The weekend of Scottish Premier League fixtures were done and dusted by five o’clock on Saturday afternoon, but things were soon overshadowed by the referees announcing their strike on Sunday. Rangers’ lead at the top of the table grew to three points thanks to a late Dundee United strike and Inverness Caley Thistle started to show their impressive away form in front of their own crowd.
Kilmarnock 2–3 Rangers
Kenny Miller and Conor Sammon shared five goals in a back-and-forth clash at Rugby Park. Miller stroked home two penalties to cancel out Sammon’s opener before the Killie man equalised just before the hour. Both strikers looked to hunt down a winning hat-trick, but with Mohamadou Sissoko having been sent off for a silly second booking the impetus was passed to Miller. The Scottish international slipped to the back post unmarked and was picked out by Steven Whittaker. He had time to control the ball and then slam the ball past Cammy Bell for his 18th goal of the season.
Celtic 1–1 Dundee United
Celtic were hit with a body blow: an injury time equaliser as they looked to keep pace with the league leaders. Gary Hooper had put Neil Lennon’s side into a 23rd minute lead and they looked good value for it. Dundee ‘keeper Dusan Pernis pulled off a string of fine saves to keep the deficit at just one and that eventually proved vital as Sean Dillon struck in the fourth minute of injury time. Barry Douglas crossed in a late free kick and Dillon’s header flew through the legs of Fraser Forster to stun the home team.
Inverness CT 4–2 Hibernian
Adam Rooney scored a hat-trick as Terry Butcher’s recently promoted side finally showed some of their excellent away form at their own ground. Inverness Caledonian Thistle are unbeaten away from Caledonian Stadium so far this year but have struggled slightly when in front of their own fans. This wasn’t the case as Hibernian were beaten 4-2 in a pretty comfortable victory even if Colin Calderwood’s side did threaten a comeback on a couple of occasions.
Richie Foran scored his first goal of the season early on before substitute Paul Hanlon handled on the line just six minutes after coming on. Rooney dispatched the resulting penalty and the Hibs full back was sent to have an early bath. Derek Riordan scored his 90th SPL goal and Liam Miller scored a penalty to give Hibs hope in the game, but Rooney completed his hat-trick to earn all three points for his side.
St Mirren 1–1 Motherwell
On-loan Blackburn Rovers striker Nick Blackman struck 16 minutes from time to guarantee a share of the spoils for Motherwell as they slipped to fifth in the SPL. ‘Well started the brighter of the teams but went behind to Gareth Wardlow’s goal on 37 minutes. Alan Gow and Tom Hateley had chances from free kicks early on but it was the Buddies that struck first. Craig Brown’s men tried to respond quickly but St Mirren stood firm until the 74th minute, when Blackman struck. Minutes later Michael Higdon was sent off for a second bookable offence and with his departure went any hopes the Buddies had on winning the game. The Steelmen pushed for a winner but they were unable to make the most of their numerical advantage.
Hearts 2–0 Hamilton
Jim Jefferies’ Hearts consolidated in third place in the SPL table thanks to a routine 2-0 victory over bottom side Hamilton. Rudi Skacel and David Templeton were on target for the Jambos as they recorded their fourth straight league victory. Simon Mensing missed a penalty late on which just about summed up the recent run of the struggling side.
Aberdeen 0–1 St Johnstone
An Aberdeen player scored the only goal of the game in the final game of the weekend. Sadly for under-pressure Mark McGhee, Zander Diamond’s header seven minutes from time was past his own ‘keeper and gave St Johnstone a valuable three points. The centre half found himself under pressure from Sam Parkin and nodded home after both teams had squandered a number of scoring opportunities. Both sides looked short of confidence in front of goal and that made for a tense affair. It seemed evident from an early stage that a single goal would settle matters and such was the case as Diamond failed to get out of the way of Peter MacDonald’s superb cross.
Tags: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton, Hearts, Hibernian, Inverness Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Rangers, Scottish Premier League, St Johnstone, St Mirren
I think Alexei Eremenko deserves a mention. He’s been outstanding for Kilmarnock this season and was his usual class apart against Rangers. Hopefully he’ll stay at Rugby Park for the rest of the season on loan, though I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some clubs willing to stump a fee to buy him from Metalist Kharkiv.