Andy Murray may struggle to play three matches at Davis Cup, Ronny Deila acknowledges pressure as Simon Church goal lets Aberdeen close gap

Today

Baby bore Murray begins new life of behaving like a father figure but admits his ageing body may struggle to play all three days as Davis Cup gets underway

Stuttering Celts slip up against sub-strength Dees forcing Deila to admit heat is on

Church strike rekindles Aberdeen belief as they close the gap on champions

Mols expresses surprise at Celtic’s failure to win a domestic treble in absence of Rangers from top flight

Gers plan to keep shopping in the domestic market-place

Law reckons Rangers have nothing to fear if they earn cup meeting with Celtic

Thistle home in on top six with win at Saints

Stubbs warns Hibs there is no time to feel sorry for themselves after unexpected slump

Clyde boss Ferguson revelling in learning the managerial trade in spite of his team’s defeat by the worst team in the country

Canning acknowledges that Accies have no-one to blame but themselves for run of poor results

Horne sounds warning that Scots must continue to look for improvement if they are to add to their first Six Nations win in 10 attempts

Wilson expresses hope that he has done enough to keep place in quality Scottish back-row

Edinburgh sign winger Rory Scholes from Ulster

Davis Cup team in contention for yet another prestigious award

Hoy on hunt for future cycling sprinters

Family man

New dad Andy Murray (right) with brother Jamie as they prepare to start to defend the Davis Cup

Restoring faith 

Simon Church scores the goal that puts Aberdeen back in Premiership contention

Disbelieving

Ronny Deila admitted to being angered by what he saw as Celtic slipped up again

Ulster Scot

New Edinburgh signing Rory Scholes 

Recruitment drive

Chris Hoy is adding his muscle to the search for new cycle sprint talent

06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines

Celtic's Premiership lead cut to four points after they draw nil nil with Dundee... Aberdeen beat Dundee United thanks to Simon Church goal... Partick Thistle win the night's other Premiership match... Tottenham miss chance to go top of English Premier League after losing to West Ham... Andy Murray and his team-mates set to find out what is in store as Davis Cup draw is made today

0.6.35 Radio Five Live sport headlines

Another twist in English Premier League title race as Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City all suffer defeats

Read all about it – the back pages

The Evening Times splash has Ronny Deila admitting he is under pressure to deliver as a dangerous cup tie looms with Celtic in their worst form of the season and also carries a promise from Frank McParland, Rangers head of recruitment, that they intend to focus on domestic talent.

The Herald also leads with Celtic’s latest setback and accompanies that with a vow from Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes to maintain the pressure on them in the title race as well as Nicky Law’s claim that Rangers would feel they have nothing to fear if they earn the right to meet the champions in the Scottish Cup, while there is also room for an update from Leon Smith as the Great Britain captain finalises his plans for this weekend’s start of their Davis Cup defence.

The National meanwhile gives the bulk of its attention to the tennis and Andy Murray’s hope that the birth of his daughter will give his game a lift, while mentioning both Peter Horne’s warning that Scotland’s rugby team should not yet consider themselves world class after a first Six Nations Championship win in 10 attempts and Tiger Woods’ latest claim that he can get back to the top in golf.

Grandstanding – today’s sports comment

In The Herald the opportunity is taken to pay tribute two the twa Shug Macs, greats of the sportwriting game, while in The National there is concern registered by The Kicker about the way in which Europe’s leading clubs seem to be preparing to bully the rest over entry to and the format of the Champions League.

Sporting Twitterati

Former England Test cricketer Graeme Swann expresses the frustration felt by man in sport about a bid to ban tackling in schools rugby:

Calls to ban tackling in school rugby? What's next? Soft balls in cricket and slippers in football? Let's just ban sports and become fat 😡😡😡

— Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) March 2, 2016

Sad news overnight from New Zealand:

Very sad to hear of the passing of martin crowe this morning. An inspiration to me and so many others. One of our true greats. RIP hogan

— Stephen Fleming (@SPFleming7) March 3, 2016

Behind the headlines…

Over the next three days we get the chance to see the impact of fatherhood on Andy Murray’s on-court demeanour.

Some will be hoping that the need to set the right sort of example will see a significant change with a reduction in the number of snarling outbursts that appear to be directed at the player’s support team but are generally just aimed at getting himself into the right frame of mind.

Many of us, however, will not be unduly concerned either way as long as the new dad retains the competitive edge that has made him the finest sportsman this country has ever produced.

There is no question that the birth of his daughter could prove a turning point in his career one way or another.

It has the potential to shift his priorities significantly and he has spoken well about his understanding of the value of spending time with her. The realisation that there are more important things than losing a tennis match could work either way.

Perhaps it will be something that removes some self-inflicted pressure which could conceivably have held him back in the key moments against Novak Djokovic in particular in recent years; perhaps caring a little less will cost him some of the intensity that has allowed him to be so competitive to this point with Roger Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the three greatest tennis players of all time.

This weekend may offer the first clue in that as, having won an astonishing 11 out of 11 ties during Britain’s first victory in the competition in almost 80 years, he returns to Davis Cup action this weekend.

Indications are that after a month off following his latest Australian Open final defeat, during which that massive change in his life has happened, Murray is unsure about whether he can once again manage to play on all three days.

Whatever he does, however, he owes British tennis nothing and it will be simply be interesting to see whether there is any obvious sign of a change of outlook from the player who is the younger brother of one of his team-mates but has been offering something of a paternal influence on the squad for some time, such is his importance to their efforts.

Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow Kicking Off another day in Scottish sport.