Past and present Hearts stars trigger major title race boost as Rangers shocked and new threat emerges
It’s been a huge weekend in the Premiership title race for Hearts, Rangers, Celtic and possibly a new threat.
Hearts have been aided by two major title race boosts - as a clutch of former stars and Hibs help damage their nearest rivals.
The Jambos did their bit on Saturday by defeating Falkirk to go five points clear of second-placed Rangers and six ahead of Celtic in third. Rangers faced basement side Livingston on Sunday, who haven’t won a game since August, and Celtic hosted Edinburgh rivals Hibs.
Marvin Bartley’s Livi, with Jambos loanee Macaulay Tait, 2012 Scottish Cup hero Ryan McGowan, plus ex-players Danny Wilson and Robbie Muirhead in their starting XI managed to pull out a surprise 2-2 draw at Almondvale. Brooklyn Kabongolo and Lewis Smith threatened a seismic shock by putting Livi into a two goal lead but Christian Montano’s red card made things difficult, and Rangers got back level through Emmanuel Fernandez and Mikey Moore.
What happened during recent Rangers and Celtic matches?
11 minutes of stoppage time played out but the hosts held on to see Rangers drop two crucial points. If that wasn’t enough for Hearts fans, Celtic suffered a bigger stumble, losing domestically for the first time since Martin O’Neill’s return to the club, with David Gray’s Hibees clinching a 2-1 win in Glasgow.
Felix Passlack headed them ahead before Benjamin Nygren levelled up. Auston Trusty was then sent off in the second half and Kai Andrews struck late in the second half to spark dismay inside the home stands at Parkhead, to see them staying six points behind Hearts, with their game in hand away in Aberdeen.
Rangers meanwhile are four points off Derek McInnes’ side and the Old Firm derby plays out next Sunday, meaning more points will be dropped, as those in maroon continue to dream of a stunning title win. There is a new threat emerging too as results aid Motherwell in fourth, who are 10 points off Hearts with a game in hand, and two games to play versus the Gorgie outfit.
Jens Berthel Askou on Motherwell form
They are four and six points off third and second after smashing St Mirren 5-0 on Saturday night amid a much-lauded style of play so far this term, losing just three league matches. Boss Jens Berthel Askou said: "We kept the hunger out there and the desire to keep chasing goals while we worked extremely hard to keep that clean sheet.
"That goal difference could be important in the end to give an extra point in the league table. So it's important to make the score as big as we can when we have games under control. First, we want to increase the possibility to win every game we play,. The performance needs to be at a certain level and they have been quite good. Today was obviously a very good one and against the best teams in the league they have been for a while.
"Now we are entering a phase in the league where we play all the top teams once or twice. Time will tell. If we can keep pushing the performance levels even higher and produce results then obviously there might be a possibility to climb."