Scottish football: Rob Maclean on Niall McGinn, Neil Lennon, Barry Douglas, Ayr

Commentator Rob Maclean provides his take on another weekend of Scottish football action.

McGinn the cure for Dons' blunt attack?

Now the curtain's come down on his reluctant role in the Rangers panto, Derek McInnes will surely have Niall McGinn on his mind as he looks to kick start Aberdeen's season.

Their badly-needed Friday night win at Dundee - only a second victory in six games for the distracted Dons - didn't disguise a lack of cutting edge in attack.

A summer signing spree initially offered hope that Aberdeen could overcome the loss of wing wonders McGinn and Jonny Hayes and their massive creative influence.

Niall McGinn is a free agent after a spell in South Korea but Hearts and Hibs are also interested

But it was surely inevitable that, sooner or later, they'd miss that level of quality in the wide positions and McGinn's availability could be timely after the Northern Ireland international's move to Korea turned sour.

They're not the only club interested but Aberdeen will give it plenty, you'd imagine, to try to get McGinn back to Pittodrie.

• Milne would not have stood in McInnes' way

• Nothing to be guilty about over Rangers - McInnes

• Dundee 0-1 Aberdeen

Runners-up a realistic target for Hibs

Hibs are another McGinn admirer and he accepted an invitation to watch them draw 2-2 with Celtic for the second time this season.

And again they came close to ending the unbeaten record of Scottish football's Invincibles.

Hibs are carved in the image of their manager. Few hate losing more than him. And his team's reluctance to accept defeat when Celtic went two goals in front was impressive.

They scored twice in three second-half minutes to earn themselves a precious point and were denied a late winner by Mikael Lustig's goal-line clearance.

Premiership runners-up spot remains a realistic target for Hibs with ambitious gaffer Lennon driving them on.

• Brown v McGinn 'no contest' - Rodgers

• Lennon thrilled with Hibs' character

• Hibernian 2-2 Celtic

Douglas joins Scotland left-back queue

Scotland need another left-back like they need another qualification failure. Otherwise, the far-travelled Barry Douglas would be knocking firmly on the international door.

Barry Douglas is thriving at Wolves after spells in Poland and Turkey

The former Queen's Park and Dundee United player won the Polish title with Lech Poznan and the Turkish Cup with Konyaspor.

Now he's starring for English Championship leaders Wolves with two goals and an impressive eight assists so far.

Sadly for his Scotland prospects, there's a lengthy left-back queue with Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson at the front of it.

Now if Barry could play centre back...?

Rovers the only barrier to Ayr promotion

Ayr United are a game away from ripping up a 30-year-old club record as they bid to bounce straight back to the Championship.

Ayr boss Ian McCall won the manager of the month award for November

Not since Ally MacLeod's class of 1987 charged to the old Second Division title have the Honest Men won eight games on the spin.

But, three decades on, Ayr equalled that special achievement with Saturday's latest victory against Queen's Park at Somerset Park.

The unbeaten run for Ian McCall's League One leaders stretches even further back to early September when they lost in Kirkcaldy.

And it's Raith Rovers, their closest challengers, who look like the only barrier between Ayr and automatic promotion.