Celtic Two Quick, Devlin haunts Livi and Schwolow literally saves Hearts - Scottish Premiership Round 14 Review
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Celtic Two Quick, Devlin haunts Livi and Schwolow literally saves Hearts - Scottish Premiership Round 14 Review

Scottish Premiership Review - Round 14

Celtic two quick for the Hibees

Hibernian 1-2 Celtic Boyle 56' (Pen); Maeda (27'), Engels (28')

Celtic put in a fantastic comeback win against Feyenoord, in the Europa League in midweek, but headed to Easter Road knowing that Leith had become an unhappy hunting ground for the Premiership champions winning only four times in their last 15 league visits.

Hibs started brightly in this one and produced good chances from Martin Boyle and Jamie McGrath, however neither effort could do enough to hit the target or trouble Kasper Schmeichel in the Celtic goal. Celtic were to make the Hibees pay for the missed efforts; a defensive mix-up saw Celtic grab their first goal of the afternoon when a poor pass out from the Hibs' keeper Raphael Sallinger was pounced on by Reo Hatate, stealing possession and tee'd up his fellow countryman Daizen Maeda for a tap in into an empty net.

It would get worse for Hibs only seconds after the kick-off. Yang crossed in from the left hand side and it found the head of Arne Engels who broke into the edge of Hibs six yard box and headed passed Sallinger. Engels took a boot in the face from Jamie McGrath for his troubles but was able to continue. Celtic could have effectively secured the win in the first half but Marcelo Saracchi's shot struck the post following an excellent move.

Hibs were down but not out and started the second half brightly, being awarded a penalty early on; a VAR on screen review which deemed Liam Scales handled the ball inside the Celtic box. The penalty was expertly dispatched by Martin Boyle putting it past Schmeichel, who didn't even dive for the effort.

David Gray's side pushed and pushed for an equaliser but it just wasn't falling for the Hibees, Chris Cadden's shot the final minutes could have brought the hosts back level, but it was saved by Schmeichel.

The perfect domestic record under Martin O'Neill continues for Celtic, he now has won six of his seven games in charge in all competitions. O'Neill is expected to remain in charge in midweek when they host Dundee and then is expected to move on, but we've heard this before and who knows what could happen. Wilfried Nancy looks all but confirmed to become the new Celtic boss and will be eager to get in and put his stamp on things.

As for Hibs, it's back to back league defeats for the first time since last November and they'll be looking to get back to winning ways at home against Falkirk.

Pressley's Dees sends Buddies into Trouble

Dundee 3-1 St. Mirren Gogic 29' (OG), Wright (39'), Westley (87'), Mandron (27')

Two out of form sides met in Dens Park, Steven Pressley's Dundee lost their last four straight league games with Stephen Robinson's St. Mirren having only one win in their last six Premiership matches.

If Dundee want to stay out of trouble in terms of relegation then making Dens Park a fortress is going to be important for them. All their league wins have come at home this season, but they thought their losing streak might be continuing when defender Clark Robertson passed the ball straight to Buddies striker Mikael Mandron who struck low and hard past Jon McCracken.

Fortunately for the hosts the Buddies lead lasted only two minutes; Yan Dhanda, on loan from Hearts, crossed into the penalty box low and hard which took a big deflection off Alex Gogic, passing Shamal George and finding its way into the back of the St Mirren net. The Dees then went ahead, six minutes before half-time, Drey Wright cutting inside and unleashing a powerful strike from outside the box and past George.

The Buddies came out of the blocks in the second half and created chances to get the equaliser. Jayden Richardson struck from outside the area but his effort went over Jon McCracken's crossbar. The chances were relentless, but the Dees defence was standing their ground.

The Paisley side suffered a late goal last week which sealed a defeat against Celtic, and history repeated itself in Tayside. Joe Westley, a bright spark in the Dundee midfield, curled in a brilliant finish past Shamal George sealing three extremely precious points for Steven Pressley's side.

A first win for Dundee since the 19th of October which takes them out of the relegation playoff at the expense of Stephen Robinson's Buddies. Another game of good chances gone for St. Mirren, they will hope to be more clinical in front of goal when they host Aberdeen in midweek.

Sibbald magic rescues point in Ayrshire

Kilmarnock 1-1 Dundee United Anderson (34'); Sibbald (63')

Two teams with poor recent runs met at Rugby Park, Stuart Kettlewell's Killie have lost six straight league matches whereas Jim Goodwin's Dundee United have only won once in their last seven Premiership games.

United had the first chance to take the lead from the penalty spot when Ethan Brown clattered into Krisztian Keresztes. Max Watters took the spot kick but Tobi Oluwayemi, on loan from Celtic, tipped the ball onto the post with the Killie defenders eventually clearing the danger. Jim Goodwin made a big decision in pre-match by replacing his under-fire goalkeeper Yevhen Kucherenko for Dave Richards and it would be Richards who would take the ball out the net first; Keresztes fouling Marley Watkins in the United penalty box and Matthew MacDermid pointing to the penalty spot. Bruce Anderson's spot kick was saved by Richards but the striker got to the follow up quicker than anyone else and put Killie in front.

Killie thought they could have extended their lead in the first half; Scott Tiffoney with a header but Luca Stephenson cleared off the line. With a first glance it appeared that the ball had crossed the line but thankfully for United, VAR indicated that Richards had been fouled in the buildup.

Craig Sibbald has been one of United's standout performers this season and it was the midfielder who levelled the game up with 30 minutes on the clock. A counter-attack which started with Sibbald, who played in Luca Stephenson, who passed back to Sibbald, and his stretching shot found the bottom corner. A scrappy game could have been won in the dying seconds, Dominic Thompson with a free-kick that whistled wide of Richards' post.

Kilmarnock's losing streak is over, whereas Dundee United's poor run continues, but in the end, a point for both sides only felt fair.

Devlin back to haunt Livi and Co

Livingston 0-1 Aberdeen Devlin (80')

Aberdeen are finally starting to click into gears in the Scottish Premiership, unbeaten in their last five heading into the game in West Lothian, David Martindale's Livi were still looking for their first league win since August.

It was Livi who started this one off well; Mahamadou Susoho's strike inside the Dons penalty box was saved well by Dimitar Mitov with Nicky Devlin clearing any chance of a follow up. Then a long ball from Susoho found Lewis Smith on the righthand side, Smith drilled his cross low and hard but was parried away from Mitov.

Aberdeen were hoping to make Livingston pay for their missed first-half chances, Adil Aouchiche crossed in from the left hand side to Jesper Karlsson in the Livi penalty box but his effort went wide of Jerome Prior's goal. In the second-half, Karlsson went even closer, the Dons were hoping to make the most of a counter-attack but his chance went past the post.

The Dons were looking brighter in their second half but it took until the 75th minute until they started creating clear cut chances. They could have went ahead when Dylan Lobban played in Stuart Armstrong whose excellent effort was saved by Prior, who got down and reacted quickly to deny the experienced midfielder. Prior was starting to get worked in the goal more often late on, an excellent volley from Nicolas Milanovic was denied by the Frenchman who saved well.

And then for Livi, yet another sucker punch; Graham Carey was pressured by Graeme Shinnie on the byline, the Dons captain played the ball back for Topi Keskinen who crossed into the back post and Nicky Devlin, who made just under 150 appearances appearances for Livingston, was there to head the ball past Prior.

In the end, Livingston were made to pay for their first half missed chances and still remain winless since August. As for the Dons, they have now won 1-0 in the three of their last four league games and their unbeaten league run extends to six games.

Schwolow saves the day for Hearts

Motherwell 0-0 Hearts

The Steelmen came into this one winning four of their last five Premiership matches, including a midweek 2-0 win over Hibernian. However they had only won one once in their last seven league meetings against the Jambos since August 2024. Many neutrals were hoping for a repeat showing of these sides last meeting, a 3-3 draw back in August.

Motherwell started well, Stuart Findlay was robbed of possession by Elijah Just, who squared the ball to Tawanda Maswanhise, but the striker could not make the most of a good chance. The Steelmen were still the better side early on, and they thought they took the lead when Elliot Watt crossed to Callum Hendry in the penalty box who put the ball past Alexander Schwolow, but a VAR check showed Hendry was in an offside position. Then, Elijah Just made a good run on the right, cut in to take a shot, but it went straight into the hands of Schwolow.

The league leaders needed to come out of the second half and put on and better showing, but it was Motherwell who should have went ahead. Mashwanhise's cross to the back post was perfectly weighted for Just, but his header was straight at Schwolow. Hearts could have went in front from a set-piece, Harry Milne's corner kick found Lawrence Shankland at the back post, but Callum Hendry cleared the ball with a brilliant acrobatic clearance on the goal line.

Motherwell had a second goal disallowed, Maswanhise chipped the ball past Schwolow but the striker was clearly in an offside position. The Hearts hero of the day was their keeper, who made an excellent save facing Elijah Just once again, after he broke past the Jambos defence. Lukas Fadinger strike from outside the box was also saved by Schwolow, making a brilliant save. His heroics were needed one last time when he denied Callum Slattery from his free-kick late on.

Hearts have dropped points for third successive league game running, with the gap at the top of the table being cut down to two points after their city rivals Hibs couldn't get a result against second place Celtic. The Steelmen remain in third place and are now seven games unbeaten in the Premiership.

The Bairns end Rohl's perfect league start

Rangers 0-0 Falkirk

Falkirk were looking to create a piece of history at Ibrox, it's been 100 years since they last won a league match against Rangers at Ibrox in the top-flight and have only won one of their last 46 Premiership meetings.

It was a game that was looking promising for goals and entertainment pre-match, but the reality was that this was a hard watch in a match of low quality; Connor Barron was the first to try his luck, but his shot from outside the box comfortably fell into the hands of Scott Bain. Nedim Bajrami probably had the first-half's best chance, but his curling shot went off target. Barron again tried his luck before half-time, but his shot inside the penalty box went wide of Bain's right hand post.

In the second half Falkirk came close to opening the scoring; Alfredo Agyeman putting on the pressure on Jack Butland with the Rangers keeper's clearance hitting Agyeman's legs and Rangers eventually, after some panic stations at the back, clearing the danger away. Falkirk were coming more and more into the game, Agyeman again testing Butland, but the Rangers keeper saving well and puting it past his left hand post.

Substitute Djeidi Gassama came the closest to settling the game for either side; Nico Raskin played in the former Sheffield Wednesday attacker who broke in the Falkirk box, but his shot was saved by Bain. Ethan Williams shot from around 20 yards late on, but his shot was parried away by Butland.

Rangers remain unbeaten under Danny Rohl in the Premiership but their winning league run is over, so remain below Motherwell in the table. As for Falkirk, another valuable and well earned point on the board in their first season back in the top flight, and are in sixth place in the table.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Aaron McIntosh

Scottish Football Writer

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