Rob Maclean: Adam Rooney and Albion Rovers on scoring form
- Published
Cliftonhill has played host to plenty of goals this season
Commentator Rob Maclean provides his take on another weekend of Scottish football action.
Still room for Rooney
Amid all the changes to have taken place at Aberdeen, some things stay the same. Like Adam Rooney's ability to sniff out goals.
His old pals Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn have gone and Rooney's spent more time than he'd like sitting on the bench but he fired off a reminder on Saturday, as if one was needed, that he hasn't forgotten how to find the net.
Aberdeen's No 9 scored all their goals in the 3-0 home win against off-colour St Johnstone in what was only his third start of the season.
That's now 81 goals in 162 Dons appearances - a strike rate that's as easy to work out as it's hugely impressive.
Manager Derek McInnes has shuffled the pack a few times this season, but there's surely always room for Rooney.
John looks the business
After a multi-million pound, international summer spending spree, Rangers may have done one of their best bits of business a few hundred miles down the road in Cardiff.
Twenty-two-year-old Wales international left-back Declan John scored his first two goals for the club in their 4-1 weekend win at Hamilton - only his third appearance in Scottish football.
Rangers were a goal down and struggling when John almost single-handedly turned that game around. He's comfortable on the ball and must be one of the quickest players in the Premiership.
John is deputising for Lee Wallace at the moment after the club captain's latest injury issue.
He might prove difficult to dislodge when Wallace is ready to return.
Semi-finals to savour
Selling this month's Scottish League Cup semi-finals isn't going to be too much of a challenge. They were given all the promotional push they could possibly have wanted over the weekend.
In a dress rehearsal for the first Hampden showdown, on Neil Lennon's managerial return to his old workplace, Hibs came close to ending Celtic's domestic unbeaten run.
They'll get a second chance in three weeks' time against a Celtic side returning from a Champions League mission to face Bayern Munich.
In the second semi-final, Pedro Caixinha will continue his battle to win the approval of the Rangers fans. But the opposition couldn't be in better form.
Motherwell beat Partick Thistle 3-0 on Saturday and they've now lost only one of their last seven games.
Free-scoring Rovers
Coatbridge could be Scotland's entertainment capital. Well, certainly when it comes to football.
Albion Rovers were headline-makers at the weekend as the first team to win a League One game this season against pacesetting Raith Rovers.
But the 2-1 scoreline was a modest affair by their standards. The 13 matches they've played since July, in three different competitions, boast an amazing total of 58 goals.
They've been flying in at both ends. Five times Rovers have scored four goals or more this season.
And three times they've been beaten by a similar margin.
It seems it's Cliftonhill for thrills these days - or indeed anywhere Albion Rovers happen to be playing.