SPL Wednesday Wrapup

By: Ian Rose | February 27th, 2008

A full schedule of midweek matches today, so here goes.

Aberdeen 1-1 Motherwell
Zander Diamond headed the ball in from the edge of the Motherwell penalty box to put the Dons up 1-0 early. Since the wonderful performance at Pittodrie against Bayern Munich, Aberdeen fans have had little to cheer for, but they at least had most of a match ahead today, before Darren Smith came off the bench and equalized for Motherwell, who stay up in third for at least another week.

Celtic 2-1 Inverness
After two weeks of conceding early and often, I didn’t have a lot of hope for my Caley boys going into Celtic Park today. They managed to very nearly enter halftime scoreless, before Scott McDonald put away his 18th of the season just before the whistle. Georgios Samaras added to the tally in the second half, before “Super” Marius Niculae brought one back with an 18-yard right-footed strike that brought they Caley side to life. They pressed right until the end, winning a series of dangerous corners, but in the end, Celtic held strong. Nice work to Mike Fraser in goal, who took a few saves early to prevent another game from ending before it started.

Dundee United 1-1 St. Mirren
Trailing Motherwell by three points with two more games played, Craig Levein’s United needed some result today against the Buddies. After a scoreless first half, Sean Dillon booted one in from just outside the keeper’s box to give United the lead. But new recruit Andy Dorman, the hero of St. Mirren’s Cup victory over United, made himself even less welcome at Levein’s parties with a late strike to even things up.

Falkirk 0-2 Hibernian
John Rankin got his second for Hibs since his switch from Inverness, adding to a Jack Ross own goal and taking the match for the Hibees. They now sit just a point below Dundee United, and will smell their chance for a European spot, even if their next two matches happen to be against a couple of clubs from Glasgow you may have heard of.

Gretna 4-2 Kilmarnock
What. The. Hell? Apparently all you have to do to light a fire under a relegation-bound team is get rid of the manager and leading scorer. In their first match since losing Kenny Deuchar to the MLS, Gretna romped over next-to-last-placed Killie, going into halftime at 3-0, all from different scorers, and adding a fourth soon after the interval. Killie was able to bring two back but it was far too little, far too late. Only the fourth win of the season for Gretna, and with it, they close the gap with Killie to 9 points. Do you believe in miracles? (Hint: I don’t. 9 points in eleven matches is quite a bit.)

Hearts 0-4 Rangers
As Celtic were struggling with Caley Thistle, Rangers were running all up and down on Hearts. Jean Claude Darcheville netted a brace in the first half, and Nacho Novo added a pair of his own in the second. Hearts’ first match without top scorer Andrius Velicka went none too smoothly, with their only shot on goal coming from midfielder Andrius Ksanavicious.

The race for the title
Rangers remain ahead by four points over Celtic, with 12 matches left in each of their campaigns. However, Celtic’s lead on goal differential, the perhaps vital tie-breaker, disappeared today, and now each Old Firm side sits at +45.

The race for the top half
Assuming that no one in the top five drop down dramatically, there is going to be an absolute dogfight for the sixth position in the league. With five matches left until the league splits in two for the final run in to the title, here’s how it stands:
6. Falkirk – 36 points, -4 GD
7. Aberdeen – 34 points, -13 GD
8. Hearts – 33 points, -10 GD (ahead on goals scored)
9. Inverness CT – 33 points, -10 GD

It’s going to be a great couple of weeks in the SPL.