Malik Tillman came off the bench to score the opener for Rangers as they beat Ross County, while Matthew Hoppe made his debut for Hibernian in their win over St. Mirren.
Rangers 2-1 Ross County
Rangers needed a goal in the 75th minute to eventually come away with all three points in their very tense win over Ross County at Ibrox Stadium.
Malik Tillman, who was on the bench, came on after 11 minutes, completing 89 percent of his passes and winning six duels while taking two shots. James Sands was on the bench but saw no action for the Light Blues.
It was a frustrating first half for the hosts as they had several chances to open the scoring. Eventually, they would break the deadlock when Tillman was on the spot to score in the second minute of stoppage time. Todd Cantwell delivered a cross to the middle of the box and the young American midfielder would head it past Ross County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw.
The visitors, who have not won a game against Rangers, proved to be stubborn and they shocked the home fans when they leveled the score in the 65th minute when Jordan White rose up to head in a cross from Yan Dhanda.
Rangers had a chance to retake the lead minutes later when Ryan Kent’s shot came crashing off the crossbar, but they would finally restore it in the 75th minute with Boran Barisic’s deflected free-kick.
The win keeps Rangers in second place with 61 points.
St. Mirren 0-1 Hibernian
Hibernian extended their unbeaten run to five games following their win over St. Mirren at the SMISA Stadium.
Matthew Hoppe made an early debut from the bench as he came on in the 18th minute, completing 53 percent of his passes, winning two duels, and making one tackle along with one shot.
The game was nothing to write home about as both sides squandered the few chances they had to break the deadlock.
However, the visitors would finally get on the scoreboard in the 77th minute when Elie Youan was able to beat his marker to score a goal from the edge of the box.
Hibs has moved up to fifth place in the standings with 34 points.
St. Johnstone 1-4 Celtic
Celtic maintained their nine-point lead atop the Premiership standings with a very comfortable win over St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
Cameron-Carter Vickers went the distance for the Hoops, completing 91 percent of his passes, winning six duels, and making two tackles.
St. Johnstone was in a giving mood early on as they scored an own goal in the 13th minute. Kyogo Furuhashi’s cross into the six-yard box was redirected by Andrew Considine into his team’s net. The Japanese international would be credited with a goal nine minutes later when he ran onto a low cross from Jota and fired his shot past goalkeeper Remi Matthews.
The hosts cut the deficit in the 25th minute when Drey Wright struck from long-range. Celtic responded in the 38th minute when Jota set up Aaron Mooy to chip the ball home.
The game was done and dusted as both teams came out for the second half. St. Johnstone went down a man in stoppage time when Considine was shown a red card for bringing down Oh Hyeon-Gyu. David Turnbull then buried the ball in the back of the net from an indirect free-kick to round out the scoring.
The win keeps Celtic at the top of the mountain with 70 points.
Notes
In the Championship, Brian Schwake was between the posts for Greenock Morton as their 2-2 draw with Inverness CT now leaves them three points outside of the promotion playoff spots.
