Hibernian manager Lee Johnson took aim at his Hearts counterpart Steven Naismith as tempers flared in the aftermath of a fiery Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle.

The pair were at loggerheads throughout as the 10-man Jambos, who had Alex Cochrane sent off in the first half, held on for a point to secure fourth place in the cinch Premiership and prevent their city rivals leapfrogging them.

Johnson, whose side levelled through a Kevin Nisbet free-kick after Yutaro Oda’s early opener, even had a hot-water bottle thrown in his direction from the home dugout after he entered the Hearts technical area to retrieve the ball.

After the two managers frostily shook hands at full-time, Johnson appeared to dig Naismith in the ribs with his fist, before a skirmish erupted in the centre circle when Hearts sub goalkeeper Ross Stewart leaned his elbow into the Hibs boss as he walked past him.

Johnson, Stewart, Hearts goalkeeping coach Paul Gallacher and Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri were all shown red cards afterwards, while an investigation is likely after Hibs substitute Marijan Cabraja appeared to be struck by a Hearts supporter while attempting to grab the ball to take a throw-in.

Asked about what caused the tension, Johnson said: “I couldn’t even tell you. It was a classic ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’ melee-type thing.

“It was a frustrating game in terms of the ebb and the flow because there was no flow. The time-wasting was quite embarrassing at times.

“It was a case of two managers who don’t like each other very much and that’s what started it.

“I’ll keep the hot water bottle that was thrown at me for winter!

“There was a bit of needle but it happens, technical areas are a passionate place. It’s not a problem, we move on.

“I’ve been a manager that long, you see it all in the technical area. It means nothing.”

Pressed on why there was needle between he and Naismith, who has been in charge of Hearts since Johnson’s former team-mate Robbie Neilson was sacked in April, the Hibs boss said: “He’s had seven games as a manager and I just think the way he speaks is disrespectful to the previous manager.

“We’ll see after 250 games if he’s lucky enough to still be in charge of any club and if he still has that attitude.”

Naismith dismissed Johnson’s claims of disrespect towards Neilson.

“He’s fishing I think, that’s what he’s doing,” he said.

The 36-year-old also defended himself in the face of Johnson’s dig about only having been a manager for seven games.

“I’ve got a 15-year career at the top level,” he said. “I’ve managed to pull things from some of the best managers around Britain.

“I’ve been in a role for the last two years under arguably Scotland’s best manager (Steve Clarke) for a long period of time.

“I’m not naive to think I know everything, but what I have done is my homework. I’ve had two solid years of good coaching.”

Asked about the post-match flare-up, Naismith – whose side are guaranteed a crack at the Europa Conference League next term – said: “I’m not sure to be honest, I was shaking hands and getting out of there, I wasn’t getting involved in anything.

“I know these situations can turn into things, especially in a derby with high emotions, but I was just buzzing to get the result and enjoy it with the fans.”

Michael Beale insists fans will see a new Rangers side next season – but insists this current version was not broken despite a trophyless campaign.

The Light Blues concluded their cinch Premiership season with a comfortable 3-0 win over St Mirren in Paisley, thanks to a double from Fashion Sakala and a third from substitute Antonio Colak.

Rangers were already consigned to second place behind treble-chasing Celtic and after 38 fixtures, ended with 92 points, seven behind the Hoops.

Since sporting director Ross Wilson left the Ibrox club in April, the former Gers assistant coach, who took over from Giovanni Van Bronckhorst in November, has been more involved in recruitment with Norwich midfielder Kieran Dowell’s pre-contract signing the first of several to come, while the departures of Allan McGregor, Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield and Filip Helander have been confirmed.

“Probably the last five or six weeks have been the busiest I’ve ever been,” said Beale. “I’m not shocked by anything in the job or demands.

“I was used to it here before but the added responsibility and added time off the pitch, managing other areas and doing recruitment, it’s been busy.

“I’m glad the end of season is here if I am honest. But we’re really in a good place. We’re waiting for one or two things to be signed off then we’ll start seeing a new Rangers team come together.

“Albeit, we’ve got over 90 points this season which, someone will tell me, but I don’t think we have done that too often in the last 15 or 20 years. When we have, we generally have won the league.”

There appeared to be more than a hint of sarcasm in Beale’s voice when he added: “Again, everything is broken at Rangers so I’m looking forward to mending it. That’s the perception, I’m not sure if that’s quite true.

“Celtic deserved to win the league this year, they were the outstanding team but our record was a strong one and I believe we’ll be adding to a very good team.”

Buddies boss Stephen Robinson, who claimed a “clinical” Rangers side punished St Mirren for “three mistakes”, admitted that it was unlikely that out-of-contract striker Curtis Main would be staying at the Paisley club.

The Northern Irishman said: “Curtis is very unlikely to stay.

“When you are getting double and triple your money offers in England’s League One and Two then you need to just admit that you are not going to get there.

“Curtis has been absolutely excellent for me, he’s been terrific every time he has played and he’s earned the right for possibly one big move.

“Even today he was playing with an injection in his foot and he’s given absolutely everything so that’s the kind of quality people we have inside this building and I wish him nothing but the best if he moves on.”

Paddington made a seamless switch to Classic company as he gave trainer Aidan O’Brien another victory in the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh.

Having begun his season in handicap company off a mark of 97, Paddington won the Tetrarch Stakes next time before being pitched into the Guineas.

Ryan Moore was keen to grab an early position on the 3-1 victor and settled just behind Oisin Murphy on Hi Royal, the surprise runner up in the Newmarket Guineas.

For a brief spell it appeared as if Murphy was keeping a bit up his sleeve as Moore got down into the drive position, but with half a furlong left to run, Paddington began to gain the upper hand.

He leaned in briefly on Hi Royal, but he was already in command and as Hi Royal began to weaken it was the winner’s stablemate Cairo who made late gains from the rear to claim second, beaten two lengths.

Royal Scotsman was sent off the 6-4 favourite but never looked like getting involved as O’Brien claimed a 12th victory in the race, although it was his first since Churchill in 2017.

The winner is now the 4-1 second favourite for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot with Coral, who have Newmarket winner Chaldean as the 11-8 market leader.

Dramatised came with a powerful late challenge to land Group Two honours in the Betfred Temple Stakes at Haydock.

Last seen finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, Dramatised was sent off the 4-1 favourite for trainer Karl Burke and jockey William Buick.

The three-year-old was settled off the pace by Buick as both Live In The Dream and The Platinum Queen were eager to make their presence felt early.

However, Buick rode a perfect waiting race and when he gave Dramatised the signal, she quickly made strides up the near side rail, collaring Live In The Dream inside the last of the five furlongs.

Equilateral, a 20-1 shot, did his best to challenge down the middle of the track, but Dramatised was just too good, prevailing by a length, with Live In The Dream keeping on for third ahead of Existent.

Mauricio Pochettino has "everything to succeed" in his first season if appointed as Chelsea's new head coach, according to former Blues winger Willian.

Pochettino has been out of management since being sacked as Paris Saint-Germain boss at the end of last season, but he is reportedly close to taking over at Stamford Bridge ahead of next campaign.

His rumoured arrival comes at the end of a tumultuous season for Chelsea, who have sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter on the way to their lowest-ever points tally in the Premier League era.

But Willian, who won two Premier League titles as well as the Europa League during his seven-year spell with the Blues, believes Pochettino is the man to bring success back to the club.

"He is a great manager," Willian told Stats Perform. "He did a great job while he was at Tottenham and he has everything to succeed.

"Chelsea is a giant club, it's a club that is always used to winning titles. Chelsea might not win anything one year, but the next year they'll be fighting for a title.

"Chelsea has been winning titles this way for a few years now, and sometimes they don't do well in a league, but they win a European trophy or a cup.

"Chelsea is a club that will always fight for titles, and I think they have everything to fight for a title again next year."

Chelsea have spent over £600million in the transfer market since Todd Boehly's consortium took control of the club, including £323m on acquiring eight players in the January window alone.

Willian feels the new signings will come good, adding: "I think the team has quality players.

"They have signed a lot of players, but you can see they have a lot of quality players and I think they have everything to succeed, yes."

Willian now plies his trade with Chelsea's west London rivals Fulham, who have secured a top-half finish in a successful first Premier League campaign following their promotion last term, sitting nine points above the Blues with one game remaining.

Willian remembers his time at Stamford Bridge fondly, though, claiming they were the best years of a career that has also included spells at Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk.

"Chelsea was the best moment of my career," Willian said. "It was almost eight years, I won titles, I was very happy.

"Even before I was there, I already dreamed of playing for Chelsea. I watched Chelsea games on TV and I had this dream of playing there, and I was able to make that dream come true.

"For me, those were the best years of my career. Those were incredible years."

Just Stop Oil protesters forced a stoppage in play during Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham.

Two men invaded the pitch midway through the first half of the match between Saracens and Sale, throwing orange paint powder on to the field.

Fans jeered the duo before cheering as stewards escorted them from the stadium.

Orange powder remained on the field as the match resumed.

The protest followed a similar one at the World Snooker Championship in April.

On that occasion, a man tipped orange paint on the table during the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at the Crucible in Sheffield.

A woman was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table after being tackled by quick-thinking referee Olivier Marteel.

Dylan Levitt claims he has seen “madder things happen in football” than the unlikely scenario that would see Dundee United avoid automatic relegation from the cinch Premiership.

Levitt and his United team-mates need to win at Motherwell on Sunday and hope Kilmarnock beat Ross County, while wiping out the Staggies’ eight-goal advantage.

The Wales midfielder said: “We need to go there and win, that’s the main thing first and foremost for the fans coming, for personal pride, to get a win before the end of the season.

“And then obviously football, you never know what can happen. You never know. But we are just going to go there and hopefully finish on a high.

“I have seen madder things happen in football, I think everyone has.

“Very slim chance but we need to go there and win the game more important than anything, just for yourself, the family and the fans.

“Going out and losing the last game of the season, no-one wants that.”

A win of any kind could help manager Jim Goodwin convince United chairman Mark Ogren that he is the man to lead the club’s recovery.

Levitt added his voice to the calls for the Irishman to be handed an extended contract.

“He’s been brilliant from day one,” the former Manchester United player said.

“Even when I have been injured, walking to the gym, seeing the sessions he has put on, meetings, everything has been spot-on from day one.

“A lot of the lads have really taken to him since he came in and as a group we haven’t been good enough.”

Little Big Bear proved his 2000 Guineas run to be all wrong with a comprehensive success in the Betfred Nifty Fifty Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock.

Champion juvenile last year on the back of his seven-length win in the Phoenix Stakes, his campaign was then curtailed by injury.

Aidan O’Brien opted to switch up to a mile for his seasonal bow, but nothing went right at Newmarket and he finished slightly lame in last place.

Just three weeks later, he was a different proposition dropped back to six furlongs on Merseyside, travelling sweetly throughout in the hands of Frankie Dettori, with Ryan Moore on Irish Guineas duty at the Curragh.

Hollie Doyle appeared to be going just as well on last year’s Coventry winner Bradsell until a furlong and a half out, when Dettori made his race-winning move.

Richard Hannon’s Shouldvebeenaring tried to make a race of it having cruised into contention, but he could never quite get close enough to put the evens favourite under pressure and he went down by a length and a quarter.

The winner is now 6-4 favourite from 9-2 with Betfair for the Commonwealth Cup at Ascot.

Dettori said: “Aidan got in touch with me 10 days ago and I said ‘yeah, I would love to ride the horse’, but I didn’t know where I was going to be. Very kindly they held on for me, I was on the phone on Sunday and said ‘listen, I’m going to Haydock’.

“He looked magnificent today. I guess they had to try the Guineas, it was too long (a mile) and it didn’t work out, but he won in good style today.

“I always had the race covered, he quickened up well under hands and heels and it’s a good confidence booster before the Commonwealth Cup.

“I don’t know what the line-up will be, but he was champion two-year-old, he has big figures and has come back to his best today, so he’ll be the favourite.”

Oisin Murphy rode his first ever winner at the Curragh as Art Power confirmed his love for Ireland when winning the Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes in clear-cut fashion.

Trained by Tim Easterby, the grey was winning for the fourth time in as many attempts in Ireland.

Swiftly away from the stalls, the 2-1 joint-favourite looked in a comfortable rhythm throughout while his main market rival, Charlie Hills’ Garrus, was almost detached at the back of the field under Ryan Moore.

When Garrus did begin to make a move from the rear, Art Power had plenty left and kicked on again over a furlong out, running out a four-and-three-quarter-length winner from Big Gossey, with Garrus third.

The winner, gelded in the winter, is now as low as 8-1 with Betfair for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

“He was a top-class sprinter and he lost his form a little bit. Tim Easterby and King Power Racing have been patient with him and today he gave me a super feel,” said Murphy.

“He loves Ireland and has never been beaten here, that’s his fourth victory from four starts – what a fantastic horse.

“I hadn’t ridden any winners here before today, so I can’t say I was very confident through the race and I knew what I was doing. I pretended I did anyway and I had the right horse.

“This is a great feeling. I managed to win a Listed race on Buckaroo at Leopardstown last month and to be here on such a big day is massive.”

Covey looked the proverbial Group horse in a handicap as he and Frankie Dettori led their rivals a merry dance in the £100,000 Betfred Silver Bowl at Haydock.

Narrowly beaten by Zoology on his debut at Southwell, John and Thady Gosden’s colt went one better at Newmarket next time before landing extremely short odds of 1-16 when doubling his tally at Newcastle.

Making his handicap debut from a perch of 90 on Merseyside, the son of Frankel again headed the betting as the 6-4 favourite and the result was never really in any doubt as he cut out most of the running and passed the post with just over three lengths in hand over Royal Cape.

Covey does not hold any big-race entries, but appears almost certain to be part of the Gosden squad for Royal Ascot next month.

Dettori, sporting the same Juddmonte colours he will wear aboard Covey’s stablemate Arrest in next weekend’s Betfred Derby at Epsom, said: “That was good and he’s going the right way.

“He was a difficult horse six months ago – he ran off the gallop with me in October! But he’s getting his act together and improving all the time.

“You always need a decent horse to win this kind of race, I guess the Britannia or the Jersey could be on his agenda for Ascot.”

Hollie Doyle came in for a winning spare ride aboard the Hugo Palmer-trained Solent Gateway (5-1) in the Betfred TV Hell Nook Handicap.

With intended jockey Neil Callan stuck on the M6, late substitute Doyle was at her power-packed best as her mount dug deep to repel 2-1 favourite Law Of The Sea by three-quarters of a length.

She said: “Neil got stuck in traffic unfortunately and I was probably the only one in the weighing room!

“I knew the horse quite well as I’ve ridden against him a few times and I just did what I was told.

“I got an easy lead, I cantered round in front and he was very push-button.”

In The Breeze came from the clouds to get trainer Mick Appleby off the cold list in the opening Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Florida Handicap.

The Rutland-based trainer had gone 81 runners and 43 days without a winner heading to Haydock and In The Breeze was a 9-2 shot to stop the rot in the hands of Ray Dawson.

The five-year-old was at the rear of the field for much of the 10-furlong contest, but charged home to get up in the dying strides and beat Swift Tuttle by a neck.

“We’ve been knocking on the door a bit, but we’ve had a very busy winter, so you expect to have a bit of a quiet time. It has been a bit longer than normal,” said Appleby.

“This horse is a bit highly strung, so we just have to try to keep a lid on him. I thought when they were crawling early on it wasn’t going to suit us as it turned into a sprint, but Ray gave him a great ride and he got the job done well.”

Coco Gauff hopes returning to Paris can help her find a new groove.

The 19-year-old reached her first grand slam singles final at the French Open last summer, losing a one-sided contest to Iga Swiatek.

She began this season by winning a WTA title in Auckland but has struggled recently, failing to make it past the third round at any of her last four tournaments and suffering some heavy defeats.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Coco Gauff (@cocogauff)

Having established herself as a top-10 player, Gauff is now seeking the right path to move forward on and off the court.

“I would have liked to approach it (the tournament) the same way but I feel that’s not realistic because I am a different person than I was last year,” she said.

“I think I just have to find the way I want to approach it for this version of myself now. That comes through trial and error.

“I feel like for some reason, though, I always seem to find that in Paris. I don’t know if it’s the city or the vibe here that makes me a lot more at ease.

“I think there’s always things I would like to keep from myself a year ago and things I would like to get rid of. I have to figure out what things I want to keep and what things I don’t want to keep. I think that’s just learning about yourself.

“No matter how young or how old I am, I think I’m always going to be in this process of learning about myself. But I feel like even more in these years as I’m transitioning into being like a real adult.”

Gauff is back working with Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou having split from Diego Moyano and is trying to take more ownership of her tennis.

The American is a superb athlete and has one of the sport’s best backhands but her forehand is not nearly as reliable and is often cited as the weakness holding her back.

“I’m used to being told what to do and I just do it,” said Gauff. “So I guess now I’m trying to find, and I think Patrick and previous coaches want me to be more vocal about my game and about what I want to do.

“Obviously the forehand is something that I have to improve on, but on clay especially I feel like it’s one of my weapons. Last year, I won a lot of points using that heavy forehand, and I think that that’s something I continue to do this year.

“I feel pretty confident going into this tournament regardless of how other people view my game.”

Gauff will begin her tournament on Monday or Tuesday against Spain’s Rebeka Masarova.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka opens play on Philippe Chatrier on Sunday against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk while third seed Jessica Pegula meets fellow American Danielle Collins.

Ten-man Hearts held on for a 1-1 draw in a tense final-day Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle to stop Hibernian leapfrogging them into fourth place in the cinch Premiership.

The Jambos knew a point would be enough to keep their fifth-place city rivals beneath them and secure automatic European qualification next term, and they got off to the perfect start when Yutaro Oda fired them into a ninth-minute lead.

But a red card for Alex Cochrane – his third of the season – on the half hour and an equaliser from Kevin Nisbet immediately afterwards meant Hearts had to dig deep for more than an hour – including stoppage-time – to get the point they needed.

Despite Hibs failing to get the win they craved, they will join their old foes in getting a crack at the Europa Conference League as long as Celtic defeat Championship side Inverness in next weekend’s Scottish Cup final, albeit starting in an earlier qualifying round.

Hearts made two changes to the team that started Wednesday’s 2-2 draw away to Rangers as Cochrane and Barrie McKay replaced Toby Sibbick and Alan Forrest.

There was one enforced change to the Hibs team that started Wednesday’s win over Celtic as Chris Cadden replaced the injured CJ Egan-Riley.

Hearts got off to the perfect start when they took the lead in the ninth minute as Japanese forward Oda drilled home his first goal for the club from just inside the box after a long throw-in from James Hill was only partially cleared by the Hibs defence.

The hosts suffered a blow in the 17th minute when midfielder Peter Haring – who only recently returned following a lengthy concussion lay-off – was forced off after clashing heads with Cadden while trying to deal with a cross from Elie Youan. The Austrian was replaced by Orestis Kiomourtzoglou.

The game swung in Hibs’ favour just before the half hour, however, when they were awarded a penalty after Cochrane brought Cadden down as he burst into the box.

Following a VAR review, referee Don Robertson showed a red card to Cochrane – whom he had initially booked – for denying a goal-scoring opportunity but he changed the spot-kick award to a free-kick as the foul had been committed just outside the box.

This mattered little to the Hibees, however, as Nisbet, who had been preparing to take the penalty, instead drove the free-kick through the defensive wall and into Zander Clark’s bottom right corner.

The visitors’ tails were up and in the 35th minute Paul Hanlon saw a shot pushed over by Clark from the edge of the box, before Jake Doyle-Hayes’ effort from the resulting corner was deflected behind. Joe Newell then saw a 15-yard strike brilliantly tipped over by Clark from a Doyle-Hayes corner just before the break.

Hibs boss Lee Johnson, knowing his team needed a win to leapfrog their opponents, made two attacking changes for the start of the second half as Ewan Henderson and Harry McKirdy replaced Lewis Miller and James Jeggo.

The visitors went close to taking the lead in the 49th minute when Nisbet glanced a header just wide from a Cadden cross.

The Hibees’ cause was not helped by the fact they lost both Doyle-Hayes and Cadden to injury in the early stages of the second half.

Will Fish had a header from a Newell corner brilliantly saved by Clark in the 75th minute and the centre-back saw another header deflected on to the post, but for all their possession Hibs were unable to find a way through a resilient Hearts back-line, sparking jubilant full-time scenes from the home side.

Celtic turned on the style in their final league game but the title party was tinged with concern for the fitness of Kyogo Furuhashi and Alistair Johnston after the pair went off injured in a 5-0 win over Aberdeen.

Furuhashi went off after scoring twice in five first-half minutes to consolidate his place at the top of the cinch Premiership goalscoring charts.

The Japan international came off worse in a 50-50 with Aberdeen goalkeeper Kelle Roos and limped off five minutes into the second half despite initially trying to play on.

Johnston was making his comeback from the heavy leg knock he suffered during Celtic’s Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers and he went down holding his leg before making way in the 64th minute.

After collecting one point from the three games since clinching the title, Ange Postecoglou had picked 11 players that have a good chance of starting next Saturday’s final against Inverness, barring injury and the possible return of the suspended Daizen Maeda.

Celtic returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion as Carl Starfelt notched his first goal at Parkhead and substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu grabbed a double before the team collected the Premiership trophy.

The champions emerged to a guard of honour from Aberdeen, who clinched third place and a European spot in midweek and will be guaranteed group-stage football if Celtic win the cup.

Postecoglou, who was named Scottish Football Writers’ manager of the year earlier in the day, will join Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon in becoming a treble-winning Celtic manager if that happens and a full-stadium fan display referenced the club’s history before the game.

Huge images of Stein and Willie Maley filled both ends of Celtic Park with a banner declaring ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’.

Liel Abada made a lively start, before making way for James Forrest at half-time, and Celtic looked to have rediscovered the intensity missing since they won the title at Tynecastle.

Furuhashi missed two chances and Starfelt saw a header well saved by Roos before Greg Taylor’s pass set the forward up to finish into the top corner in the 27th minute.

The PFA Scotland player of the year soon scored his 27th Premiership goal of the season – three ahead of Hearts skipper Lawrence Shankland and Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen, who still has one game left.

Roos spilled Callum McGregor’s curling effort and Furuhashi reacted quickest to knock the rebound home.

Furuhashi was not far over from a tight angle before his chances of a hat-trick were ended by injury.

Celtic continued to dominate. Matt O’Riley hit the post, Jota was just wide with an acrobatic flick and Reo Hatate came close before Starfelt headed home O’Riley’s corner in the 78th minute.

Oh headed home four minutes later from Jota’s cross before doubling his tally in the last minute after the Portuguese winger had struck the bar with a free-kick.