David Verlaque. This week’s star man.
AM – Tom Rogic (Celtic)
Another classy performance from Rogic as he bamboozled Aberdeen’s defenders in Celtic’s 4-1 win at Parkhead. He got the goal his display richly deserved with a superb free-kick in injury-time.
FC – Sean Higgins (Clyde)
The veteran striker got on the scoresheet twice as Clyde defeated Cowdenbeath in the second of two 5-3 victories in League Two. Higgins is starting to build a good understand with fellow 30-something hit man Peter MacDonald.
