SPL

Celtic return to Premiership summit, Rangers edge past St Mirren

By Sports Desk October 27, 2024

Celtic returned to the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a routine 3-0 victory at Motherwell, putting them back above Aberdeen on goal difference.

Brendan Rodgers' Bhoys had been knocked off the summit by the Dons' 1-0 win over Dundee United on Saturday, but they responded by easing to their eighth victory in nine games at Fir Park.

Luke McCowan steered in the opener on his first Celtic start, after Lennon Miller had twice struck the woodwork in the early stages.

Stand-in captain Alistair Johnston then ghosted in to score their second at the back post shortly before the hour mark, with Adam Idah adding a third before Motherwall's Liam Gordon was sent off in stoppage time.

That result piled the pressure on Rangers, who could have ended the weekend nine points adrift of the top two, but they claimed a hard-fought 2-1 victory over St Mirren at Ibrox to stay within six.

Mohamed Diomande's powerful close-range finish put the Gers ahead, but Alex Gogic rose to nod in a St Mirren equaliser midway through the first half.

Vaclav Cerny spared their blushes, though, as he scored the winner following good work from Cyriel Dessers in the 69th minute. 

Rangers go to second-placed Aberdeen, who are yet to lose this season, for a huge fixture in the title race on Wednesday.

In Sunday's other Premiership game, teenager James Wilson struck three minutes from time to rescue a point for Hearts in a 1-1 Edinburgh Derby draw at Hibernian.

Mykola Kuharevich had put Hibs ahead on the rebound after Marvin Ekpiteta headed against the crossbar just after the hour mark, but Wilson got the final touch to divert James Penrice's long throw home with stoppage time looming.

The result keeps Hibs rooted to the foot of the table with six points, though they are only behind 11th-placed Hearts on goal difference and still have a game in hand to come.

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    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Colorado Rapids – Djordje Mihailovic

    If the Rapids are to take the match back to LA Galaxy for a decider, they will need goals and Mihailovic will be crucial. He boasts the second-most goals scored for Colorado (11) in the MLS, only four behind top scorer Rafael Navarro.

    He is also their top assister (10), meaning he has the most goal contributions on the squad (21). Distribution is clearly a strong point as he has more than double the number of key passes (87) than any other Rapids player – Cole Bassett comes closest on 35.

    LA Galaxy - Dejan Joveljic

    Galaxy's top scorer, Joveljic, has 17 goals in the MLS so far this season and has also delivered the lowest minutes per goal (118.6). He will surely hope to add to the tally when he travels to Colorado.

    He was on target in game one as he and Riqui Puig each scored twice in Galaxy’s win over Colorado.

    It makes them the third pair of Galaxy teammates to each score twice in a playoff game, along with Cobi Jones and Carlos Ruiz in 2002 and Carlos Hermosillo and Danny Pena in 1998.

    MATCH PREDICTION – LA GALAXY WIN

    Galaxy have won each of their three meetings with Colorado this season, including the 5-0 win in Game One on Saturday.

    Prior to that, Galaxy had won only one of their 11 matches against the Rapids between 2018 and 2023 (D3 L7).

    That 5-0 win was only the seventh win by a margin of at least five goals in MLS Cup playoff history. It was the third of those by Galaxy, who also beat Dallas, 6-1, in 1998 and defeated Real Salt Lake, 5-0, in 2014.

    Colorado were held to just one shot in their 5-0 loss to Galaxy. It was the first time this century that the Rapids had only one shot in an MLS match, regular season or playoffs.

    The hosts are a team out of form and have lost five straight matches dating back to the regular season, with two of those defeats coming against Galaxy.

    Prior to this drought, however, the Rapids had lost just three of their previous 13 regular-season matches dating back to the middle of June (W9 D1).

    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Colorado Rapids – 32.5%

    Draw – 25.5%

    LA Galaxy – 42.0%

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