Scottish roundup: Celtic go 12 points clear as Rangers slump at St Mirren | Scottish Premiership


Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 12 points after their 4-0 Boxing Day win over Motherwell was followed by Rangers slumping to a 2-1 evening defeat at St Mirren that left their manager, Philippe Clement, lamenting their “below par” mentality.

Earlier, Brendan Rodgers’s side had eased to a comfortable victory over Motherwell after getting a penalty breakthrough in first-half stoppage-time. Arne Engels opened the scoring after a tight first half as Aston Oxborough, the Motherwell goalkeeper, was penalised for a collision with Yang Hyun-jun. Daizen Maeda doubled the lead before the substitutes Nicolas Kühn and Reo Hatate struck to give Stuart Kettlewell, the visiting manager, a first taste of defeat in four visits to Celtic Park.

Second-placed Rangers then saw their 11-game unbeaten run ended at St Mirren, where Rangers were hampered by a poor first half, deservedly trailing at the break to an Oisin Smyth penalty.

Clement brought on the midfielder Nico Raskin and the Brazilian striker Danilo at the start of the second half and got the response he wanted when Danilo levelled in the 61st minute, but the home side rallied and the substitute Caolan Boyd-Munce drove in a dramatic winner in added time.

“We cannot play like we played in the first half, that’s below the level,” said Clement. “It’s below par for everybody in the team. And that’s not the mentality you can accept at Rangers. That’s why I was so angry at half-time also.

“We had enough chances after that goal also to score more. Of course, you need to take a lot of risk in the last 10 minutes. And in that way, you get a second goal against. But we dominated all the second half. We had the ball all the time.”

Caolan Boyd-Munce celebrates after scoring St Mirren’s winner against Rangers. Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

Kilmarnock heaped more misery on Aberdeen with a dominant 4-0 victory at Rugby Park. Aberdeen’s winless run was extended to seven games after another abject display.

Kilmarnock took a deserved lead when Kyle Vassell forced the ball over the line at the second time of asking with 19 minutes on the clock. They doubled their advantage just before the hour mark as David Watson found space to flick beyond the Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov. Innes Cameron came off the bench to add a third in the 87th minute and there was still time for his fellow replacement Bruce Anderson to round off a tremendous result for the hosts in added time.

Ross County picked up a priceless three points with an emphatic 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park. Goals from Noah Chilvers, Josh Nisbet and Jordan White secured the visitors’ first away win in the league since September 2023. The result lifts the Highland side to 10th in the table, while Dundee slip to ninth.

David Gray felt his resurgent Hibernian side fully merited their first away win over Hearts, their Edinburgh rivals, for exactly five years after Dwight Gayle stepped off the bench to secure a 2-1 victory.

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The two sides were level at the break after the Hearts defender Kye Rowles and his Hibs counterpart Rocky Bushiri both scored own goals. The visitors felt frustrated not to be ahead at the break after having the best of the first half, but they notched what proved to be the winner in the 78th minute when Gayle – who announced last Friday that he planned to retire at the end of the season – knocked in Nicky Cadden’s cross.

Hibs had not won at Tynecastle since Boxing Day 2019. “I’m delighted,” said Gray. “I think you see that with the scenes at the end. It’s a real difficult place to come, history tells you that.”

Sam Dalby scored his ninth goal in 11 games to clinch a 2-1 comeback win for Dundee United at St Johnstone and send his team up to fourth. The hosts edged in front on the stroke of half-time thanks to Makenzie Kirk’s sixth strike of the season. United deservedly levelled through the former St Johnstone winger Glenn Middleton after 51 minutes and bossed the game from there.

Dalby’s header on the hour was the least Jim Goodwin’s side merited from their dominance. Their opponents offered little response until Declan Gallagher, the visiting captain, was sent off with three minutes left to play. Simo Valakari’s team remain at the foot of the table after a 13th league loss.



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