He's 1-0 up on John Higgins in the first round of the Scottish Open - it's best of seven frames.

Richard Wilson
BBC Scotland

Gordon Strachan no longer needs to consider the English Premier League as an exclusion zone. The Scotland manager's next competitive obligation is a home tie with Slovenia in March, but the time can be spent contemplating a different batch of players from the regulars in his squad.

Across the weekend, 12 players who could play for the national team started in the English top-flight. It will hardly astonish Strachan that the majority of them are midfielders, since his squad has always been light on options at centre-back and centre-forward.

Even so, there would appear to be at least an opportunity to refresh the Scotland squad with players performing at a high level. Some are already part of Strachan's plans - David Marshall, Andrew Robertson and Robert Snodgrass at Hull City and James McArthur at Crystal Palace.

Charlie Adam started for Stoke City at the Emirates, but his relationship with Strachan seems fractured and unlikely to be reconciled. George Boyd tends to play regularly for Burnley, and he too has not been part of the Scotland set-up. Others are making an interesting case for themselves, with Jay Fulton starting in central midfield for Swansea, Ryan Fraser holding down a place in the Bournemouth team and Matt Phillips continuing to impress for West Brom alongside Strachan stalwarts, Darren Fletcher and James Morrison.

Jordan Rhodes has fallen into obscurity in recent months, but he started in an attacking midfield position for Middlesborough in their trip to Southampton, and played the full 90 minutes.

Strachan is more accustomed to poring over scouting reports from the Championship, and one will have been prominent, with Tom Cairney scoring an outstanding goal for Fulham in their 4-4 draw with Wolves. Naturally, Cairney would be another option for central midfield.

Image source, Rex Features

Mark McGhee insists he will continue giving his Motherwell youngsters a chance - even if it risks costing his side points.

The Fir Park boss admits he could have jeopardised Well's result in the 0-0 draw against Kilmarnock when he threw on 20-year-old midfielder Dominic Thomas and teenage forward Jake Hastie late on.

"With all the talk about youth development in this country I think it's important that we keep reinforcing the message that we are putting lads in," said McGhee.

"We've got to give young boys the experience of being in a situation where they could lose you the game. We need to give them that responsibility so that they learn from that." 

Image source, SNS

Rob Maclean
BBC Scotland

"For me, it's one of the Scottish football stories of the season so far."

Which non-Scottish Premiership side is Rob Maclean referring to?

FIND OUT IN HIS 'FIVE THINGS' COLUMN HERE

We know there's no Scottish involvement, but for those interested...

Manchester City v Monaco

Real Madrid v Napoli

Benfica v Borussia Dortmund

Bayern Munich v Arsenal

Porto v Juventus

Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid

Paris St-Germain v Barcelona

Sevilla v Leicester City 

While we're on the subject of Ross County, check out how well their former manager Derek Adams is doing with League Two Plymouth Argyle.

After narrowly missing out on promotion in the play-off final last season, Adams has the Devon side two points clear at the top of League Two.

The Pilgrims won 2-0 against Doncaster at the weekend with another couple of ex-Staggies scoring - Graham Carey and Jake Jervis.

Image source, SNS

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland

The Hamilton Accies manager Martin Canning admits he'd take another draw - to add to the five successive stalemates his side have notched up - in Tuesday night's game against Celtic.

"Yeah I think I would. A point on the road's good and if we can try to improve the home form, start winning games here, that's what we'd be looking to try to do," he told BBC Scotland.

"Obviously tomorrow night we know is going to be a difficult game. Celtic are playing well and we need to make sure we go there, defend properly, get close and compete.

"Last year when we went there we obviously lost heavily (8-1) and the boys probably ran more in that game than they have in any game throughout the season so there's a difference between just running about and getting close and actually affecting the game, which is what we need to make sure we do tomorrow night."

Image source, SNS

Kenny Crawford
BBC Sport Scotland

Bonnyrigg Rose have had a "very constructive" meeting with Hearts about holding their Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Hibernian at Tynecastle.

They await a Scottish Football Association decision on the matter.

"We were delighted with an agreement in principle to host it there," said Bonnyrigg official Brendan Parkinson.

"But at this stage it is nothing more than contingency planning by the club in the event that we aren't able to host the tie at New Dundas Park."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Image source, SNS

Officials from the Scottish Football Association will meet Police Scotland later to discuss allegations of child sex abuse within the sport.

Football has been shaken by claims from former players, from across the UK, that they were abused by those in positions of authority.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has called for the SFA to set up an independent inquiry.

The SFA said any review must have the "right scope and terms of reference".

READ THE STORY IN FULL HERE

Celtic's bid to sign Everton midfielder James McCarthy on loan could be helped by Crystal Palace and West Brom being put off from buying him because of a £15m price tag. (Daily Record, external)

Rangers striker Joe Garner believes he has won over his critics despite only scoring three goals in 15 appearances since a £1.8m move in August. (Daily Express, external)

Hearts' Brazilian defender Igor Rossi believes head coach Ian Cathro's ability to speak Portuguese will help him understand the new boss's ideas. (Daily Express, external)

READ THE GOSSIP IN FULL HERE

Good morning everyone.

Trust you all enjoyed the weekend's football despite a few 0-0 draws too many in the top flight!

Today looks like it could be quite busy, with four clubs holding media conferences ahead of matches on Tuesday night.

Aberdeen host Motherwell tomorrow and Celtic welcome Hamilton Accies.

Rangers also have a press conference today - the Ibrox side are away at Hamilton on Friday night.