The kipper, or smoked herring, is held to have been invented in Gourock in 1688, though the etymological evidence cries Inverkip.
Raith Rovers visit Cappielow. Morton did not lose three league games in a row last season, but they can hit that mark today. Raith have a win, a loss and a draw and a 0 GD.
The Championship so far: Morton and Livingston are off to surprisingly bad starts. Hamilton and Falkirk are unsurprisingly good. Alloa are surprisingly good. Cowdenbeath are unsurprisingly bad.
Before play today the four division leaders are all still undefeated: Inverness CT are 3-1-0; Hamilton are 3-0-0; Rangers are 3-0-0, and East Stirlingshire are 3-0-0. Rangers and East Stirlingshire each have two away wins already. East Stirlingshire only had three away wins all last season. Inverness have continued to improve from last season, while Ross County have regressed and look likely to be the first to be lapped by Hearts, who are quickly overcoming their 15 point penalty. East Stirlingshire! East Stirlingshire have obviously realized the best way to avoid the Lowland League is to get into League One.
Geography corner. Which league or nearly league Scottish football clubs have home parks to the west of Cappielow (longitude of 4° 43′ 36.52″ W)? In the SPFL: Stranraer. In the Highland League: Fort William. In the Lowland League: none. In the South of Scotland League: none. Ayr United's Somerset Park is a near miss, at 6′ east of Cappielow. I grant you, Greenock is a western town, so most clubs will be to the east of it, but all of the Hebrides and the entire western coast of the Highlands are west of Greenock. The Western Highlands really are an empty quarter.
[Morton 1 - 1 Raith. Morton goal by Imrie. Morton remain in eighth place.]
This week in Europe:
Celtic 3 - 0 Shakhter Karagandy. Shakhter, who held a two-goal lead coming into this game, clearly lost heart after UEFA banned the team's traditional pregame act of animal sacrifice. Celtic move on to the group stage.
Genk 5 - 2 FH. FH are out.
In Thursday's UEFA Champions League Group Stage and Scottish League Cup Round Three draws Celtic were matched with AC Milan, Ajax, Barcelona and Morton.
Yesterday US Boulogne-sur-Mer were at home against US Colomiers (the football team not the rugby team). Colomiers is a suburb of Toulouse, near the Pyrenees. [Boulogne won 3 - 0.]
Tomorrow in Iceland sixth-place ÍBV host fifth-place Valur. [Nope, postponed.] In Japan Sapporo entertain Okayama. Okayama is in the southwesternmost part of Honshu, on the Inland Sea, opposite Shikoku. [2 - 2.]
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