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Scottish Football

My Hearts tells me Rangers may struggle against Aberdeen

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Border Reiver talks us through the best bets from north of the border

Despite another gutsy display, last Saturday's 12-hour round trip to Ross County failed to increase our points total for the season. County's recent slump in form gave everyone a glimmer of hope for this fixture but the gulf in the table positions was reflected on the pitch. I

t was generally backs to the wall and had Ross not had 3 goals chalked off for offside, it could have been a hammering. Illness and injury are taking their toll and having to change personnel and tactics every week is not helping either. With a difficult holiday fixture list coming up, we could be severely adrift of safety come the new year.

Saturday sees us make the thankfully, relatively short trip to Recreation Park. Alloa are the current form team in this division. They have won 4 of their last 6 and scored 11 goals whilst we have won 0 and conceded 12. Although Alloa's artificial pitch will suit our game, I can't see us returning with anything from this one.

Ayr United v Airdrie.

I shall be backing Airdrie in this one. Ayr are really under-performing this year. Despite a reasonable start, they have slipped and a change of manager hasn't really made any difference. Even Berwick held them to a draw. They haven't won since defeating second from bottom Brechin at the end of October. Airdire had an unexpected slip up at Brechin last week but should be able to bounce back on Saturday. They certainly don't have trouble scoring and should be able to snuff out Ayr's powder puff attack. I shall be backing Airdrie around 2.1

Hearts v Inverness Caley Thistle.

I shall be laying Hearts in this one. ICT come into this on the back of 4 straight wins and confidence must be sky high after last weeks 3-2 win over Celtic. Despite going 2 goals down and being reduced to 10 men they fought back and thoroughly deserved their victory. They had kept clean sheets in their previous 3 wins and I think Hearts will struggle to break them down. Hearts are not playing like they can and are really inconsistent. They can win at Celtic one week, and then draw at Gretna. Defensively they are slack and I think ICT can capitalise on this and give me a good value lay at around 1.9.

Aberdeen v Rangers.

I shall be laying Rangers in this one. Hopefully Aberdeen will progress to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday and take that good form into the weekend. These fixtures are not for the faint hearted and form doesn't count as much as it should do. Rangers are hot on Celtic's tail and, depending on Saturday's results, could be looking to go top for Christmas. Aberdeen's last 6 home games have produced 5 wins and 1 draw. They have also scored 14 and only conceded 3. If they can keep their heads, I'm sure they can at least hold Rangers to a draw. I shall be laying Rangers around 1.7.