Dundee gain the headlines.

by John Reid

Celtic go back to the top, St. Mirren’s poor form continues and Dundee keep on rolling in this week’s round-up.

Celtic went back to the top of the SPL with a hard fought 2-0 win at Aberdeen, played in front of Aberdeen’s biggest attendance for five years. The game was decided by Lassad’s first goal for Celtic quickly followed by a Charlie Mulgrew goal against his former club. The win sets Celtic up nicely for their Champions League trip to Benfica on Tuesday.  For Aberdeen it was a disappointing performance as they failed to turn up in what was their biggest game of the season.

Celtic are back on top as previous leaders Hibs suffered a 3-1 defeat at bottom side Dundee, who have closed the gap on St. Mirren. The win was fully deserved for Dundee, who scored through Benedictus, Milne and a Kevin McBride penalty.  Hibs’ goal was a late consolation from Leigh Griffiths, who remains the SPL’s top scorer.

St. Mirren fell to their sixth defeat in a row at an emotional Tynecastle, as Hearts won 1-0 in front of a sell out crowd.  Danny Grainger scored the only goal which comes amidst news that Hearts have been given until December to pay their half-a-million pound tax bill.  The club are confident of their future in the short-term at least.

Dundee United and Kilmarnock battled out a 3-3 draw, Cillian Sheridan scoring two of Killie’s goals and John Daly firing in a last minute equalizer for United, but the game was followed by yet another row involving Killie manager Kenny Shiels, who wants an apology from United midfielder Willo Flood after he claimed Killie played ‘long-ball football’.  This will inevitably run and run.

St. Johnstone and Ross County fought out a 1-1 draw, in a result which both sides will reasonably happy with, Dave Mackay goal for the Saints being answered by County’s Iain Vigurs.

Up in Inverness there was a bit of a shock as Caley’s unbeaten run came to as end as they were hammered 5-1 by Motherwell, however after the came Inverness boss Terry Butcher was in a calm mood, which was a surprise to everyone.

Next week’s fixtures see Inverness attempting to bounce back at Celtic, 2nd playing 3rd as Hibs face Aberdeen, and in what is arguably the game of the day the bottom two meet as St. Mirren face Dundee.

In the first division Partick and Dunfermline are level on points once more, albeit Thistle are ahead on goal difference.  Thistle lost 1-0 at bogey team Hamilton, whilst Dunfermline won 2-1 at Raith after a towsy encounter which saw two Raith players sent-off and a fight in the tunnel at half-time.

In the second division Queen of the South stay top after a 3-2 win at Arbroath, they remain the only unbeaten team in Scottish league football.  Second placed Alloa were held 2-2 by Brechin.

In the third division Rangers stay top after a 6-2 win at East Stirling, second placed Elgin stay two points behind after a 4-1 win at Stirling.