3 hours ago
10
Celtic leapfrogged rivals Rangers to move second in the Premiership with a narrow 1-0 win over St Mirren but Hearts stayed clear at the top as two late goals saw them past Motherwell 3-1.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first-half strike was enough at Celtic Park, while Rangers head to Falkirk on Sunday and can reduce Hearts’ lead to one point again with victory.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was on target after 15 minutes, having had a goal chalked off for offside before that, and it was fairly comfortable for Celtic in the first half without creating too many clear-cut chances, though St Mirren did look a threat on the break.
Celtic’s goal arrived when Benjamin Nygren found McGregor and when his shot was blocked by Alex Gogic, Kieran Tierney picked out Oxlade-Chamberlain, who rifled into the bottom corner. St Mirren offered much more in the second half, certainly in terms of possession, without posing much of a threat.
Martin O’Neill praised his team for grinding out a win while not playing well, saying: “I thought the energy levels looked low, which I think if it had been the last 10 minutes of the game, and you’re holding on to something, I can understand that, but it set in pretty early in the second half, which is a bit of a concern.
“It seemed to befall a number of us at the same time, which is a bit of a worry. We’ve stayed in the hunt, and in fairness to the players they did dig it out in the end, so it was good. St Mirren played very well, had control of good wee parts of the game, particularly in the second half, and we just couldn’t get the elusive second goal, a wee bit like Dundee last week, but this time I thought we created much less. But we stayed strong, we defended at the corners and free-kicks pretty well, and St Mirren played very well.”
After a goalless first half at Tynecastle, Emmanuel Longelo fired Motherwell in front only for the leaders Hearts to equalise through Cláudio Braga’s overhead kick. It looked like the points might be shared before Stephen Welsh was judged to have fouled Landry Kaboré and Lawrence Shankland held his nerve to convert from the spot. Kaboré then added a third goal in added time to keep Hearts on top.
Stephen Robinson broke his winless run since moving from St Mirren to Aberdeen, the manager seeing his side win 2-0 at Pittodrie against Hibernian with a goal in each half from Kevin Nisbet.
Zac Sapsford’s late penalty secured Dundee United a dramatic 3-2 win over Livingston in a thriller at Tannadice. The hosts took the lead in the first half through Will Ferry but Livingston hit back after the break with a quickfire Lewis Smith double.
However, United equalised through substitute Krisztian Keresztes, with Sapsford grabbing all three points for the hosts from the penalty spot deep into added time.
Kelle Roos saved a stoppage-time penalty from Dundee striker Joe Westley to earn Kilmarnock a potentially precious point in their battle for survival. In a wild end to an absorbing 2-2 draw, Jamie Brandon conceded a spot-kick for a foul on Scott Wright. VAR then intervened to check the decision for an offside.
Six minutes elapsed before referee Ross Hardie finally went to the monitor to confirm the penalty. And the long wait weighed on Westley, who was denied as Roos guessed correctly to spring to his right and save.
Joe Hugill had given Kilmarnock the lead on 14 minutes, but Dundee hit back completely against the run of play in the 24th minute when Simon Murray headed in Tony Yogane’s cross. The hosts were back in front before half-time through Michael Schjønning-Larsen but Scott Wright levelled on 81 minutes before the late drama.
