In a Saturday sure to have excited absolutely no one, we had three SPL matches, and three SPL draws. Rangers started the sharefest with their scoreless trip to Motherwell. Celtic, surely licking their chops with 2 points on the table to be stolen from their bitter rivals, were unable to do the job, and finished 1-1 at home to Dundee United. And in the battle of the fightin’ saints, St. Mirren managed only a point at home in their new creatively-named park hosting promoted side St. Johnstone, 1-1.

The other Saturday match, Killie at Hearts, was postponed due to a lorry fire on the highway which prevented Killie’s traveling support, and incidentally their squad bus, from reaching Edinburgh in time. Tynecastle will still be there on Wednesday.

On Sunday, utterly pointless early strugglers Hamilton (seriously, they had zero points) hosted the capital city Hibees. It’s been a rough start for the Accies, but they did the job and took the match 2-0, on an early penalty from Mensing and another from Antoine-Courier. Hibs man Colin Nish certainly didn’t help anything with two yellows in the final 10 minutes, getting himself taken off with barely enough time to get a wash before the final whistle. By the way, if you picked Hamilton to be the only winner in the entire league this week, hats off to you – that took some guessing.

Monday saw Falkirk taking on Aberdeen, and once again, Scottish fans were rewarded with very, very little to watch, as the two went scoreless.

So far, things look familiar at the top, with the Old Firm tied on 10 points from 4 matches and a two-point lead on United. The surprise is at the bottom, where Hearts sit on just a single point from their first three times out. They must have been looking forward to hosting the inconsistent Kilmarnock this weekend, and will hope for those points on Wednesday. If they are not taken, count on escalating talk about change at Tynecastle.

Meanwhile, Celtic and Rangers both start their European group stages this week, with Rangers going to Stuttgart on Wednesday and Celtic to Israel to face Hapoel Tel Aviv. Both are tough trips, but those of us not embroiled in the unending pissing contest that is Glasgow football wish them both well. Good luck lads.

Helicopter Sunday
Rangers needed a win to be sure of winning the league today. On the strength of goals from Kyle Lafferty, Pedro Mendes and (who else) Kris Boyd, they won easily over Dundee United to wrap up the club’s fifth title of the SPL era, and 52nd title in the 112 competitive seasons of Scottish football. Celtic only managed a draw with Hearts, meaning that in truth, Rangers only would have needed a draw.

Hearts, Bairns and Dons to Europe
The other major move near the top of the table was Aberdeen jumping above Dundee United with their 2-1 win over Hibs. Combined with the beating United took from Rangers, that put Aberdeen into the final Europa League qualification spot. Scotland will be represented in Europe next season by Rangers and Celtic in the Champions League, and by Falkirk, Hearts and Aberdeen (plus Motherwell with a Fair Play entry) in the Europa League. Good luck to all of them – let’s get that coefficient back where it belongs.

Heartbreak in the Highlands
After five seasons of SPL football, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were relegated Saturday with their 1-0 loss to Falkirk at home. This means that the highland region will have no representative in the SPL next season. Two highland sides will rekindle their derby next season in the first division, with Caley facing rivals Ross County for the first time in the league since 2004.

The Saints are Marching Up
Caley Thistle will be replaced in the top flight by St. Johnstone, after seven years in the first division. They will get a chance at their local derby with Dundee United, though both sides have more of a rivalry with Dundee FC. Congratulations to the Perth club, and good luck to them back in the top flight. They certainly looked to be the best side in the first division this season and deserve their promotion.

So that’s it for the eleventh season of the Scottish Premier League era. Scotland’s 2009-10 European club campaign will begin on 2 July, as Motherwell enter in the first qualifying round of the Europa League due to their Fair Play bid. Here are the dates of entry for each of Scotland’s European representatives:

2 July – Motherwell – Europa League first qualifying round
16 July – Aberdeen – Europa League second qualifying round
28-29 July – Celtic – Champions League third qualifying round
30 July – Hearts – Europa League third qualifying round
20 August – Falkirk – Europa League playoff round
15-16 September – Rangers – Champions League group stage

Thanks for a great season of Scottish football, and Mon the Scots in Europe. SPL 2009-10 kicks off on August 15, three days after Scotland’s vital World Cup qualifier away against Norway.

Rangers stand one win from breaking Celtic’s recent hold on the SPL title, now up two points on the Bhoys after each side managed only a draw against Hibs in successive weeks. A Rangers win seals it, as would a Celtic loss or draw. On the slightly brighter side for the green half of Glasgow, they finish their season against Hearts, a team with nothing to play for, having already locked up third place in the league. Rangers head to Tannadice to take on Dundee United, who still need a draw to secure European play next season. It’s not over, but it’s in Rangers’ hands to lose.

At the bottom, we have what is essentially a relegation playoff match. Though a strange combination of blowouts could technically doom St. Mirren to the drop, it realistically comes down to two sides, Falkirk and Inverness Caley Thistle, who play in Inverness on the last day. A Caley win or draw wins the Highlanders survival, and dooms the Bairns to the all-to-familiar Scottish football fate of relegation combined with European qualification. If Falkirk wins, as they did the last time they played Caley, it’s Inverness headed down to the First Division, to meet old local rivals Ross County for the first time in years.

A fascinating last day of football. Will Falkirk or Caley go down? Will Rangers hold on or Celtic steal it at the final whistle? Can Dundee United fulfill everyone’s predictions and make it to the inaugural Europa League, or will Aberdeen get a chance to repeat their promising European run of last season? It’s all on the line Saturday.

Granted, one of the Old Firm will still win the title this year. But with six matches left, only one point separates them (Celtic having the slight edge), so either one of them could snag it. For Celtic, a title would make four in a row, and get them that much closer to the seven straight that Rangers claimed in the 1990s. For Rangers, it would break the Celtic streak, and give them their 52nd title to stretch their all-time title lead over their Glasgow rivals.

The race at the bottom may be the one to watch, though. Five teams are within 6 points of the single relegation spot, currently held by Falkirk. The other four are St. Mirren, newly promoted side Hamilton, Kilmarnock, and Caley Thistle. On form, Kilmarnock seemed the most likely to fall, until their 3-0 dismantling of Falkirk on Saturday. Until a few weeks ago, St. Mirren and Hamilton both looked safe, racking up a string of good results that had them clear of Caley, Killie and Falkirk. But both have fallen off in the past month. Because of the way the SPL schedule is organized, all of these teams will play each other in the last 5 weeks, as the bottom and top halves of the table are separated in the SPL’s infamous “split”, and now all five are in play. But the pressure is still all on Falkirk, three points adrift of St. Mirren.

It should be a hell of a run into the end of the SPL season. The Glaswegian titans battle for the title, while the entire bottom half of the table fights against the drop. Stay tuned.

Old Firm tightens up:
As of this moment, Rangers lead the league by one point, but Celtic have a game in hand and should, on form, beat Motherwell tomorrow. The latest Old Firm derby was last weekend, and ended in a pretty tepid 0-0 draw.

Two at the bottom:
With 12 matches left in the SPL season, there is a very clear bottom two in the SPL. The Bizarro Old Firm consists of Falkirk and my own beloved Caley Thistle. Falkirk is ahead of Caley by a single point, but is itself five points below Kilmarnock and St. Mirren. It is likely that one of these two will be headed down.

Hamilton Rises Again:
The Hamilton Accies started the season well, and then dropped all the way to last place, and looked to be dropping back to the First Division. But in the past seven league matches, they have six wins, and now sit in 8th place, tied on points for a top-half finish.

The Battle for Third:
Most pundits predicted Dundee United for the third-place European spot, and they looked to be living up to the hype. Two points total from their last four matches, including a draw with last-place Caley Thistle and a loss to Hamilton, though, have left Hearts two points ahead of them for third, and rising Aberdeen only two points behind. The race for the Europa League (god I hate that name) might be the best one to watch as the season comes to a close.

SPL 2: Electric Boogaloo?:
Just today, the Scottish Football League finally came around to the possibility of the SPL expanding to a second division, called SPL 2, which would basically replace the SFL Scottish First Division. SPL 2 would basically take all of the biggest second-tier teams in Scotland (Partick Thistle, Dunfermline, etc) out of the management of the SFL, and make it a league of very small teams.

Elsewhere Aberdeen defeated Hearts 1-0 with recently Scottish capped Lee Miller volleyed the lone goal to the back of the net at the thirty-six minute mark. With the victory The Dons move to within a point of fourth-place Hearts.

Dundee United maintained its strong third place position with a close 1-0 victory over Falkirk as Scott Robertson provided the lone goal nine minutes before the half hour mark as he jumped on a poor clearance and slammed the ball home from the edge of the area.

In one of the most thrilling matches of the day Kilmarnock overcame Hibernian 4-2. Danny Invincibile gave Killie the lead only five minutes in with a professional vision from close range as Jamie Hamill fed him a perfect pass to the back post. Only six minutes later Allan Russell doubled the margin as he got on the end of corner and drove the ball past Hibs ‘keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay. In a strange twist of events Dean Shiels scored twice from the spot at the thirty-sixth and fortieth minute to bring the match level, with the second penalty seeing off Killie ‘keeper Alan Combe. Down a man, Killie found the net two minutes after the restart with the Aussie Danny Invincibile heading home his second of the day. Hibs came close to evening the match but with sixteen minutes remaining Garry Hay returned Killie’s two goal lead.

Motherwell defeated Inverness Caley Thistle 3-2 with Chris Porter proving why many clubs are looking towards him this transfer season as he netted three goals on the way to the victory. (Caley Thistle review)

Finally St Mirren edged Hamilton Academical 1-0 as veteran Craig Dargo gave off the bench to net the winner with only twelve minutes remaining. The loss leaves the Accies laying in the dreaded relegation spot ahead of next weeks match against Aberdeen.

Please stop by for expanded coverage of the SPL next week as the action continues with the following matches:

Dundee United @ Celtic
Hibernian @ Hearts
Aberdeen @ Hamilton Academical
Motherwell @ St Mirren
Kilmarnock @ Falkirk
Rangers @ Inverness Caldeonian Thistle (Sunday)

Celtic comes in battered, and a bit divided, but top of the league by four points. Rangers, still rubbing their bums not only from blowing the league lead last season but also from their early European exit, know this is a rare chance to make up points on the leaders.

As a neutral party (can’t say I like one much better than the other), I can’t call this one. Rangers have Kris Boyd, who turned down his Scotland shirt because he didn’t like the boss, making him essentially dead to me. Still, the boy scores goals. Lots. The Hoops have no lack of scoring talent either, with Scott McDonald in fine form, and Koki Mizuno apparently up for it himself. Both sides are strong at the back as well, with the two allowing 36 goals in a combined 38 games. This will be the last Old Firm derby for Jean Claude Darcheville, who will very much want to leave on a goal, but as usual, probably won’t.

In the end, I definitely give an edge to the home side in the derby. Rangers haven’t lost at Ibrox yet this season, and I can’t see them starting now. But Celtic won’t let them run with it, and they’ll sit on Mr. Patriotic for every moment he’s on the pitch. Since I hate predicting draws, I’ll go 2-1 to Rangers.

To those who think you can keep Craig Brewster’s side down, guess again as Caley Thistle fought hard for a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock, despite last minute heroics by Killie thrown aside with Mehdi Taouil’s dreadful penalty miss as time wound down. (full report here)

Aberdeen played a brilliant match but succumbed to the Rangers 2-0 (Aberdeen report here)(Rangers report here)

Elsewhere Hamilton was heartbroken with 1-1 against Dundee Utd as a unfortunate own goal deep into added time. The match will be remembered for highly questionable referring as it the visiting Accies were a man down for the final ten minutes with Simon Mensing sent off for an altercation away from the ball. Finally Hearts defeated Falkirk 2-1 and Hibernian roared back to the win column with a 4-1 drubbing of Motherwell on the strength of Northern Ireland’s Dean Shiels winning strike five minutes past the re-start .

And don’t forget next Saturday when the SPL returns with the following great matches:

Inverness CT @ Celtic
Motherwell @ Aberdeen
Rangers @ Hearts
Dundee Utd @ St Mirren
Kilmarnock @ Hamilton
Hibernian @ Falkirk

Our showcase match this week has to be Rangers v. Aberdeen. Check out both the Rangers Offside and Aberdeen Offside for previews of this one, which is always … let’s say … spirited. Next to Celtic, no group of fans in the league dislikes Rangers the way the Dons do, and without a win at Ibrox in 17 years, they are hungry. Rangers need to keep winning and keep up with a Celtic side that has won 10 straight.

St. Mirren v Celtic – Full disclosure – When I’m writing this, we’re already in the 48th minute of this, the early match, and its 0-0, so Celtic is in real danger of slipping on the same Buddies banana peel that Rangers did earlier. Will the streak end at 10? (UPDATE: 20 minutes later, 2-0 to Celtic, and that’ll be 11).

Hearts v. Falkirk – One of the form sides in the league right now, Hearts find themselves third in the SPL. If they wish to maintain their slim lead over United, they’ll need to take all the marbles from a home match with the Bairns.

Dundee United v. Hamilton – And why’s that, you ask? Because despite Hamilton’s brilliant start to their promotion season, they haven’t won a match in months. Will they be breaking that streak against a United side that has only lost once in seven matches at home? Doubtful.

Motherwell v. Hibernian – Fir Park in Motherwell has been a high-scoring venue this season, both for the Well and against it. We’ll see some goals here, and with only a single point separating these two sides in the standings, this one means a lot.

Kilmarnock v. Inverness – Caley has regained a bit of composure after their horrible loss to Rangers last month, while Killie have slowed significantly from their blistering early pace, but still sit fifth to Caley’s tenth. If history serves as a guide, there will be goals in this one, as this has been one of the highest scoring fixtures in the last five years.

Kilmarnock v Inverness CT, 15:00

Falkirk’s visit to Hamilton is an intriguing match-up as the clubs appear to be going in the opposite direction with John Hughes’ club scratching and clawing its way to tough points. The Accies need to find their early season form to halt the slide that have seen them winless in six matches. Falkirk shellacked Hamilton 4-1 in the final match of September and Billy Reid’s club is searching for tactical alternatives to their stagnant attack.

Elsewhere in the SPL:

Inverness Caley Thistle @ Hibernian
Motherwell @ Celtic
Hearts @ St Mirren
Rangers @ Kilmarnock (Sunday)