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Celtic leapfrogged Rangers to move second in the Premiership with a 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 earlier had a goal chalked off for offside, and it was fairly comfortable for Celtic in the first half without creating too many clearcut chances, though St Mirren did look a threat on the break.
Celtic’s goal arrived when Benjamin Nygren found McGregor . His shot was blocked by Alex Gogic and Kieran Tierney picked out Oxlade-Chamberlain, who rifled into the bottom right 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: “IThe energy levels looked low, which if it had been the last 10 minutes of the game, and you’re holding on to something, I can understand , but it set in pretty early in the second half.
“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. 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 we created much less. But we stayed strong.”
After a goalless first half at Tynecastle, Emmanuel Longelo fired Motherwell in front only for Hearts to equalise through Cláudio Braga’s overhead kick. It looked like the points would 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.
Their manager, Derek McInnes, praised his players for “dragging themselves off the canvas” with the two late goals, adding: “There’s no two ways about it – we were under the cosh. But I still felt quite calm in the sense I thought we would score. We very rarely don’t score, particularly here at Tynecastle.
“Thankfully Braga comes up with a big moment. The reaction of the players is magnificent. It’s exactly what you want. Nobody’s settling for a draw. To be fair, neither were Motherwell. They are a team that test your organisation.”
Stephen Robinson broke his winless run since moving from St Mirren to Aberdeen, his side winning 2-0 at Pittodrie against Hibernian with a goal in each half from Kevin Nisbet.
Zac Sapsford’s late penalty secured Dundee United a 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, the home side equalised through substitute Krisztian Keresztes, with Sapsford grabbing all three points from the penalty spot deep into added time.
Kelle Roos saved a stoppage-time penalty from the Dundee striker Joe Westley to earn Kilmarnock a 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. The video assistant referee intervened to check the decision for an offside. Six minutes elapsed before the referee, Ross Hardie, went to the monitor to confirm the penalty. The long wait weighed on Westley, who was denied as Roos guessed correctly, springing to his right and saving.
Joe Hugill had given Kilmarnock the lead on 14 minutes, but Dundee hit back 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.
