Dons adrift

If it's now a certainty that Celtic have blown the SPL this season, it's almost as certain that Aberdeen won't even make the top six. Mark McGhee has said as much himself. They are now eight points adrift of sixth place Hearts, and surely won't make up that deficit before the split.

The Dons were simply awful on Saturday. For periods of the game their players were absolutely static, neither closing down Hearts when defending, or showing any invention or energy when in possession.

The goal that decided the match - an overhead effort from Eggert Jonsson - really had no place in such a drab encounter, but then Aberdeen can have no complaints. And considering that Hearts weren't all that good, and had Larry Kingston sent off after an hour, that is a damning verdict on their performance.

Where do Aberdeen go from here? Fewer than 9,000 bothered turning up for this one, and the gate will probably drop even further for the rest of the season. Yet the support's indifference is more than matched by the club - they have a manager who openly covets the Celtic job, and an owner who won't or can't outline a plan to take Aberdeen forward.

Instead, they just drift, like a supply ship that's run out of diesel on the North Sea. It's not doing Aberdeen, or Scottish football, any favours at all.