A comfortable 3-0 win for Celtic over St Johnstone in the early kick-off of the weekend helped Neil Lennon’s side close the gap at the top of the Scottish Premier League to just one point. Having survived a late scare against the same opponents during the week in the CIS Insurance Cup, Celtic started brightly at McDiarmid Park as they looked to put the disappointment of the Old Firm defeat behind them.
Niall McGinn fired the visitors into the lead within two minutes as the Bhoys took the game by the scruff of the neck. St Johnstone struggled to get into the game and, except for a Danny Grainger shot that drifted wide of the target, they didn’t trouble Fraser Forster’s goal in the first 30 minutes. At the other end, Graeme Smith was kept busy. Anthony Stokes, Marc Wilson and Georgios Samaras were all denied by the Saints ‘keeper before Emilio Izaguirre doubled the lead four minutes before half time.
The Honduran picked up on a poor back-pass and coolly placed the ball past Smith for his first ever goal for Celtic.
After the break, the tempo of Celtic’s play fell and that allowed St Johnstone to be much more competitive in all areas of the pitch. The home side looked to play with more purpose but were unable to get the goal that may have sparked a comeback. With time running out, the game was ended as a contest when Grainger was sent off for a second bookable offence and then McGinn swept home his second and Celtic’s third with two minutes left on the clock.
The win for Celtic in the lunchtime kick-off meant that Rangers had to beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle win to retain their three-point lead at the top of the table. Victory would have also meant that Rangers had made their best start to a league season in 112 years but despite a good start it wasn’t to be.
After a quiet opening 11 minutes, Rangers broke the deadlock through Maurice Edu. The American struggled to control Steven Davis’ delightful chip properly but it broke kindly for him to smash home from 16 yards. The goal settled the champions down and allowed them to take control. Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch and David Weir went close to adding a second before Edu and the impressive Vladimir Weiss were withdrawn at half time.
As Rangers settled in with two substitutes on the pitch, Thistle started to press. Nick Ross will have felt he should have done better with a volley he put wide before Richie Foran forced a spectacular save from Allan McGregor. The Scottish stopper somehow reached out and spooned Foran’s downward header over the crossbar. The chance seemed to encourage Inverness while Rangers looked to have one eye on Tuesday’s clash with Valencia.
As the home side tried to see out the game, Kirk Broadfoot lost possession and the ball was slid into the path of Caley sub Eric Odhiambo, who forced home the equaliser. The goal set up a thrilling finale to the game that saw both teams squandering chances to claim victory. Jonny Hayes and Kyle Lafferty went close at either end but ultimately the game finished in a draw that was fair to both sides.
Behind the top two, Hearts failed to make the jump into third position as they hosted Kilmarnock in the Sunday fixture. Having seen all of the results from Saturday’s games, Jim Jefferies’ side knew all three points would lift them above Motherwell. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to get the win they needed as Killie ran out as 3-0 winners thanks to some clinical finishing. Fraser Wright struck on the stroke of half time and, though Hearts huffed and puffed, an equaliser didn’t come. Cameron Bell was called into action on a handful of occasions before Conor Sammon and Alexei Eremenko wrapped up victory in the last ten minutes.
Hearts were granted the opportunity after Hamilton beat Motherwell 1-0 at Fir Park. Despite languishing in the bottom two going into the game, Billy Reid’s side put in a battling performance to come away with all of the points. Nigel Hasselbaink scored after a quarter of an hour and then didn’t stop running as his team held on. Tomas Cerny even stopped a Tom Hateley penalty as the Accies upset Craig Brown’s team.
Colin Calderwood made it two defeats out of two as his Hibernian side went down to a David Goodwillie strike three minutes from time. The contest was scrappy affair and saw neither Dundee United nor Hibernian able to really put their stamp on the match. The visitors were arguably the more creative of the two teams but Goodwillie made them pay for their wastefulness by firing home Danny Swanson’s long ball to secure all three points. Earlier in the game, John Rankin had a penalty saved by Dusan Pernis after Prince Buaben bundled Danny Galbraith over in the area.
Dundee weren’t the only team to leave victory late. Jure Travner struck two minutes into injury time to help St Mirren to their first victory in seven league matches with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen. A draw had looked like a fair result after Rory McArdle had wiped out Marc McAusland’s opener but Travner had other ideas. The on-loan Watford midfielder drilled home the late winner with less than twenty seconds remaining. Despite the win, St Mirren remained rooted to the bottom of the table.
Results
Saturday
Dundee Utd 1-0 Hibernian, Motherwell 0-1 Hamilton, Rangers 1-1 Inverness CT, St Johnstone 0-3 Celtic, St Mirren 2-1 Aberdeen
Sunday
Hearts 0-3 Kilmarnock
Tags: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton, Hearts, Hibernian, Inverness Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Rangers, Scottish Premier League, St Johnstone, St Mirren
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