Time for our weekly round-up of the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League action. This week we had a reduced card due to the Co-operative Insurance Cup which took place today.
Rangers played their game from this week’s card just over a week ago. The Gers beat Kilmarnock 2-0 with goals from Kenny Miller and Stephen Whittaker, while St Mirren.
Only four games were played yesterday, so let’s round-up the action.
Aberdeen 2 Dundee United 2
Dundee United travelled to Pittordrie for what used to be known as the New Firm derby. It’s very rarely referred to is that these day, with Aberdeen and United’s glory days of the eighties well and truly behind them.
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee is under immense pressure at the moment, and that wouldn’t have been helped when Dundee United raced into a two goal lead. Striker Jon Daly (taking a day off from the golf) scored two in the first twenty-four minutes.
Aberdeen however do appear to still have some fighting spirit and clawed back the deficit by the end of the first half. Goals from Diamond after thirty-two minutes, and Paton deep into first half injury time evened the score.
That was to be the end of the scoring though, and after a goalless second half, the game ended 2-2. Aberdeen now find themselves nine points behind sixth place, but do have a game in hand. Dundee United meanwhile half lost ground on second placed Celtic and are now eight points behind.
Celtic 3 St Johnstone 0
A routine win for Tony Mowbray’s side who now find themselves ten points behind Rangers, and still well out of the running as it stands.
Young defender Josh Thompson opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute. Celtic were always comfortable but didn’t find the second goal until the sixty-seventh minute. It was on form Robbie Keane who fired home a penalty to take his tally to nine since his arrival in January.
Greek international Georgios Samaras sealed the win with the third goal, three minutes from the end of time. Celtic are still hoping for a miracle, but this win at least keeps them going in the right direction. St Johnstone are now six points from the top six, but have two games in hand. They are well clear of the relegation battle though.
Hamilton 2 Falkirk 2
Another four goal thriller this weekend, this time in the relegation dog fight between Hamilton Accies and Falkirk. I would suggest this result suited Hamilton more than it did Falkirk though.
A goal from Scott Arfield in the twenty-sixth minute gave the visitors a first-half lead. All the other goals came in a ten minute spell early in the second half.
Hamilton’s Antoine-Curier started the goal rush in the fiftieth minute to make it 1-1. Hamilton were then awarded a penalty in the fifty-eighth and it was converted by Mensing to give Accies the lead. Falkirk however hit back straight away to level the game at 2-2 thanks to a goal from Flynn.
The result keeps Hamilton Accies six points clear of bottom place Falkirk. Falkirk are three points from survival behind St Mirren, who were in League Cup action today.
Hearts 2 Hibernian 1
Last but not least. the small matter of the Edinburgh derby. Hibernian have been the better side this season and have been riding high, but their form had started to slip over the past few weeks.
Hearts had shown some improvement under Jim Jeffries, and it looked good for them as they took a two goal lead by midway through the first half. Goals came from Driver and Glen.
The Hibees battled hard to stay in it though and got a late goal from Derek Riordan to make the last ten minutes of the game nervy for the Jambos. Hearts held out though and got a vital three points in the race for a top six place.
Hibernian have lost more ground in the fight for a Europa League spot but are still very much in the hunt with only two points seperating them, Dundee United and Motherwell. Hearts now see a bit of light between themselves in sixth place and St Johnstone who are six points further back.
So that’s the round-up of SPL action for this week. Next week we have a full card again with all six games taking place on the Saturday. The live game is between Hearts and Rangers at Tynecastle with a 1230PM kick-off. The fixtures are as follows:
Aberdeen v St Mirren
Celtic v Kilmarnock
Dundee Utd v Motherwell
Falkirk v Hibernian
Hamilton v St Johnstone
Hearts v Rangers
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