Scottish league Saturday Review

Dundee United climbed up to third in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League with a 3-0 win over Falkirk.

Morgaro Gomis struck twice after David Goodwillie scored his ninth goal of the season from the penalty spot.

The victory gives United 45 points from 27 games, good enough for third after Hibernian were held to a 1-1 draw at home to St Johnstone.

Liam Craig dispatched a late penalty at Easter Road to frustrate the Saints, who had led from a third-minute spot-kick of their own, fired in by Anthony Stokes.

Craig's 85th-minute effort came after Derek Riordan had a shot cleared off the line as Hibs looked to double their lead.

Hibs are one point behind United and three above Motherwell, who beat Kilmarnock 1-0 at home.

Jamie Murphy got the only goal, his deft header in the 69th minute giving Motherwell a massive 12-point cushion over seventh-placed Aberdeen, whose miserable run continued with a lunchtime defeat to 10-man Hearts.

It is now eight matches since the Dons last tasted victory.

Today they went down 1-0 but it was a worthy winner with Eggert Jonsson firing in a stunning overhead kick in the 64th minute.

That came 12 minutes after Hearts substitute Laryea Kingston was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Fraser Fyvie.

Today's other match between St Mirren and Hamilton ended in a goalless draw.

Rangers 3 Hibernian 0

This had the feel of a surge in the tide of Rangers' fortunes.

After having played 230 minutes of football without having been in the lead at any time, Walter Smith's side finally reasserted themselves against Hibs, who had them on the back foot at half-time, but who succumbed to a step-up in the champions' performance after the break and conceded goals to Steven Whittaker, Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller.

Rangers are now 10 points clear of Celtic and 15 ahead of Hibs – one may as well throw in an extra point in consideration of their vastly superior goal difference in both cases – with 13 games left to play, one of which is the Old Firm derby at Ibrox on Feb 28.

If Smith's players preserve their advantage beyond that collision, Celtic would be set the task of having to gain a point a game on their city rivals, not a scenario that will draw throngs to the bookmakers from the ranks of the Parkhead support.

Rangers' prospects might have looked less attractive had Sasa Papac not made a crucial goal-line clearance from Paul Hanlon seven minutes before the break, from a corner kick which was itself the product of a last-ditch tackle by Madjid Bougherra on Merouane Zemmama. Instead, they survived until the interval and regrouped.

DaMarcus Beasley, on his comeback after a 12-game absence through injury, did not have his woes to seek.

The player who recently had his £65,000 BMW torched in lurid circumstances looked suitably pedestrian and had become the target for vehemently expressed condemnation from the home fans before Smith prudently kept him indoors during the intermission.

"I was a bit harsh on Beasley today," said the manager. "He should have had more game time before throwing him into a match of such importance but he brings something to our play that nobody else gives us and we were anxious to have that against Hibs. However, he'll come back and be a big influence for us."

Beasley was replaced by Kyle Lafferty, usually first choice as the recipient of dog's abuse from the Ibrox spectators, but the Northern Irishman foreclosed that option by forcing Graeme Smith into a grateful clutch with his first touch.

The goalkeeper, though, was confounded five minutes later when Lafferty and Whittaker surged in tandem into the Hibs box where the full-back whipped his drive high into the net.

Rangers, suddenly unburdened, were far from home free and Allan McGregor gave them an uncharacteristic scare when he allowed a Zemmama drive to squirm under his body and just managed to claw the ball back on the line. A minute later, Hibs were scuppered when Sol Bamba clattered into Miller to concede a penalty which Boyd insisted on taking – partly because he always does, but also because he was about to be replaced by Nacho Novo.

Boyd's successful conversion completed a fortunate afternoon for him, because he had been cautioned for flinging out an elbow in a tussle with Zemmama.

Most would have construed the offence as violent conduct but after a confab with his main stand side assistant, Steven Conroy decreed it a two-point offence for obstruction, thus sparing the Rangers forward from an automatic suspension that would have excluded him from facing Celtic – not that he is a guaranteed pick on such occasions.

With a comfort margin at their disposal, Rangers began to caper, playing one-touch passes for fun and they got an almost gratuitous third when Thomson picked out Miller for a simple tap-in. That occurred in injury time, literally so for Kevin McBride who was hurt as he slipped to concede the vital possession and had to limp off, leaving Hibs with 10 men for the few seconds that remained.

"I'm not going to be too critical of my lads," said Hibs manager John Hughes. "We came here and had a go with a very attack minded formation and for the first 45 minutes I would say we were the better team.

"With hindsight you'll get people telling us we should have shut up shop and frustrated Rangers but I've done that here and at Celtic Park and got nothing out of it. If you want to win a boxing match you've got to throw punches and we nearly landed one or two.

"Even in defeat I felt that Liam Miller was the star performer but we didn't always play to our usual tempo. To go that bit further we need strong characters who say, 'Hey, I want a piece of this', without charging in like lunatics.

"Rangers had that and maybe just a wee bit too much for us. I think Walter gave them a rollicking at half-time."

That suggestion was, however, rebutted by Smith when he said: "I didn't, as a matter of fact. John is taking away from his own side a little when he says that because Hibs' formation is awkward to play against and we had to work extremely hard to get in front. It was a good game and an excellent advert for Scottish football – as well as a reminder that you can't take anything for granted, as this weekend has shown."

To which Celtic would no doubt say amen, were they not otherwise occupied in praying for their own quota of miracles.

Match details

Rangers (4-4-2): McGregor; Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Davis, McCulloch, Thomson, Beasley (Lafferty h-t); Boyd (Novo 70), Miller. Subs: Alexander (g), Edu, Little, Wilson, Wylde. Booked: Boyd, Thomson, Whittaker.

Hibernian (4-2-4): Smith; Hogg, Bamba, Hanlon, Murray; Zemmama (Nish 78), Miller, Rankin (McBride 84), Gow (Riordan 67); Benjelloun, Stokes. Subs: Stack (g), Cregg, Stevenson, Wotherspoon. Booked: Hogg.

Referee: Steven Conroy.

Aberdeen 4 Celtic 4

Having produced the football equivalent of running a bath without putting the plug in, Celtic and Aberdeen contemplate the week to come with greatly contrasting moods.

Since their wholesale reconstruction in the January transfer window, Celtic have won one, drawn one and lost one, scoring six goals and conceding five as the run of victories needed for a credible title challenge continues to elude them, so that they are back to trailing Rangers by 10 points.

Aberdeen, meanwhile, have been stuck in the middle with Raith Rovers, Hibernian and Celtic, drawing three consecutive matches.

They face Raith again on Tuesday night in their Active Nation Scottish Cup fifth round replay at Pittodrie, desperate to put an end to the sequence of lamentable results that have haunted them in the knockout competitions in recent years.

That hoodoo, of course, was the prompt for Mark McGhee to muse last week on whether it was better for Aberdeen to beat Celtic or Raith, a line of thought that was parlayed into the notion that the Dons manager would field a weakened team against the Parkhead side.

McGhee's response to such headlines was to throw the rattle from the pram by cancelling his pre-match briefing on Friday but by Saturday he had recovered his sense of humour so that when the team sheets arrived at the Pittodrie press box they contained, not only his own name, but those of other superannuated Pittodrie heroes like Willie Miller and Joe Harper, plus a smattering of cadets from the youth squad.

Point made, Aberdeen then went on to exploit the Celtic defence's endemic weaknesses in such fashion it was possible to wonder how the spoof team might have done.

When Tony Mowbray was appointed Celtic manager last summer much was made of his addiction to attacking play, exemplified by the one-touch passing game that took his young West Brom side to the Premier League.

When he arrived some wondered how he would address the balance at Celtic, where swashbuckling football is in the genes, but where ragged defending had become an increasingly costly feature of the side's performance.

The answer, on current evidence, is that he has greatly added to firepower while having yet to remedy Celtic's alarming tendency to take needless hits.

Against Aberdeen Celtic twice led by a goal and once by two goals, yet McGhee's players were able to draw level repeatedly and finish with numerical superiority at 4-4 when Darren O'Dea was sent off for a second yellow card in injury time, thus compounding Mowbray's difficulties at the back.

From middle to front, by contrast, Celtic are over-endowed with options, so that Aiden McGeady, Marc-Antoine Fortuné, Diomansy Kamara and Robbie Keane all featured at Pittodrie and each scored, but all the time the back door was swinging wide open and beckoning Aberdeen to barge through.

This they did with verve, netting through Michael Paton and Darren Mackie in the first half and twice from Steven MacLean after the break, once from the penalty spot after Edson Braafheid had inexplicably thrown up his arm to handle in the box and then from a close-range drive when Celtic marking was again conspicuous by its absence.

With O'Dea suspended for the visit of Dundee United on Saturday, Celtic urgently need to have Andreas Hinkel and Glenn Loovens back to fitness.

Mowbray, whose benchmark is performance rather than result, was typically phlegmatic in his analysis. "The first half was as poor as we have been," said the Celtic manager.

"We didn't get a grip of the game and yet we scored a couple of great goals. To score four goals away from home and yet not to win the game is obviously disappointing. At 4-2 we felt the game was just about done but we gave them a lifeline inexplicably with a penalty from nowhere – you saw it and I saw it and why his hand went up I'm not sure – so it was ultimately frustrating. The game was dead and buried really and in the period after we went 4-2 up their keeper made one or two fantastic saves, but credit to them, they kept going.

"We took Keane off because we knew they had a good dead ball delivery and anything they got would come into our box, so Samaras at 6ft 3in was going to be more of an aid in these situations. Their equaliser was from a corner kick and Robbie stays upfield at corners so he's got no influence on that. I think you'd rather have your experienced footballers out there doing a job. The young team that we had and the changes we had to make obviously didn't help.

"I think when we get our injured players back you'd like to think we wouldn't lose four goals the way we did."

For his part, McGhee drew a distinction between the way the sides sustained damage. "At 4-2 I felt we could get something and you don't often feel that, especially against Celtic," he said.

"We kept giving goals away too easily so we kept putting ourselves on the back foot and I thought Celtic got their four goals a lot more easily than we did."

Celtic 2 Heart of Midlothian 0

The Premier League game between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Parkhead on Wednesday Feb 10 2010.

Not yet a swing of the pendulum, but a helpful nudge, as Celtic attempt to bring themselves back into contention in the Scottish title race.

That was the story of a chill evening in the east end of Glasgow, where Glenn Loovens and Marc Antoine Fortune scored in swift succession early in the second half to guarantee victory and a gain of two points on Rangers, who were held to a draw by Craig Brown's resurgent Motherwell at Fir Park.

Robbie Keane, the focus of attention for the home support in a crowd that was much closer to capacity than anything seen at Celtic Park for some time, could not repeat his feat of scoring as he did against Dunfermline in the Active Nation Scottish Cup on

Sunday, but if there no cartwheels from the Irishman there was nevertheless the sense that he and his team mates had made some sort of progress after a difficult passage.

Keane was one of three changes to the side that beat Dunfermline. Aiden McGeady, who started that tie on the bench alongside his fellow Republic of Ireland international, was back in his accustomed place, along with Fortune, while Marc Crosas, Tomas Rasmussen and Georgios Samaras were named amongst the replacements.

Hearts , not short of injury concerns, were arrayed exactly as expected with Christian Nade working a solo shift in front of a congested midfield designed to deny Celtic space.

The ploy worked well enough in the first half, aside from a short spell of suicidal waste of possession which, however, Tony Mowbray's players could not exploit.

Keane had one sniff of a chance which he put into the side netting but went into moaning mode as he was caught offside three times in succession before he adjusted his stride and fashioned the best opportunity of the opening 45 minutes, only to find Marian Kello alive to his intentions and able to block one handed.

By the interval at which McGeady was booked for berating the referee about a screed of grievances - the home fans were far from mutinous, but they were grumpy about the possibility that Rangers might yet wriggle off the hook.

That possibility receded in short order after the restart when Celtic struck twice in as many minutes.

Their first was a comedy of errors, although Celtic had the last laugh when a corner kick from Edson Braafheid fell to Loovens inside the box. Loovens took a defender's touch which saw the ball spin up off him.

However, Marius Zaliukas did not better, with a feeble attempt at a clearance that allowed Loovens a second chance, which he gratefully drove beyond Kello.

Their wits dulled by this setback, Hearts immediately conceded a second, conceding possession for McGeady to feed Fortune in for a low shot tucked below the diving goalkeeper.

What remained of the contest consisted largely of attempts to get Keane on to the score sheet, a process that foundered when he could not convert his best openings, poking one straight at Kello and drifting another just over the top.

In fact, the biggest cheer of the second period - apart from the goals, of course - saluted the news Rangers had fallen further behind at Fir Park, a piece of misinformation that took a little of the gloss off the evening for the celebrants once they learned the truth.

Still, they were able to make their home in contemplation of a small step in the right direction.

Motherwell 1 Rangers 1

The Premier League game between Motherwell and Rangers at Fir Park on Wednesday Feb 10 2010.

Kris Boyd showed Rangers what they had been missing when he rescued a point against Motherwell in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The striker made his first start since recovering from a double hernia operation and prevented the Scottish champions from slumping to only their second league defeat of the season.

Tom Hateley - son of former Rangers hero Mark - grabbed the opener for Motherwell, who were also controversially denied a second goal, as Craig Brown remained undefeated in the SPL.

Kenny Miller started alongside Boyd upfront as Rangers manager Walter Smith made four changes from the weekend.

The strike duo came off the bench in the goalless Active Nation Scottish Cup tie at St Mirren and made the starting line-up tonight, with Steven Naismith moved back to midfield and Kyle Lafferty dropped to the bench.

David Weir returned from suspension to partner Madjid Bougherra in the heart of defence, while Sasa Papac was back after a knee injury kept him out of the last couple of games.

Motherwell made one change from the side who defeated Hamilton; the suspended Giles Coke replaced by Ross Forbes. New loan signing Michael McGlinchey started on the bench.

The Steelmen started well and carved out the first real chance of the match when Keith Lasley whipped in a cross from the right for John Sutton but he nodded just over from close range.

Lukas Jutkiewicz then tried his luck from distance but drilled straight into the hands of Allan McGregor, with the Rangers goalkeeper able to smother easily.

The on-loan Everton man was threatening again moments later, this time turning and unleashing a point-blank left-foot shot that was also blocked by McGregor.

The Rangers goalkeeper was called into action again as Motherwell continued to pile on the pressure, this time pushing a blistering long range effort from Sutton past his left-hand post.

Rangers then had the chance to open the scoring when Boyd was fouled just outside the box by Stephen Craigan and Steven Davis curled his free-kick narrowly past the upright.

Instead, it was Motherwell who took the lead under similar circumstances with 28 minutes gone. Jim O'Brien was felled by Davis and Hateley left McGregor with no chance with a superb free-kick that smashed into the top corner.

The visitors tried to hit back when Boyd unleashed a ferocious volley from 30-yards but goalkeeper John Ruddy was able to gather, before then blocking from Lee McCulloch.

Rangers made a change at the interval, with Nacho Novo replacing Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Whittaker switching to right-back, as they desperately tried to haul themselves back into the game.

However, there was a controversial moment with 54 minutes gone when Motherwell were denied a second goal of the night.

Hateley's free-kick was met by Craigan, whose effort looked netbound and was helped over the line by Forbes only for the latter to be flagged for offside - despite television pictures appearing to show he was onside.

At the other end, a Davis corner broke for Novo and he rifled a powerful volley from just outside the box only to be denied by an alert Ruddy.

Rangers pushed forward in a bid to snatch a point and Ruddy was forced to block from Davis, before Boyd blasted well over from close-range.

But the striker made amends with 80 minutes on the clock when he collected a cross from the left from Sasa Papac and lashed into the back of the net from the six-yard box.

A lacklustre Rangers would no doubt have been happy with the draw on a difficult night at Fir Park but Celtic's win over Hearts allowed them to close the gap on the SPL leaders to eight points.

Kilmarnock 1 Celtic 0

The Scottish Premier League game between Kilmarnock and Celtic at Rugby Park on Tuesday Feb 02 2010.

This was supposed to be the Robbie Keane show, an all-singing, all-dancing introduction to Scottish football for the striker who arrived from Tottenham Hotspur to salvage Celtic’s season for the princely sum of £65,000 per week.

Unfortunately for the 29 year-old, his debut at Rugby Park echoed that of namesake Roy, who arrived with a fanfare from Manchester United four years ago only for his first appearance to end in a humiliating Scottish Cup defeat by First Division Clyde.

The odds against a similar outcome last night were long and little wonder: the Ayrshire club had failed to beat Celtic for nine years, losing 29 of their last 31 meetings against the Glasgow side.

However, this defeat must surely have handed the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title on a plate to penniless Rangers.

With only 15 fixtures remaining and their game in hand squandered, Tony Mowbray’s team now trail the leaders by 10 points, with Rangers’ vastly superior goal difference worth a further point.

Many of the 4,000 Celtic fans who travelled to Ayrshire expected not only this match but the rest of the season to belong to their new hero but the failings which have plagued Mowbray’s side throughout a troubled campaign — defensive instability and a lack of imagination in midfield — have clearly not been solved overnight.

Keane’s wages may surprise some but Celtic still managed to make a net profit during the transfer window: much may that comfort them in the months ahead.

All eyes may have been on the Irishman but it was the South Korean, Ki Sung-Yeung, who provided the first hint of a goal, with Cammy Bell diving to his left to push away the midfielder’s free-kick after six minutes.

Kilmarnock responded with a dipping shot from similar distance by Craig Bryson, which caused Artur Boruc some discomfort.

Shortly afterwards, Jamie Hamill latched on to Chris Maguire’s through ball but although his shot beat Boruc it found only the side netting.

Celtic, perhaps unsurprisingly, lacked fluency but the home side were indebted to Garry Hay, who hoofed Marc-Antoine Fortune’s header from a Diomansy Kamara corner off the line.

Keane flitted around the final third waiting for passes and crosses which never came until the 31st minute, when his international team-mate, Aiden McGeady, finally rolled the ball into his path on the edge of the penalty area.

It was the striker’s first look at goal and, attempting to sacrifice power for accuracy, he sidefooted wide of the left-hand post.

Four minutes later he chipped the ball over the advancing goalkeeper but his effort cleared the crossbar. Keane hit the target at the third attempt but, left one-on-one with Bell after sterling work from Fortune, the former spread himself to block his initial drive and repeated the feat from the rebound.

It was hardly expected that Maguire, making his debut the day after arriving on loan from Aberdeen, would be the most accomplished forward on view but the Scotland Under-21 player’s evening was to improve considerably after the interval.

Fine work by Tim Clancy and, especially, Mehdi Taouil on the right flank culminated in the Moroccan pulling the ball back for Maguire and the striker’s scuffed shot from 10 yards trickled behind the unsighted Boruc and inside his right-hand post.

Celtic’s frustration led to cautions for McGeady and Landry N’Guemo for lunges on Garry Hay and Craig Bryson respectively.

The visitors’ cause was hardly helped by the loss of half of their rearguard, with Andreas Hinkel and Jos Hooiveld both departing prematurely with thigh injuries.

Kamara, the less feted Celtic debutant, had a quiet evening and even when he engineered an opening for himself in the 64th minute Simon Ford threw himself at the Senegal striker’s feet to block the shot.

Keane, who had been largely subdued after the restart, burst into life two minutes later when he volleyed Fortune’s cross wide.

Glenn Loovens sent a free header from a Kamara corner astray as Celtic attempted, increasingly desperately, to restore parity.

There was one final opportunity for Keane but his shot on the turn in the 86th minute was kept out by the impressive Bell.

Keane had been introduced to the media at quarter past midnight on Tuesday morning: he and his team-mates could have played on until that time last night and still not have found the net.

Robbie Keane leaves Tottenham Hotspur to join Celtic on loan

Robbie Keane ensured that transfer deadline day did not disappoint.

The money may not have been in the same league as in previous spells but a busy final day brought a surprise climax when the Tottenham striker, unable to secure a regular first-team place, agreed to join Celtic, the club he supported as a boy.

Manchester City, having spent more than £50 million a year ago, came in late with a £6 million deal for Middlesbrough's highly-rated Adam Johnson but the arrival at Eastlands of the winger was overshadowed by the loan transfer of Keane to Celtic.

Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, admitted that he could not stand in the way of what was a "dream move" for Keane. "The chairman rang me just after 5 o'clock to stay that Celtic had been on. He asked me what I thought and I said he's too good not to be starting," said Redknapp.

"He wants to play all the time, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe have been in good form. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored last week, I took Eidur Gudjohnsen recently and so it's been difficult to get him in the side.

"He's a big Celtic man, it's a dream come true for him and it will be like when Roy Keane moved there. For the Irish lads, it's in their blood and they dream about it. I wouldn't want to stand in his way as we are strong in that position."

Redknapp also allowed Alan Hutton to join Sunderland on loan.

Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool resisted the temptation to enter the market late but West Ham, having waited for a goalscorer all season, saw three come along at Upton Park.

Benni McCarthy's anticipated £2.25 million move from Blackburn went through and he was later joined by Mido, who has been on loan to Egyptian club El Zamalek from Middlesbrough.

Mido was allegedly subjected to racist chants when playing for Tottenham against West Ham nearly five years ago but the striker, who has taken a pay cut to return to the Premier League, said: "I had to sacrifice some things and I'm here to prove a point."

Later, manager Gianfranco Zola, with the encouragement of new co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan, added a third forward, the Brazilian Ilan, who had been released by St-Etienne.

While Zola was celebrating signing players rather than losing them, another financially-stricken Premier League club, Portsmouth, avoided their own fire sale. Having sold Younes Kaboul to Tottenham on Saturday, they agreed to let goalkeeper Asmir Begovic go to Stoke, but only after initially threatening to complain about the original approach.

The Tartan Revolution at Middlesbrough continued when Gordon Strachan spent £3.6 million on Celtic striker Scott McDonald and Aberdeen's Lee Miller, taking the total signed from Scotland in the window to seven.

Victor Moses's proposed move to Wigan from Crystal Palace, docked 10 points last week after going into administration, went ahead but another Selhurst Park favourite, Nathaniel Clyne, rejected the chance to join Wolves.

SPL Saturday Review

Scottish Premier League matches played on Saturday.

Steven Davis grabbed a goal of his own and set up the other two as Rangers restored their 10-point lead at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League with a 3-0 win over bottom side Falkirk.

The midfielder set the ball rolling at Ibrox with his second goal in three days, before teeing up shots for both John Fleck and Steven Whittaker.

The pressure was on for the Scottish champions to secure maximum points following Celtic's 1-0 victory at Hamilton.

Morten Rasmussen scored his first goal for the Hoops at New Douglas Park.

The former Brondby striker had only been on the park for three minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute for Georgios Samaras when he turned and hooked the ball past Tomas Cerny from close range.

The visitors were far from their best in a scrappy game and missed a late penalty when Cerny saved from Marc-Antoine Fortune.

Jim Jefferies' first match in charge of Hearts for almost a decade proved a huge anti-climax as St Johnstone won courtesy of the only goal of the game at at McDiarmid Park.

Kenny Deuchar's first SPL goal for almost two years was enough to beat a side whose only shot on target came from substitute Gordon Smith in stoppage time, the game ending with Jambos captain Michael Stewart having to be restrained leaving the field.

Kilmarnock ended their five-game barren spell but Jimmy Calderwood is still searching for his first three points after Jon Daly's penalty tied an eight-goal thriller against Dundee United.

Goals from Kevin Kyle, Manuel Pascali and Craig Bryson turned the game on its head but the hosts led for just three minutes before Daly completed the scoring midway through the second half.

Calderwood would have been encouraged by the spirit on show as his side fought back from Craig Conway's double, which came after Kilmarnock defender Simon Ford had levelled Prince Buaben's opener.

A stoppage-time own goal from Jack Ross allowed Hibs to maintain their push for third place with victory over St Mirren.

Inspired goalkeeping from Paul Gallacher and poor finishing from the hosts looked set to see the visitors leave with a draw, only for Ross to head in Ian Murray's cross-cum shot.

Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba, restored to the line-up after returning from the African Nations Cup, also put through his own net early on to gift the Buddies the lead.

But former Celtic midfielder Liam Miller restored parity with his second goal of the season before Hibs struck two minutes into stoppage time to remain two points behind second-placed Celtic.

Motherwell scored three times against Aberdeen without reply to earn their third league win in four games.

Craig Brown's men were worthy winners at a snowy Pittodrie and never looked back after John Sutton's opener after 29 minutes.

Lukas Jutkiewicz nodded home a second five minutes after the break before Sutton struck again three minutes later. The toothless Dons rarely troubled the Well rearguard who kept their fourth successive clean sheet in the league.

Celtic 1 Hibernian 2

The Scottish Premier League game between Celtic and Hibernian at Parkhead on Wednesday Jan 27, 2010.

There was precious little home comfort for Celtic as Danny Galbraith’s first senior goal holed their challenge for the championship below the waterline.

A third successive league fixture at Parkhead without a victory leaves them trailing Rangers by 10 points and, not for the first time during this troubled campaign, Celtic’s players were jeered from the field at the final whistle.

Manager Tony Mowbray may not have convinced the majority that he is the man to return the club to the top table but he is certainly determined to live or die by his own judgment: of the 11 who started last night only Artur Boruc, Andreas Hinkel, Aiden McGeady and Georgios Samaras were regulars last season.

The home side started with their most recent signings, Morten Rasmussen and Jos Hooiveld, on the bench but they made the perfect start to this contest, opening the scoring in the fifth minute.

McGeady’s persistence on the left flank forced a corner and Paul Caddis’ near-post delivery was met by Marc-Antoine Fortuné, who stole in front of his marker to head home via the underside of the crossbar.

Fortune has never been a prolific goalscorer but, perhaps inspired by Rasmussen’s arrival, that gave him his third goal in two matches and he soon came close again with a glancing header from a McGeady cross.

Hibernian had started brightly enough but the goal clearly dented their confidence and it took them until midway through the first half before they managed an attempt at Boruc’s goal with a snap shot from 20 yards which failed to trouble the Pole.

Boruc was called upon to make a stupendous save in the 24th minute, diving to his right to claw an attempted clearance from Josh Thompson out from the postage-stamp corner.

Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, he immediately blotted his copybook when, from Derek Riordan’s inswinging corner kick, he found himself on the wrong side of Anthony Stokes, leaving the Irishman with a simple header for his 14th goal of the season.

Samaras had the ball in the net on the stroke of half-time but was correctly adjudged to have been in an offside position. The Greek striker then compounded his felony by collecting a caution for a late lunge at Graeme Smith in the Hibs goal.

A surging run from Fortuné immediately after the restart allowed McGeady to fire into the side netting from the edge of the penalty area and that burst of action briefly lifted the spirits of the home support.

However, with Rangers ahead in Paisley, the home crowd’s impatience with Celtic’s inability to break down a well-organised defence soon became apparent and wasn’t helped when Samaras, a yard out, failed to connect with Fortuné’s driven cross.

Although they enjoyed the bulk of possession, Mowbray’s side was too often reduced to shooting from distance, although one effort from McGeady almost deceived the unsighted Smith, who scrambled the ball behind for a corner.

He did much better on the hour when he spread himself to block a volley from Niall McGinn after Samaras had nodded a Caddis cross into his path.

The Celtic support was positively apopleptic when Samaras, that most frustrating of players, headed wastefully over from inside the six-yard box after having once again been picked out by Caddis.

It proved to be his final contribution and his withdrawal midway through the second half produced almost as loud a cheer as the announcement that Rasmussen would replace him.

Hibs were rarely seen as an attacking force after the break but John Rankin should have at least tested Boruc when presented with a clear sight of goal 18 yards out.

For reasons best known to himself, however, the midfielder attempted to thread the ball between two defenders to Stokes instead of accepting the responsibility to shoot.

Chris Hogg also shot wide when he should have converted a Galbraith corner but the youngster showed him how it should be done when he drove low behind Boruc from 15 yards after being set up by Stokes and Rankin.

Match details

Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Hinkel, Thompson, O’Dea, Caddis; McGinn (Ki 60), Zhi (McCourt 73), Crosas, McGeady; Fortune, Samaras (Rasmussen 67). Subs: Zaluska (g), Hooiveld, McGowan, Naylor. Booked: Samaras.

Hibernian (4-1-3-2): Smith; Wotherspoon, Hogg, Hanlon, Murray; McBride; Miller, Rankin, Riordan (Stevenson 66); Stoked, Nish (Galbraith 66). Subs: Ma-Kalamby (g), Cregg, McCormack, Benjelloun, McCann. Booked: Rankin.

Referee: Iain Brines.

St Mirren 0 Rangers 2

The Scottish Premier League game between St Mirren and Rangers at St Mirren Park on Wednesday Jan 27 2010.

Steven Davis claimed his first goal of the season as Rangers strengthened their grip on pole position in the SPL with a win over St Mirren.

The midfielder netted in the opening two minutes before Nacho Novo marked his comeback from injury with a late strike to put the game beyond doubt.

The win – combined with Celtic’s defeat to Hibernian – allowed Walter Smith’s men to extend their lead at the summit to 10 points.

Rangers enjoyed the best possible start to the game when they surged into the lead with just two minutes on the clock.

Kyle Lafferty chipped the ball into the path of Davis, who cut inside from the right before lashing past Paul Gallacher to claim his first goal of the season.

To St Mirren’s credit they could have been back on level terms minutes later when Kirk Broadfoot failed to close down Garry Brady and he was able to unleash a shot which was held by Allan McGregor at the near post.

Lafferty could have snatched a goal of his own after weaving his way past several Saints players, but the end product was poor and his weak effort was easily smothered by Gallacher, before Lee McCulloch smacked the underside of the crossbar with a thunderous shot.

Davis could have netted his second of the night as Rangers continued to press but Gallacher did well to parry his point-blank shot past his left-hand post. Lafferty tried to turn provider again with a flick-on for Steven Whittaker but the Saints goalkeeper managed to intercept before he could connect just a few yards from goal.

Saints also looked capable of finding the back of the net and could have pulled a goal back shortly before the break when Andy Dorman’s corner broke for Billy Mehmet but he blasted well over.

Rangers tried to emulate their impressive start in the first half after the restart and Whittaker was not too far away with a low effort from long range which flashed across the face of goal and past the upright.

Not to be outdone, the Buddies carved out a decent chance of their own when Brady drilled an angled drive into the side-netting but McGregor appeared to have the shot covered anyway.

Saints should have levelled on the hour mark through Mehmet but the forward’s header from close range was horribly off-target when it looked certain to find the top corner.

Novo then produced a bad miss of his own when he also nodded wide of the target from just a few yards out and with the net at his mercy.

The Spaniard had the chance to make amends when Miller squared into the path of the striker and his shot was struck well enough but failed to make it past two St Mirren defenders and the chance was lost.

With just over 10 minutes to go, Miller was withdrawn to make way for Naismith as Rangers continued to search for the second goal.

The Scottish champions finally netted the elusive second goal with four minutes to go when Novo raced onto a Davis pass on the right flank and darted into the box before rifling a shot into the back of the net in off the post.

Match details

St Mirren: Gallacher, Ross, Potter, Innes, Barron, Brady (Dargo 75), Murray, Thomson (O’Donnell 68), Dorman, Mehmet, Higdon. Subs: Howard, Mair, Devlin, Ramsay, Burns. Booked: Thomson.

Rangers: McGregor, Broadfoot, Weir, Wilson, Papac, Novo, Davis, McCulloch, Whittaker, Miller (Naismith 77), Lafferty (Thomson 60). Subs: Alexander, Mendes, Smith, Fleck, Little. Booked: Lafferty.

Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).

Hamilton 0 Kilmarnock 0

Tomas Cerny's fine save from Mark Burchill was the only highlight of a dreadful SPL encounter at New Douglas Park.

Midway through the first half, which was bereft of anything approaching a chance, the Killie striker took advantage of hesitancy from Accies' defender David van Zanten to race clear on goal.

However, the Hamilton goalkeeper kept his nerve to block Burchill's unconvincing strike and thereafter neither goal saw much action.

Second-bottom Killie, still looking for their first win under new manager Jimmy Calderwood, are now two points ahead of basement side Falkirk but the Bairns could come off the bottom with a win over Motherwell on Wednesday.

Hamilton revealed after the match that they had rejected a bid from West Brom to sign midfielder James McArthur on a loan deal.

There was a late disruption to the Accies' line-up when skipper Alex Neil was injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced by David Elebert.

However, the home side started enthusiastically, forcing a couple of corners within the first few minutes but without troubling Killie keeper Cameron Bell.

In the eighth minute it was Rugby Park striker Kevin Kyle, at the other end, who flicked a Craig Bryson corner high over the bar from 14 yards in what was the visitors' first attack.

Any early optimism, though, appeared misleading as the match deteriorated by the minute, with mistake following mistake.

The game refused to improve with time as both sides showed why they are stuck in the relegation battle.

But Kilmarnock had a great chance in the 25th minute as Van Zanten hesitated in defending a Mehdi Taouil clearance, allowing Burchill to nick the ball and race clear on goal.

The former Celtic striker only had Cerny to beat but the Accies keeper stood his ground and blocked Burchill's low drive for a corner which the home side defended.

Moments later, to add injury to insult, Burchill limped off to be replaced by Liam Kelly.

Neither goal was really threatened before half-time.

Kyle had a tame header saved by Cerny seven minutes from the break before Bell had just as easy a task in saving from Mickael Antoine-Curier's close-range drive.

McArthur's drive from 25 yards was again mopped up by Bell as the match spluttered all the way to the break.

The small crowd of 2,018 inside New Douglas Park looked forward to some improvement after the break but the early signs were not encouraging.

Accies manager Billy Reid made a double substitution 10 minutes into the second half, Jordan Kirkpatrick replacing Marco Paixao and Kyle Wilkie on for Elliot.

On the hour mark Killie captain Manuel Pascali powered in a header from a Bryson corner but Cerny was perfectly placed to gather.

A minute later Trent McClenahan came on for Richard Hastings as Hamilton boss Reid used his last option off the bench.

It looked increasingly like the first goal would be the winner, if a chance could be fashioned.

A brief spell of Accies pressure with 15 minutes remaining saw Antoine-Curier just fail to get on the end of Wilkie's cross before Van Zanten's drive was blocked by a clutch of Killie bodies inside the box.

The closing stages failed to deliver a grandstand finale and both sides settled for a point which neither really deserved.

Match details

Hamilton: Cerny, van Zanten, Hastings (McClenahan 61), Canning, McLaughlin, Mensing, McArthur, Elebert, M Paixao (Kirkpatrick 54), Elliott (Wilkie 54), Antoine-Curier. Subs: Murdoch, F Paixao, Crawford, Sullivan. Booked: McArthur.

Kilmarnock: Bell, Hamill, Hay, Ford, Pascali, Fowler, Bryson, Taouil, Invincibile, Burchill (Kelly 29), Kyle. Subs: Robinson, Skelton, Old, Owens, Flannigan, Fernandez. Booked: Hamill.

Att: 2,018

Referee: Stephen Finnie (Scotland).

St Johnstone 1 Celtic 4

A barnstorming final 20 minutes saw Celtic finally impose their will on opponents who, for long spells, threatened to undermine their credibility as championship contenders.

By full-time Tony Mowbray’s side could have reached double figures with the number of openings they created: as it was, they did enough to reduce Rangers’ lead at the top of the table to seven points and they also have a winnable game in hand at Kilmarnock.

Celtic, who began the match without a Scot in the starting XI, allowed their hosts to dictate the tempo early on and they paid for their tentative start by falling behind in the 12th minute.

Steven Milne played a one-two with Kenny Deuchar only to be hauled to the ground by Glenn Loovens. Liam Craig converted the resulting penalty kick with aplomb, sending Artur Boruc to his right and the ball to the goalkeeper’s left.

The Dutch defender’s afternoon took a turn for the worse midway through the first half when he was concussed following an accidental clash of heads with Deuchar who, as a fully qualified doctor, would at least have been able to supervise Loovens’ treatment before he left the field on a stretcher.

“He has six stitches in a head wound and he’s concussed,” said Mowbray afterwards. “We’ll need to see how he is tomorrow but if he can’t play against Hibs on Wednesday then we’ll need to think about [new signing] Jos Hooiveld.”

They may have been wretched during the opening 45 minutes but Celtic dominated after the break, helped in no small part by the instant dismissal of Saints defender Graham Gartland.

He had already been cautioned for a first-half foul on Aiden McGeady when, 10 seconds after the restart, he brought down Marc-Antoine Fortuné on the edge of the penalty area.

Referee Willie Collum adjudged Fortuné to have been in a goal-scoring position and showed the defender a straight red card.

“We were the better team with 11 men on the park, but when you have to stem the tide for 45 minutes it’s difficult” said St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes. “I spoke to the referee and he said that the incident with Fortuné was accidental but that he still had to send him off: I don’t know whether or not that’s true.”

The equaliser came out of nothing. Substitute Paul McGowan released Samaras who, in turn, supplied Fortuné.

A cross seemed the most likely option but the Frenchman elected instead to shoot from the far corner of the penalty area and he managed to get so much power into his effort that the ball must have looked like a blur to Graeme Smith as it passed him on its way into the net.

Even so, when further goals did not follow immediately, anxiousness gripped the Celtic support. Mowbray, meanwhile, simply sent on more wingers and strikers, finishing the match with seven attacking players in his side.

Saints withstood wave after wave of Celtic pressure before Samaras emphatically volleyed them in front from a Josh Thompson knockdown with 14 minutes remaining.

Fortuné secured the points when he sidefooted home the rebound after Smith could only parry a 20-yarder from substitute Paddy McCourt. Four of the striker’s seven goals this season have come against the Perth club.

McCourt, a scorer of great goals rather than a great goalscorer, then drifted past Gary Irvine and David Mackay before lashing the ball into Smith’s top left-hand corner from 25 yards.

“The last 20 minutes was pretty painful for us,” McInnes admitted.

“Let’s hope for the sake of Scottish football that it becomes tight and stays tight,” said Mowbray, referring to the title race. “From our perspective, we just need to keep winning games.

“The players believe what we’re asking them to do is correct. The day wasn’t going our way during the first half but we stayed on the front foot.”

With Scott Brown, Scott McDonald and Shaun Maloney all due to restart training this week and Danish striker Morten Rasmussen due to sign in the next 48 hours, this victory may yet prove to be pivotal for Celtic.

Match details

St Johnstone (4-4-2): Smith; Irvine, Mackay, Gartland, Grainger; Millar, Morris, Davidson (Moon 78), Craig; Deuchar (MacDonald 64), Milne (Anderson 48). Subs: Main (g), Morais, Jackson, Reynolds. Booked: Gartland. Sent off: Gartland.

Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Hinkel (McCourt 57), Thompson, Loovens (Caddis 24), O’Dea; McGinn, Zhi (McGowan 61), Crosas, McGeady; Fortuné, Samaras. Subs: Zaluska (g), Mizuno, Lafferty, Forrest. Booked: Samaras.

Referee: Willie Collum.

Rangers 2 Hamilton 0

A Steven Whittaker double in extra-time saw Rangers book their place in the fifth round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup after Hamilton once again proved to be tricky opponents.

This was the third meeting in 10 days between the two clubs, with Accies earning a 3-3 draw at the first time of asking and then losing narrowly to Walter Smith's men in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League at the weekend.

They once again frustrated the holders and forced the replay to extra-time, but two goals in four minutes from Whittaker ensured Rangers progressed to a meeting with St Mirren in the next round.

Rangers were boosted by the return of Kenny Miller and Lee McCulloch from suspension for the clash at Ibrox, with Miller supported up front by John Fleck and Nacho Novo on the flanks.

Hamilton introduced Trent McClenahan, Grant Evans and Flavio Paixao to the starting line-up following their 1-0 defeat at the weekend.

Rangers immediately set about trying to put Hamilton under pressure when Miller raced onto a lovely ball from Danny Wilson and stung the palms of Tomas Cerny with a blistering shot early on.

The home side continued to press and Miller went to ground in the box claiming he had been fouled by Simon Mensing, but no penalty award was forthcoming from referee Charlie Richmond.

The opener almost came from an unlikely source when Sasa Papac embarked upon an impressive mazy run past several Accies players before forcing a decent save from Cerny with an angled drive.

Rangers were still creating the best of the chances and a cross from the right from Whittaker was nodded on by Miller for Steven Davis, but he bulleted his own header wide.

Only the woodwork prevented Miller from finding the back of the net when he ran on to a Papac pass and saw his shot at full stretch crash off the crossbar.

Whittaker then picked up the first booking of the game for diving after going to ground under pressure from David Elebert just before the break, before Miller again struck the crossbar.

Accies made it more difficult for Rangers after the restart but Fleck could have claimed the advantage with a swerving shot that looked destined for the top corner, only to be blocked by Cerny.

The Hamilton goalkeeper then dived low to smother from McCulloch but the shot lacked any power as the holders battled desperately for the opener.

Last-gasp defending from Hamilton kept them in the tie, with Danny Wilson's close-range header cleared off the line by Elebert.

Novo then had the chance to repeat his late winner from Saturday when he raced on to Fleck's pass but took too long to unleash the shot and Mensing was able to close him down and block.

Cerny had been on fine form for Hamilton and he came to the rescue again, this time denying Miller at the near post after the striker was released by Davis. The keeper then clawed another Miller effort to safety, to groans from the home fans.

A combination of poor finishing and staunch defending ensured the tie finished goalless after 90 minutes and went into extra-time.

Accies could have snatched a goal in the opening minute when Mickael Antoine-Curier whipped a teasing ball to the feet of substitute Kyle Wilkie, but his poor effort rippled the side netting.

The breakthrough finally came after 95 minutes when Miller squeezed between two defenders and flighted the ball over Cerny – who got a touch on it – and Whittaker was waiting to bundle home from almost on the goal-line.

Whittaker then grabbed his second of the night just four minutes later, this time collecting a Fleck pass before lofting over the Accies goalkeeper and into the top corner.

Match details

Rangers: McGregor, Whittaker, Wilson, Weir, Papac, Davis, Thomson (Broadfoot 81), McCulloch (Edu 105), Fleck, Novo (Little 103), Miller. Subs: Alexander, Smith. Booked: Whittaker, Weir, McCulloch. Goals: Whittaker 98, 99.

Hamilton: Cerny, Evans (Wilkie 77), Elebert (McLaughlin 87), Canning, McClenahan, Marco Paixao (Elliott 100), Mensing, Neil, McArthur, Flavio Paixao, Antoine-Curier. Subs: Murdoch, Crawford. Booked: Mensing, Elebert.

Att: 21,856

Referee: C Richmond (Scotland).

Morton 0 Celtic 1

Celtic's supporters have not endured a trophy-less season since 2003 (a year more memorable for their march to the Uefa Cup final) and they kept alive their hopes of landing some silverware during this campaign with this victory at Cappielow on Tuesday night which earns them a fifth round tie at Second Division Stenhousemuir in the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

The outcome, particularly in cup competitions, is always of more importance than the performance and Celtic manager Tony Mowbray, after only one win in his previous five matches, will be glad to have got this potentially hazardous encounter of the way.

A solitary goal from Niall McGinn was enough to separate the financially astute visitors from a penurious home team which is currently third from bottom of the First Division.

Morton have not beaten Celtic since 1979 and, after a promising opening third of this tie, they rarely looked like levelling the scores once McGinn broke the deadlock. Even so, a one-goal lead is always precarious and Mowbray's men were never able to move into cruise control.

The home side certainly could not have been accused of freezing as they set about their more illustrious opponents from the first whistle.

Consequently, they created the first half chance after only four minutes. It was a fine passing move, too, with Dominic Shimmin threading the ball through for Brian Wake who, in turn, teed up a shooting opportunity for Allan Jenkins.

Unfortunately for the former Gretna midfielder, the pass was not as accurate as it might have been and he shot hurriedly wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Two minutes later Wake was claiming for a penalty kick following a tussle with Celtic's captain, Darren O'Dea, but referee Craig Thomson, who had taken up an excellent position, had no hesitation in waving play on.

An unforced error from Shimmin, who took his eye off a through ball from Marc Crosas, allowed McGinn to dispossess the defender but the winger's shot from 18 yards slacked conviction and was comfortably saved by Colin Stewart.

Celtic's defensive frailty was all too evident in the 19th minute when O'Dea allowed a Stewart clearance to bounce instead of attacking it.

The ball sailed over his head to Glenn Loovens, who passed it straight to Peter Weatherson and it required an excellent save from Artur Boruc to parry the striker's venomous drive.

Aiden McGeady attempted to inspire his team-mates with a surging run which took him past two opponents but his shot, from 15 yards, was wayward.

The visitors' performance was just as uneven and it was something of a surprise when they took the lead 10 minutes from the interval.

Marc-Antoine Fortune was the architect, using his strength to hold off his marker and deliver a cutback which McGinn drove emphatically behind Stewart from around the penalty spot.

Fortune might have created a second in the 41st minute but, following a fine solo run, he attempted to shoot from an acute angle rather than pass to two better-placed team-mates and Stewart was mightily relieved with that choice.

Morton's captain, Stuart Greacen, was cautioned for a shove on the busy Fortune and Georgios Samaras tested Stewart with a dipping half-volley from 25 yards as Mowbray's men foraged forward in search of a second goal with which to quell the home side's resistance.

That it proved so elusive was as attributable to the strike partnership of Samaras and Fortune as it was to Morton's disciplined defending. Celtic lack a focal point to their attacks.

Lee Naylor managed to block a netbound drive from Wake in the 73rd minute as Morton's tiring players, with nothing left to lose, threw caution to the wind in search of an equaliser.

That inevitably left them vulnerable to the counter-attack and Celtic believed they had settled the matter three minutes later.

A Naylor corner was flicked on by O'Dea and Samaras, lurking at the far post, forced the ball over the line from point-blank range, only for his "goal" to be disallowed, presumably for handball.

Naylor took a more direct approach but saw his shot from 20 yards beat Stewart only to rebound to safety from the inside of the goalkeeper's left-hand post.

Fortune then scorned the best opportunity of the evening, failing miserably to control a delivery from McGinn when unmarked, onside and just three yards from goal.

Match details

Morton (4-4-2): Stewart; McGuffie, Greacen, Shimmin, Reid; Finlayson, McFarlane (Graham 88), Jenkins, McAlister; Wake (Kane 78), Weatherson. Subs: Cuthbert (g), Monti, McGregor. Booked: Greacen, McFarlane.

Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Hinkel, Loovens, O'Dea, Naylor; McGinn, McGeady, Crosas, Zhi; Samaras, Fortune. Subs: Zaluska (g), McCourt, Mizuno, Thompson, Forrest. Booked: Samaras.

Referee: Craig Thomson.

Hamilton 0 Dundee Utd 1

David Goodwillie grabbed the only goal of the game as Dundee United picked up their first win in the Scottish Premier League since Craig Levein quit for the Scotland job.

For long spells, the match at Hamilton - which was initially claimed by the weather back on Dec 19 - did not appear to be worth the wait.

But Goodwillie netted the winner late on to rescue the meeting with Accies from being a drab goalless affair - and handed caretaker manager Peter Houston his first victory in the SPL.

It was no real surprise to see Hamilton name the same side who stunned Rangers in the Active Nation Scottish Cup when they welcomed United to New Douglas Park for the rearranged SPL match.

Accies fought back from behind to earn a 3-3 draw against the holders on Sunday and manager Billy Reid kept the faith with the same 11 players but this match failed to live up to the weekend's action in terms of entertainment.

Hamilton did look the more dangerous side early on and carved out a couple of chances in the opening spell.

Mickael Antoine-Curier's cross found Stuart Elliott who dispatched a bullet header towards goal. Garry Kenneth managed to block, amid claims he had used his hand, but the pleas for a penalty were ignored by referee Iain Brines.

James McArthur then slipped a lovely pass through for Marco Paixao but the Portuguese was not quite fast enough to beat goalkeeper Dusan Pernis to the ball.

At the other end, Goodwillie was not too far away with an angled drive that Tomas Cerny did well to palm to safety.

Hamilton still looked the more likely side to open the scoring and they squandered another opportunity when Alex Neil picked out Simon Mensing only for the midfielder to nod just wide of target.

Instead, it was United who almost snatched the opener. Mark McLaughlin conceded a free-kick for a foul on Goodwillie and Paul Dixon punted a dangerous ball into the box, with Neil's attempt at a clearance smacking the post.

A dreadful attempt at a backpass from Elliott then gifted Goodwillie possession, who bore down on goal and looked set to open the scoring just before the break only for Cerny to dive low and smother.

Elliott was replaced by James Wesolowski at half-time, before United were forced to swap the injured David Robertson for Danny Swanson just six minutes after the restart.

Once the action was under way again, Mensing whipped a cross in from the right for Antoine-Curier but he was denied by Pernis from close-range, with the offside flag raised anyway.

Both side were desperate for the goal that could seal the three points and McArthur resorted to a long-range effort that cannoned off a Tangerine jersey, before Antoine-Curier's shot from distance deflected just wide.

Paixao had the ball in the back of the net for Hamilton but was flagged for offside before the shot had left his boot.

Then, with 15 minutes to go, United also had the net bulging and there could be no complaints about this effort as Kenneth provided the cutback for Goodwillie to lash home from just inside the box, leaving Cerny helpless.

Accies tried to hit back for a late leveller through substitute Ali Crawford but his angled drive was well held by Pernis.

United could have had the chance to end any hope of an Accies comeback when McArthur appeared to foul Swanson in the box but, after consulting with his assistant, Brines opted not to award a penalty.

Match details

Hamilton: Cerny, McClenahan, Canning, McLaughlin, Hastings (Kirkpatrick 78), Marco Paixao, McArthur, Neil, Mensing, Elliott (Wesolowski 46), Antoine-Curier, Wesolowski (Crawford 78). Subs: Murdoch, van Zanten, Elebert, Sullivan.

Dundee Utd: Pernis, Kovacevic, Kenneth, Webster, Dixon, D Robertson (Swanson 51), Buaben, Gomis, Conway, Casalinuovo (Daly 70), Goodwillie (Dillon 81). Subs: Banks, Dods, Myrie-Williams, Shala.

Booked: Buaben, Daly.

Goal: Goodwillie 75.

Att: 2,033

Referee: I Brines (Scotland).

St Mirren 1 Aberdeen 0

St Mirren defender Chris Innes netted a late winner for the second Clydesdale Bank Premier League game in succession as Aberdeen failed to capitalise on their superiority in Paisley.

Innes steered home Andy Dorman's 74th-minute corner to add to his recent strike against Kilmarnock and take Saints within a point of the sixth-placed Dons.

Charlie Mulgrew and substitute Chris Maguire both hit the woodwork as Aberdeen, the lowest scorers in the SPL with 13 goals in 18 games, again paid the price for failure in front of goal.

Both sides were chasing a third-successive victory and the hosts looked the less likely team for much of the game, but a brilliant finish from Innes earned them their first win over Aberdeen since 2001.

St Mirren brought back fit-again skipper John Potter, Michael Higdon, David Barron and Hugh Murray following the Active Nation Scottish Cup win over Alloa.

Aberdeen welcomed back Davide Grassi and Richard Foster from suspension but Lee Miller continued his SPL ban after appearing in the cup triumph over Hearts, which proved to be the final Aberdeen appearance for Maurice Ross before his move to Beijing Guoan.

St Mirren should have taken the lead after three minutes when the ball fell kindly for Dorman four yards out after Murray and then Higdon had headed on Barron's cross. But the midfielder's finish lacked conviction and Jamie Langfield threw himself down to block.

The visitors, playing a 4-5-1 formation, soon had a good chance when Potter and goalkeeper Paul Gallacher got in each other's way, but Peter Pawlett stabbed wide from 12 yards.

Fraser Fyvie and Richard Foster both shot just over from long range for the Dons, and Pawlett hooked wide following Mark Kerr's up-and-under, but the first quarter was a scrappy affair with the ball in the air for much of the time.

Aberdeen gradually took control with Pawlett displaying much of the finesse on display, and the teenager won a free-kick 20 yards out after being hauled down by Potter as he ran on to a Foster through-ball.

Mulgrew came forward from central defence but Gallacher threw himself to his left to push the former Celtic player's curling effort wide. The St Mirren goalkeeper then pushed away a bouncing 30-yard strike from Paul Marshall.

Mark McGhee employed a more attacking formation for the second half with Pawlett switching to the right to play in an advanced role and Marshall moving to the left.

Fyvie was finding space to play just behind Darren Mackie and he set up the striker with a well-weighted ball over the top. Mackie beat Gallacher to it just inside the box but Innes comfortably got back to prevent the striker's effort rolling in.

Gus MacPherson replaced Higdon with Craig Dargo on the hour mark in a bid to turn the tide but Aberdeen went close again when Mulgrew's powerful free-kick from the left hit the wall and looped on to Gallacher's crossbar.

Maguire replaced Marshall as Aberdeen put two up front for the final quarter but they soon found themselves behind.

Saints forced a corner when Jerel Ifil turned Stephen McGinn's low cross behind after Mulgrew had been caught in possession. Innes met Dorman's penalty-spot delivery on the half-volley and steered the ball in off the bar. Grassi and Kerr fired wide after set-pieces as Aberdeen pressed and Maguire struck the post with an angled drive with four minutes left.

Match details

St Mirren: Gallacher, Ross, Potter, Innes, Barron, McGinn, Thomson, Murray, Dorman (Johnston 83), Mehmet, Higdon (Dargo 60). Subs: Howard, O'Donnell, Robb, Burns, Ramsay.

Goal: Innes 74. Booked: Potter.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Mulgrew, Ifil, Grassi, Fyvie, Kerr, Young (Paton 77), Marshall (Maguire 68), Mackie, Pawlett (Wright 87). Subs: Nelson, Duff, Crawford, Jack.

Att: 3,867

Referee: W Collum (Scotland).

Scottish Cup Saturday Review

Hibernian survived more than one scare before easing past Irvine Meadow 3-0 and into the fifth round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

The home side were not on their game in the first half and enjoyed a slice of luck when Alexander Ryan put through his own net just before the half-hour.

Merouane Zemmama and Paul Hanlon made the game safe after the break but Irvine had already seen Richie Barr controversially booked for diving when appealing for a penalty and missed a glorious chance through Chris Strain, while Brian McGinty also hit the post.

Dundee United striker Damian Casalinuovo emulated countryman Diego Maradona by helping his side to a 2-0 victory at Partick Thistle with a handball goal.

The Argentinian turned home Garry Kenneth's powerful volley with his fist in the 26th minute help edge United past the Irn-Bru First Division side and into the fifth round.

The hosts gave as good as they got and Jags substitute Liam Buchanan missed two great chances before David Goodwillie netted the visitors' second in the last minute.

Second-half goals from Darren Mackie and Lee Miller allowed Aberdeen to beat a disappointing Hearts 2-0 at Pittodrie.

Mackie broke the deadlock with his first goal for the Dons since February 2009 when he was on hand to tap the ball into an empty net after Miller had knocked the ball past Marian Kello on the hour mark.

Miller added a second for the Dons when he slotted home Chris Maguire's cross with 14 minutes to go.

The result ended Hearts' recent unbeaten run which had stretched to five matches and they rarely threatened the Aberdeen defence.

Billy Mehmet played a starring role as St Mirren booked their place in the fifth round with a 3-1 victory over Alloa.

The striker played a huge part in the opener when his header hit the post and bounced off goalkeeper David Crawford into the back of the net.

The Second Division side pulled a goal back through Mark Brown but Mehmet netted either side of the interval to ensure there was no cup shock at St Mirren Park.

In Saturday's other surviving game, Dunfermline thrashed Stenhousemuir 7-1 - but now the result is in doubt because the Pars fielded an ineligible player.

Calum Woods came off the bench in the second half of the clash at East End Park despite the Scottish Football Association's official suspensions list declaring him banned for the match.

Brechin were ejected from the Scottish Cup in 2008 after fielding two ineligible players in a victory over Hamilton.

The SFA initially ordered a replay and fined Brechin £10,000 when it was thought only one ineligible player had been fielded.

But the club were expelled once it emerged a second ineligible player had also been used.

In the game itself Andy Kirk scored a brace for the hosts while William Gibson, Nick Phinn, David Graham, Steven McDougall and Joe Cardle also got their names on the scoresheet.

Kevin Bradley scored Stenhousemuir's only goal in the 90th minute.

Celtic 1 Rangers 1

The Scottish Premier League game between Celtic and Rangers at Parkhead on Sunday January 3 2009.

It was neither the best of times nor the worst of times in this city of two tales – Celtic’s being another chapter of familiar frustration, while Rangers emerged to relate a highly improbable escape yarn, watched from the stands by Roy Keane, Gordon Strachan and Rod Stewart.

Just as this contest looked certain to grind to a scoreless conclusion, it produced two goals in as many minutes to leave the top of the Scottish Premier League table unchanged.

Scott McDonald came off the bench to glance a perfectly judged header from Aiden McGeady’s equally delectable cross past Allan McGregor.

But hardly had the Celtic fans’ victory anthems achieved ear-splitting volume than Rangers struck back with their single decent effort on target, a Lee McCulloch header from a Steven Davis corner kick pitched into the six-yard box for the defender to bullet his effort beyond Artur Boruc.

Old Firm derbies are rarely so one sided; both managers declared it so, but Celtic had to settle for the small satisfactions of having disrupted Rangers’ considerable momentum, built up over six consecutive victories to the tune of 26 goals scored for four conceded.

The champions also added to their disciplinary tally which means they will have to play their league match against Hearts at Tynecastle on Jan 23 without both of their first choice attackers, Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller.

Miller missed this encounter, having lost his appeal against a red card for violent conduct administered in Rangers’ 7-1 thrashing of Dundee United last Wednesday and Boyd will join him on the sidelines for clattering into Danny Fox eight minutes after the break. McCulloch, too, will miss the visit to Tynecastle after earning a caution.

Kyle Lafferty was one lucky boy not to join them on the sidelines when he escaped with a yellow card for thudding into Andreas Hinkel with a straight-leg, studs-up tackle that could have done a lot more damage had the German not been able to take a degree of avoiding action.

That was the first big call from Steve Conroy in his first outing in charge of an Old Firm game after 16 years of refereeing and if many in the stadium thought he had erred on the safe side, few would have extended him that leeway for his decision to disallow a header by Marc-Antoine Fortuné which beat McGregor almost below his crossbar.

Fortune certainly flung an arm up as he jumped but no infringement was flagged by the nearside assistant, nor did repeated views of the TV replays make it any clearer what Conroy had detected to render the goal illegal. Many another manager might have condemned the referee for such a judgment call, but Tony Mowbray was not for haranguing the official.

“I thought the referee had a good game and I hardly noticed him, to be honest,” said the Celtic manager. “He obviously saw a foul and gave it.”

In any case, Mowbray had more to fret about in the way his players yet again failed to enforce superior play with goals and marred an otherwise decent defensive play by conceding an avoidable equaliser.

“I feel that we were in the ascendancy for the vast majority of the game,” he said. “Chances came and went. Do we feel we should have won?

“Yes, but that’s football and we lost a poor goal from our point of view. If you are a Celtic fan, hope should spring eternal that we will improve and we will try to build a team that can win the league for the next five or six seasons.

“There will be comings and goings in January. Some people will leave this football club and some will come in.”

Such utterances are always added lustre by victory and Mowbray might have been celebrating his first Old Firm success if, aside from the disallowed Fortune goal, Barry Robson’s floated header had not skipped off crossbar before the break when the flow of traffic was almost entirely towards McGregor, as was demonstrated by Celtic’s interval tally of six corner kicks to none for Rangers.

Georgios Samaras, allowed remarkable latitude by the Ibrox side, periodically aroused the home support by creating gaping openings and then punctured the fans’ hopes by finding ever more inventive ways to miss them – although it took a world class save by McGregor to divert a volcanic shot from the Greek late in the proceedings.

Fortuné, meanwhile, found that his name should have been prefaced by “ill’’ as his disallowed effort was followed by other attempts that could not quite find the mark.

The second half brought a shift in the balance of play for a spell. Rangers racked up three corners in five minutes to play on their opponents’ nerves and fears that the back door could spring ajar at any time.

McDonald, fretting and fidgeting his time on the bench, was at last allowed to replace Marc Crosas and repaid his appearance by connecting with the McGeady cross that opened the scoring against a Rangers side far removed from the slick-passing outfit who ripped through the December fixture schedule.

With Boyd marginalised by the nature of the contest and the inability of his colleagues to deliver decent supply, plus Lafferty’s impression of a headless chicken, the only way Rangers looked capable of retrieving the situation was from a set-piece.

And so it transpired, 140 seconds after McDonald’s goal, when Davis’s delivery from a corner on the right was despatched with alacrity by the eager McCulloch, who took full advantage of Celtic’s negligence in leaving him unmarked.

Rangers had made the best of a bad job, as Smith freely admitted when he said: “Celtic were the better side throughout the game. We had to work hard to contain them and a point was obviously much better for us than for Celtic.

“We lost Nacho Novo early in the game and that further reduced the spark and mobility we normally get from him, DaMarcus Beasley and Kenny Miller. Celtic were far brighter in all areas of the field but, while we can’t say we deserved a point, we dug in and showed the kind of character that got us something from the game.

“Celtic did well but they continued to miss the chances they created and Allan McGregor’s save from Samaras was absolutely fantastic.”

As was predicted in these pages on Saturday, the occasion was not definitive and we will have to wait some time to see whose great expectations will be matched by achievement – and who will be condemned to hard times come May.

Hibs 1 Hearts 1

Both sides finished with 10 men as Hibernian and Hearts fought out a pulsating Edinburgh derby draw at Easter Road on Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Gordon Smith wrote his name into Tynecastle folklore by handing the visitors the lead on his Clydesdale Bank Premier League debut but Anthony Stokes equalised nine minutes after the restart with his 11th goal of the season.

That was almost immediately followed by red cards for Rubén Palazuelos and Darren McCormack after the latter appeared to headbutt the Spaniard.

A furious Palazuelos had to be restrained by manager Csaba Laszlo as he tried to continue the argument with McCormack and Hibs manager John Hughes, the drama on show in stark contrast to November’s dour goalless draw.

There were plenty of surprises in both line-ups as Hughes handed a debut to new goalkeeper Graeme Smith and gave McCormack his first start for more than three months, as well as recalling Ian Murray.

In addition to selecting Smith, Hearts gave a shock debut to Marius Cinikas – on loan from FBK Kaunas – and recalled Christian Nade.

Third-placed Hibs were looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing by Rangers, while their arch-rivals were gunning for a fourth straight victory after rousing themselves from their early-season stupor.

The fixture had survived an early-morning inspection but there was a brief flurry of snow just after kick-off.

Hearts should have been ahead in the eighth minute when Michael Stewart robbed Chris Hogg, exchanged passes with Nade and squared for striker Smith, who just failed to connect on the stretch.

At the other end, Marian Kello did well to deal with a firm Lee Wallace backpass as Hibs looked to get in behind their opponents’ high defensive line.

Cinikas escaped with a lecture after clattering into Derek Riordan with what was the latest of a number of heavy challenges from both sides.

The visitors found themselves down to 10 men for a couple of minutes when Stewart then needed treatment behind the Hibs goalline, the Hearts physio initially failing to spot the midfielder’s distress as the game continued.

The home side were beginning to get on top without testing Kello, though the keeper would have been grateful to see Hogg’s vicious volley blocked.

Stokes passed up Hibs’ first real chance when Ismael Bouzid completely misjudged the flight of a crossfield ball but the in-form striker blazed wide.

Hogg headed Stewart’s free-kick onto the top of his own bar under pressure from Nade, who then hurt himself challenging keeper Smith for a high ball.

Merouane Zemmama looked to have sent Riordan clear two minutes before the break but the forward was flagged offside as he shot straight at Kello.

And on the stroke of half-time, Hearts took the lead when Palazuelos fizzed in a low cross, met unerringly on the volley by the left foot of young Smith. A supporter was ejected from the away end as the players left the field after a flare appeared to be thrown.

Smith also had the first sight of goal in the second half when he volleyed over from 20 yards.

Paul Hanlon won a shoulder-to-shoulder with Suso Santana when the latter raced onto Stewart’s through ball.

It proved crucial as Hibs levelled nine minutes in, Riordan’s cross headed home at the back post by the unmarked Stokes, his seventh goal in five games.

Mayhem followed two minutes later when Palazuelos and McCormack both saw red.

There was a second flashpoint when Suso and Murray squared off after the latter had fouled his rival but both escaped with a booking.

Black forced Hibs keeper Smith into an uncomfortable parry from long range with 15 minutes remaining before Murray scuffed a shot on the turn just wide of Kello’s near post.

Suso was replaced by David Templeton after being flagged offside for a second time when clean through.

Riordan missed a great chance to win it for Hibs when one-on-one with Smith four minutes from time.

Match details

Hibernian: Smith, Wotherspoon, Hogg, Murray, Hanlon, McCormack, Miller, Rankin, Riordan, Zemmama (McBride 66), Stokes. Subs: Flynn, Cregg, Nish, Benjelloun, Stevenson, Thicot.

Sent Off: McCormack (57). Booked: Murray, McBride. Goal: Stokes 54.

Hearts: Kello, Bouzid, Zaliukas, Cinikas, Lee Wallace, Santana (Templeton 85), Michael Stewart, Jonsson, Palazuelos, Smith (Black 61), Nade. Subs: Balogh, Witteveen, Ryan Wallace, Mulrooney, Visconte.

Sent Off: Palazuelos (57). Booked: Santana, Templeton, Michael Stewart. Goal: Smith 45.

Referee: C Richmond.

Rangers 7 Dundee United 1

The Scottish Premier League game between Rangers and Dundee United at Ibrox on Wednesday Dec 30.

Kris Boyd did not so much speed the old year on its way as hurl it through the exit door when he produced a display of clinical finishing against Dundee United with three goals in nine first half minutes that hauled him level with Henrik Larsson's of 158 Scottish Premier League goals.

Then he posted a double after the break to enthrall the adoring Ibrox crowd and brandish his credentials at Craig Levein for a recall to the Scotland squad.

His first clutch of strikes appeared to have despatched hapless United before the interval to put Rangers seven points clear of Celtic ahead of Sunday's Old Firm derby at Parkhead.

Yet in an extraordinary switch of fortune the Tannadice side struck back with a goal from Damian Casaniluevo within a minute of the restart and gained a numerical advantage over the champions when Kenny Miller was shown a straight red card for violent conduct after he appeared to strike Darren Dods with his boot while both lay on the turf.

The oddities did not stop there. Walter Smith was the object of derision and anger when he replaced Nacho Novo with Steven Whittaker - a defender for a forward going player - midway through the second half.

However, within seven minutes the cheers were transformed into merited applause when a mistake by Sean Dillon, who turned his back on Whittaker and tried to run the ball out of his own box, allowed the substitute to dispossess him and beat Nicky Weaver with a coolly judged angled shot.

Boyd, having netted his first hat-trick of the season then produced his grandstand moment when United made a hash of defending a corner kick from their left and allowed the predator-in-chief two bites of the cherry, the second of which he swallowed whole to establish him as the SPL's record marksman.

There was still time for him to sweep a Kyle Lafferty cutback beyond Weaver and high into the net for a final cavalier flourish as he was replaced by Andrew Little to permit him to accept a thunderously loud standing ovation from the Rangers adherents in the crowd of 48,721.

Quite remarkably, the best individual goal had yet to be witnessed - and it came from a defender, Madjid Bougherra, no less.

The Algerian will not be available for Rangers' trip to the east end of the city on Sunday because he is off to the African Cup of Nations, but he left his admirers with a warm memory of his expansive approach to the game when he surged upfield, beat three opponents and finished with as sweet a shot beyond Weaver as anything Boyd had managed.

Rangers will look back on December as one long spree. In six league games they amassed a haul of 26 goals with form that looked well-nigh unstoppable. As for Boyd, he can reflect on history repeated.

On September 25, 2004, he last scored five goals, but as a Kilmarnock player. Dundee United should have little difficulty recollecting that occasion - they were the opponents then, too.

The recitation of his achievement on Wednesday night began with a penalty kick which he converted after Miller had been toppled by Darren Dods, before doubling his margin by hammering home a Steven Davis free kick venomously away from Weaver and then completing his initial burst by sweeping a Miller cutback across the line.

He would have had a fourth had Garry Kenneth not cleared off the line, but that was merely achievement deferred until Weaver and his defenders flapped at a corner kick which dropped at the back post to Boyd's feet, an error of remarkable culpability in the circumstances, one would have thought.

Boyd completed his nap hand when Lafferty hared away along the right to serve his colleague his climactic strike on a silver salver.