Lyle Taylor’s two goals earned Partick Thistle an important 2-0 victory over Motherwell at Firhill. Defeat for the Jags would have left them only a point ahead of second-bottom Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership. However, two second-half goals from Taylor allowed Partick to widen the gap between them and the Lanarkshire side to seven points.
Dundee United finally returned to winning ways in the league thanks to Chris Erskine’s decisive 70th-minute strike at Tannadice, which ended Hamilton’s top-six hopes.
Jackie McNamara’s team had endured a run of 10 league games without a victory going into this match, but they ended that sequence when Erskine’s well-taken goal gave them a 1-0 win. The result leaves Hamilton winless in 13 games since Alex Neil left in early January to take over at Norwich, to be replaced by the player‑manager Martin Canning.
St Johnstone beat Dundee 1-0 at McDiarmid Park to secure a fourth consecutive top-six finish. Brian Graham’s quality first-half finish gave St Johnstone a narrow victory but the visitors will feel hard done by after they had a good share of the overall play and David Clarkson hit a post with a powerful volley. Despite the defeat, Dundee are almost certain to join the home side in the top six after the split, which is formalised once Celtic have visited Dens Park on 22 April.
After Hamilton’s defeat at Dundee United, only Kilmarnock can now stop Dundee by winning their final two matches, hoping Paul Hartley’s team are defeated by Celtic, and securing an eight-goal, positive goal‑difference swing.
In the Scottish Championship, the league’s bottom two sides, Livingston and Alloa, both collected wins. Alloa beat Dumbarton 3-0 with goals from Iain Flannigan, Kevin Cawley and Greig Spence, and basement side Livingston won 2-1 at Cowdenbeath, with both goals scored by Jordan White.
Hibs and Rangers, both on 58 points, play on Sunday and both sides will be competing for a place in the play-offs.
Hibs and the Scottish Championship titleholders, Hearts, contest the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road, while Stuart McCall’s Rangers will be looking to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat away to Queen of the South in midweek when they face Raith Rovers at Ibrox.
