Five alive for Celtic, Week 27 round-up

This week, Celtic bounced back with five of the best. Motherwell got back to winning ways and St Mirren got themselves a priceless home win.

Celtic shrugged off their first defeat of the season, by getting back to winning was and hitting Inverness for five on Saturday at Parkhead. Leigh Griffiths bagged a hat-trick. The first of which came in the twelfth minute as the Scotland striker got on the end of Izaguirre’s cross to prod home past Dean Brill. Celtic in full control netted a second soon after. Charlie Mulgrew’s near-post flick got beyond Brill from the corner. Caley who were very poor on the day had one decent chance in the first half but captain Richie Foran fluffed his chance. Griffiths’ second and Celtic’s third of the afternoon came in the second period. Meekings and Raven got themselves mixed up allowing Griffiths to nip in and thunder his shot in off the inside of the post. Not long after Billy McKay was denied by a point-blank Fraser Forster save. Inverness’ day got worse when Kris Commons’ long-range effort squirmed under the body of Brill for the fourth. Griffith though wouldn’t be denied as he shot across Brill into the corner to make it five.

Dundee United took all three points away from Easter Road on Friday evening, winning 3-1 in an eventful fixture. After a few efforts from both sides, the game came to life in the 22^nd minute. Dundee United were given a controversial penalty, when Ryan Dow was tripped outside the box. Nadir Ciftci stepped up, but Williams easily saved his spot-kick. It would get better for the Turkish striker when he muscled Hanlon off the ball before firing past Williams. United only had the lead for a few minutes, Cierzniak failed to deal with a corner, only punching the ball off of Forster’s head and the ball landed in the back of the net. Not long into the second half United regained the lead Gavin Gunning easily headed home Mackay-Steven’s corner. United got a second spot-kick, as goalscorer Gunning’s feet where hacked away from him by Nelson – MacKay-Steven however, blazed the penalty over the bar. Hibs poor performance was compounded when Tom Taiwo received his second yellow for a late tackle on Paul Paton. United sealed the win when Andrew Robertson’s front-post cross was neatly put away via Farid El Alagui.

Motherwell got back to winning ways with a 4-1 demolition of lowly Hearts at Fir Park. James McFadden was the thorn in the Jambos’ side, scoring one and creating three of the goals. Two first-half goals gave the Steelmen a deserved half-time lead. McFadden played in Vigurs – who beat two defenders before giving the ‘Well an 18^th-minute lead. McFadden set up the second lofting a high pass to Lionel Ainsworth, who almost burst the net with a magnificent volley. After the interval the third arrived, McFadden was bundled over in the edge of the box; the ball arrived at the feet of John Sutton who slammed it home. Hearts’ response was sharpish, Callum Paterson headed McHattie’s corner beyond Hollis. McFadden killed any hopes of a comeback when he headed in a Vigurs cross to cap his good display with a goal.

St Mirren moved off the play-off spot with a vital 2-0 home win against Kilmarnock. In a first half that didn’t have much action, St Mirren had the only two decent chances, Gregg Wylde fired his shot just past the post and Kenny McLean’s 20-yard free-kick that also went wide. Marian Kello was called into action after the break denying Muirhead, before Killie’s top-scorer Boyd hit the post. St Mirren took the lead and won the game with two late goals. Firstly, Conor Newton broke on the counter before smashing the ball past Samson, then two minutes from time Wylde showed great speed before sending a precise shot inside Samson’s post to seal the victory.

Ross County and Partick Thistle drew 1-1 in Dingwall, with both clubs slipping below St Mirren. Thistle took the lead via a 9^th-minute Kallum Higginbotham free-kick that went under the wall. County equalised just before the quarter-hour mark, it was a case of anything you can do I can do better, as Richard Brittain’s free-kick was better than that of Higginbotham and made sure both sides got a point each in what was a pretty poor match.

Aberdeen followed up their midweek defeat of Celtic by notching up another three points with a 1-0 victory over St Johnstone. It took only eight minutes for Ryan Jack to fire his 25-yard shot past Mannus to give the Dons the lead. However, after that it was all St Johnstone. Lee Croft fired wide before O’Halloran’s shot smashed off Langfield’s post. Croft was one-on-one with Langfield, but the outstretched arm of the ‘keeper kept it level. Stevie May had his 16-yard volley blocked as the pressure mounted. The Dons held on, Steven MacLean was sent off for a challenge on young midfielder Nicky Low.