The Ian Baraclough era at Motherwell started promisingly as John Sutton’s second-half goal helped them defeat 10-man St Mirren 1-0 in a controversial match in Paisley. The Buddies captain, Stephen Thompson, was shocked to be sent off by referee Alan Muir after a challenge on Motherwell’s Mark O’Brien after 18 minutes. Despite being depleted in numbers, St Mirren were the better team for long periods of the match, although they now find themselves six points adrift of 10th-placed Motherwell at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table.
Another hotly contested decision, this time for a second-half penalty from Brian Graham, earned St Johnstone a 1-0 victory over 10-man Inverness and stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches in the Scottish Premiership. The on-loan Dundee United striker calmly scored from the spot in the 62nd minute after referee Brian Colvin ruled Graham had been brought down by the Inverness goalkeeper Dean Brill. The decision infuriated the visitors, whose anger spilled over minutes later when midfielder Ross Draper was shown a straight red card after a clash with Simon Lappin. Inverness were within a whisker of an equaliser when David Raven hit the outside of the post with a fierce drive but Saints were not to be denied a fourth straight league win and a first success against Caley Thistle in their last five matches.
Partick were denied the chance to record consecutive victories for the first time this season by a cruel own-goal in stoppage time against Dundee at Firhill. James Craigen scored the opening goal for the home side just before the hour, finishing Ryan Stevenson’s driven cross from close range. Just when it looked as though the points would stay at Maryhill, a cross by substitute Phil Roberts was deflected into his own net by the hapless Conrad Balatoni to earn the visitors a 1-1 draw and bring an end to a run of three straight league defeats.
A sixth-minute goal from Martin Canning was enough to earn consecutive wins for Hamilton, as they edged a close Scottish Premiership encounter against Ross County at Victoria Park. Canning scored with a close-range header from a set-piece after County made the early running. Overall, County were well in the match but passed up three glorious opportunities to restore parity with Martin Woods, Joe Cardle and Paul Quinn all missing the target.
Scottish Championship leaders Hearts maintained their 100% home record with a routine 2-0 win over lowly Alloa. Hearts took the lead in the 16th minute when Jamie Walker found James Keatings and he struck low into the net from the edge of the box. The home side were two goals up just before the half-hour mark with Walker and Callum Paterson involved in a neat interchange before Paterson prodded the ball past Alloa goalkeeper Craig McDowall at the near post.
Rangers recorded a 2-0 win over Livingston at Ibrox. Fraser Aird rifled his side ahead after 10 minutes before Simon Mensing’s own goal 16 minutes from time gave the departing Rangers manager Ally McCoist some light relief after another week of off-field drama.
