02/03/2014 Sportscene

Good evening. It has been another weekend of great goals and

controversy. We'll do our best to cram it all into 45 minutes. Should

it come to trial by Sportscene, we have Billy Dodds and Michael Stewart

to sit in judgement. Celtic's invincibility was shattered on

Tuesday night as they lost against Aberdeen. With the title already

essentially in the bag, could they bounce back at home against

Inverness? Virgil van Dijk plays today as

Celtic have appealed the red card in Aberdeen. James Forrest is playing

instead of Kris Commons. Groin problems rule Aaron Doran out of a

game for the first time this season. Decent ball in. The finishing touch

is supplied by Leigh Griffiths. Scored his first away goal for

Celtic last week. This is his first at Celtic Park. It was neatly done.

Emilio Izaguirre set him up and he flicked the ball past Dean Brill.

Leigh Griffiths will take the corner, Charlie Mulgrew, that is a

great flick from Charlie Mulgrew. Scored at Celtic Park against

Inverness in August and he nets with a really clever ball. It was born on

the training ground, executed on match day.

Richie Foran lifted the shot. Graeme Shinnie's ball in the black good one

and he got underneath it. -- looked like a good one.

Charlie Mulgrew into the box. It is looking to easy for Celtic. Off the

line by Graeme Shinnie. They are getting too much space at the

moment, Celtic. In two acres of space, chance for

Leigh Griffiths. Sent it wide. Garry Warren and Josh Meekings were

miles apart and they left Leigh Griffiths. Could not get it on

target. Chance for Leigh Griffiths. That is

a cracking finish by Leigh Griffiths, who salutes the Celtic

fans. David Raven and Josh Meekings stood and looked. Leigh Griffiths

was a man of action. That is his second of the afternoon.

Billy McKay stumbles and allows Fraser Forster to come from his

goal. Celtic with seven clean sheets from their last seven home matches.

Fraser Forster making sure nothing got past him there.

Virgil van Dijk sticks out a long leg and take the ball away from

Richie Foran. Very camp -- calm defending.

There is trouble foreign Burness. This for the hat-trick. -- trouble

for Inverness. Celtic Park was expecting to celebrate a hat-trick

from a new hero and he disappoints with this finish.

Comfortable in possession, breaks into the middle, here is a chance

once more. Good play from James Forrest, he got in there and opened

his body up. Kris Commons, that is an error from

the goalkeeper and Kris Commons picks up a fairly cheap goal. Credit

him for the strike but Dean Brill has had four clean sheets in his

last four games but concedes a fourth goal this afternoon.

They are still searching for a fifth goal. James Forrest had his head

down. Dean Brill made the save. Leigh Griffiths beat Graeme Shinnie

to it, set up Kris Commons. The goalkeeper beat it down.

Celtic Park in a loose ball, Kris Commons on to Leigh Griffiths for

the hat-trick. No mistake that time. It is as Celtic hat-trick for Leigh

Griffiths. He is the fourth Celtic player to net a hat-trick this

season. Make no mistake, it is Leigh Griffiths's day. We have been

playing well for quite a while now. Griffiths's day. We have been

playing We have carried that on into the game. There was a great reaction

from losing the other night, that is what we were looking for, but it was

the overall performance that pleased me. I felt one or two of the goals

were really soft and we are better than that. You have to be ruthless

in your defending when you come to places like this. This is not going

to define our season. Another big victory for Celtic. They will win

the title, there is no doubt about it. Let's look at the next few

fixtures, and how quickly they could actually wrap up this Premiership

title. Any doubt in your mind that they want before the split? There is

no chance, they will definitely have it wrapped up before the split, it

is just a question of whether it is going to be the Partick Thistle or

the Ross County game. They need to get ten points to mathematically do

it. Obviously, there might be dropped points from other teams.

Potentially, that Partick Thistle game on Wednesday the 26th could be

the game where they do it. There is such a massive lead over Aberdeen.

It is effectively another point. In terms of the game, you were there,

it started off being about Fergus McCann then it ended being Leigh

Griffiths. I'm impressed were you? It has not been a bad weekend's work

for him. He was excellent. For me, sometimes he does not get enough six

yard finishes like that. But he is maturing as a player. His game is

coming together. He always has this in his locker. He will do this all

day long. He had chances to get his hat-trick, eventually it came just

from his movement. You can see him holding his run here. When he gets

there he just wants it. It is a great finish from him. A few Celtic

fans have doubts about Leigh Griffiths. Do you think he will be a

success? Yes, I have been a huge fan of his. He did a fantastic job at

Hibs. Celtic cannot afford a proven Champions League striker. He will

prove to be a very successful signing. Many Celtic fans were

unhappy when Victor Wanyama left the club. They brought in Nir Biton. He

has been quite unheralded. You have watched them for a few games. How

impressed are you buy him? He is coming on to a game, especially the

last three. He is one of those signings where there is? Is about

him. Michael feels he does not penetrate enough with running our

passing. You can see with that one, it is a forward pass. The Inverness

defence helped a lot of their goals but this is the sort of thing I

think he needs to do more of. Years fantastic with technique, that is

where he drives through and pushes into the opposition, we need to see

more of that. You can see how technical he is where he drives

through and pushes into the opposition, we need to see more of

that. You can see how technical years on the ball, he had no problem

there, but consistency, he is still a young lad but he could be another

of those bargain basement signings that turns out to be going for a lot

of money. Big couple of weeks coming up for Inverness, will they be able

to bounce back? It was a heavy defeat. It was. A lot of it was self

defeated -- self-inflicted. They have a massive result fixture coming

up and they to get themselves off the ground quickly. Danny Lennon

went into this next game under intense pressure. They faced

Dalmarnock. -- Jill -- Kilmarnock. Djemba-Djemba drops to the bench for

this match. Jim Goodwin is missing. One alteration form Alan Johnson.

Chris Johnston returns at the expense of Robbie Muirhead. They are

looking for their first win since the end of January.

Josh Magennis! It is as close as they have come. Josh Magennis still

is without a goal for Saint Mirren. Pressure is on the two managers,

Danny Lennon and Alan Johnson both keen on three points from this

match. More than capable from that kind of

range. Struck it well. St Mirren will play on. This is Paul

McGavin. Hoisted away. He got more hype than

distance. Josh Magennis has had a few chances

in this game. He tests Marian Kello. Flamboyant

goalkeeping this, from the Slovak, to keep Aaron Muirhead out.

He was doing well to be able to turn this cross on goal.

Conor Newton! That is a massive goal for St Mirren. The man who won the

club the League Cup almost a year ago scores in this vital match.

There was not much between the sides. Gregg Wylde knocked it back,

he is just on as a second-half substitute and Conor Newton with a

brilliant finish. He was unlucky, kill Marnoch's top

scorer. That is careless, they are running

out of time. Gregg Wylde! Wonderful goal from St Mirren. Horrible from a

Kilmarnock point of view. It is a huge afternoon for the Paisley side.

We had an open and honest discussion and everybody put their Hearts on

their sleeves, we carry that out today. The 13 players that

participated went and hunted the ball, they defended. Really

disappointed. The first-half just was not good enough. The second half

I thought we played a lot better, created a lot of chances. That was

more like ourselves but we knew it was not good enough overall. If

Danny Lennon had not got the victory yesterday was that the game up for

him? It is difficult to say. E has been in this position a number of

times. There was a game at home against Aberdeen when there was talk

of him getting his daughters if they had not got the win then. Every time

that comes up, those discussions, he seems to get a result from

somewhere. It is difficult. You think of the five defeats previous

to that, defeats in a row, when you sit in the studio you. -- do not

realise for St Mirren but for the fans it is very apparent. Every time

they get a bad run they are calling for his head and it just does not go

away. Absolutely. He brought in Gregg Wylde from Aberdeen and he was

the epitome of a super Saab yesterday. Yes, I hope he gets his

focus back. As a player he has to get his head up more but he

certainly turned things around yesterday. He needs to make sure he

keeps his focus in the game. This is what he does. He got a header and

picked out the path. Newton started with the diagonal ball. He did not

hang about. That is what you want. You want him getting in the box.

Look at that movement, brilliant, right to left. He was certainly the

top man when he came on and, as I say, he needs to make sure that he

goes on from this comic gets his head down and focuses on his

football he has gone off of the real song over the last year or two.

There is not much to choose between the teams there and Kilmarnock are

right in the thick of it with the rest of them. Water come this

evening, we will find out why Terry Butcher is so apologetic. I need to

apologise to the Hibernian fans. It is not good enough. Aberdeen had

certainly enjoyed Tuesday night, ending Celtic's unbeaten record.

There was a familiar look about the Aberdeen side, although Russell

Anderson was on the by touch, Ryan Tate finding a place in defence. As

for St Johnstone, they had not managed a goal against Aberdeen in

three previous meetings this season. Steven MacLean had scored twice in

their midweek win against Motherwell.

The Dons welcomed Ryan Jack back into the team who had been missing

for one month through injury. The 22-year-old celebrated with a goal

after just eight minutes. His strike through the defence and ending up in

the back of the net. Jack's first call for Aberdeen in almost two

years. A slip for Alan Mannus in the goal. Lee Croft Word began his

second spell at seems in December. This was not enough to beat

Langfield. Adam Rooney has been in inspired form since joining Aberdeen

in January. On this occasion however his right foot shot was saved by the

keeper. Rooney keen to add to his five goal tally so far for Aberdeen.

Saints had a terrific chance to equalise just before the break.

Stevie May with the cross into the box. Michael or Halloran finding

space but his left foot shot wide of the target. The effort of me took a

deflection, or Halloran originally with his back to the goal and his

strike was unable to find the back of the net. Again Lee Croft was

foiled but he had a barren afternoon. Langfield was on course

for his 100th shut out in the Premier League. Steven MacLean has

only recently come back from injury and he was to find his way into the

referee's book. No complaints after a trip on Barry Robson. Saints now

beginning to pin back the home defence. This time, or Halloran

tried his luck from distance, beating Langfield but crashing back

off of the post. The post came to Aberdeen's rescue. To rub salt into

the wounds of St Johnstone, they ended the game with just ten men,

the referee receiving his second yellow and a red for this challenge

much to the dismay of his manager. If we are going to book players, if

that is going to be a second yellow every time you will end up six

aside. They will be kicking themselves. We were not at our best

and we were there possibly to be caught at today but I thought our

determination to when is the most pleasing thing. A clean sheet at

this time of the season does not come easy. Derek McInnes is getting

so many plaudits this season. How important is it? Should it be

Aberdeen's number-1 priority to tie him down to a longer contract? I

think he has done a fantastic job. Aberdeen underachieved for a number

of years, any manager would be looking thinking they need to get in

there. He has certainly looked at the job and from Aberdeen's

perspective they will be looking at tying him down for a longer deal. A

big couple of weeks coming up for Aberdeen, do you see them making

progress in the Scottish cup and winning the league cup? I honestly

think it is there is to throw away and I know that keeps pressure on

but they have been excellent. There are still some good teams in there

fighting for competitions but if Aberdeen play to their capabilities

it is there is. With that comes pressure, it will be a difficult

one, a fine line. If you go out the Scottish cup and lose the league cup

final it will be a nightmare for them but I do not see them doing

that. They are a top team and I think it is there is to throw away.

What was your view on that sending off? I can understand why the

manager is not happy. Without a shadow of a doubt this is the

booking, potentially he could have got a red Ford that although it

would have been harsh. The second yellow card is just clumsy, no

malice or intent, it is just not a booking. When we see the replay is

again we will see the referee was very excited and quick at getting

his cards out. I'd macro it is not like Steven MacLean. The first one

was bad, really bad but the second one was never a booking for me.

Steuart McCall's site stumbled recently, just two defeats in the

last five. Commentary comes from John Barnes.

The Motherwell goalkeeper arrives back after a one-month absence. Gary

Locke sticks by the same hearts side that lost to Celtic last week. Angle

swinging it in. Robertson as well. He breaks away. Ian 's worth. He

takes a deflection. Good stop in the end from Ian is worth's effort by

Jamie MacDonald. It broke away into the path of the Motherwell player.

-- aims worth. -- Ainsworth. McFadden and bikers. James McFadden

teeing it up for bikers. Terrific opening goal for Motherwell.

Excellent intricate play. A long ball from the goalkeeper. Lovely

interplay between McFadden and Vigurs. His second goal of the

season. Nicely into the corner. McFadden. Doing well to get the ball

back from there. There is Ainsworth. What a terrific shot from Lionel Lim

's worth. -- Lionel Ainsworth. A lovely first touch from Ainsworth.

That cleaned his seventh of the season. Strong play there from

McCallum. Giving it away to Dale Carrick. A good strike and off of

the crossbar for the substitute. He certainly has been positive since

introduced at the interval. Ainsworth, Vigurs. Off of McFadden

and it hits Sutton. I do not think John Sutton knew too much about that

one. A glancing header from James McFadden. Coming off of his knee and

onto the roof of the net. A good shot. Ainsworth. And turned away by

Hearts. There is McFadden. And eventually Hearts yet it away. A

good touch from McFadden. There is Jack Leach, the son of the director

here. Money through towards McFadden. It breaks for sudden. --

Sutton. He gets on the scorecard again for his old club for the

second time this season. That broke the way for the Motherwell striker.

That is his 15th goal overall in this campaign. The corner. There is

Paterson. Hearts pulled a goal back. Paterson out jumping everyone there.

And finding the bottom corner. It is a lifeline for the Tynecastle side.

Jamie Hamill striking it and appeals that it came off of the hand of

Stephen McManus. That is why Hearts players are looking for the penalty.

It is a strike. It came off more of the elbow than anything, was it

intentional though? Stuart McCall will be happy with what he has seen

this afternoon. Vigurs with the free kick. And Motherwell 4-1 up. It is

the Vigurs/ McFadden combination again. A fine glancing effort. Be

adapted to conditions, the pitch was not great. We passed the ball in the

first half without really causing them problems. Never really looked

threatening. I thought the more experienced players for them cause

does all sorts of problems. It was important to bounce back today after

disappointing performances. Our home form has been good on a difficult

heavy Park today. Motherwell always have a chance of finishing second.

If they are going to challenge guys like Aberdeen they need James

McFadden to play at his best. They certainly saw that. You see this

lovely touch but he does not stop, he is active again. You see this

great composure and awareness to slip in his team-mate. It is an

appreciation of his team-mates. James McFadden, if they are going to

be up there challenging Aberdeen for second place he needs to come to the

fore. Look where he is picking up between the lines. You want to leave

him as a defender 20 yards or ten yards, I am squeezing up and giving

him ten. Look at this year, that is a set piece, nobody within five

yards of him. That is crazy defending and happened all be at Fir

Park at the weekend. When you have got that much space you can do

anything and he has had a field day. You cannot leave him space to

play in or you will get destroyed. And the quick word about Hearts, are

the already preparing for life in the championship? I think so. They

have a little bit of the improved performance. The players have had

the weight off of their shoulders because everyone thinks they are

going to go down. Know plenty to look forward to next week.

Gary Mackay-Steven is onside. They have more than a foot in the

quarterfinals now. Back to the battle to escape the play-off place.

Earlier we saw St Mirren beat Kilmarnock. Ross County and Partick

Thistle met in Dingwall. Filip Kiss had been called up to the Slovakian

national team following a series of fine displays in the Ross County

midfield. After finally winning their match at home, Partick Thistle

manager Alan Archibald made just one change, Stephen O'Donnell replacing

Jordan McMillan in defence. At their trip north, Partick Thistle got off

to the perfect start in Dingwall. Kallum Higginbotham with his fifth

goal of the season. The goal came inside the first nine

minutes. Derek Adams is looking for an immediate response. It came from

the trusty right foot of Richie Brittain. The captain scoring his

sixth of the campaign. This brought them level just five minutes after

they've gone behind. Perhaps we were in for a lot of goals. As her skin

is always create all -- Chris Erskine is always capable of

creating chances. Having finally seen his side win at

home last weekend, Alan Archibald might have hoped for a repeat of

their 3-1 victory in Dingwall back in August. Lyle Taylor's trip to the

Highlands was not so fruitful. With plenty of new faces, Ross County

have found it easier to carve out chances and results, but Yoann

Arquin was frustrated by his header going off target.

Into the second half, and this cross momentarily caused panic in the

County defence. A more conventional chants would

come the way of Chris Erskine. The ball ended up just the wrong side of

the post. Victory would make a big difference

to either side but the point is not the end of the world by any means.

This was a final chance for Ross County. It was stopped by the former

Ross County keeper, Paul Gallacher. We obviously had better chances in

the game. Paul Gallacher made a lot of good saves. Unfortunate not to

win the game. It is another point closer to Kilmarnock. It is a good

point away from home. Take the positives from it. We are unbeaten

against Ross County this season. One point apiece. Those sites trying to

escape the play-off place. Let's have a look at the fixtures for

those sites. Who has got the most difficult

run-in? You can see everybody has got Celtic at one point or another.

You look at that and they have some difficult games. They will be

chasing it later on. If I was to choose one, I would say St Mirren.

After that, it gets really exciting. They will be fighting it out to

avoid that play-off place. This is what we want. Thank goodness we have

the play-offs. Who will finish second bottom? Brilliant question.

Don't get me wrong, I think there will be difficult fixtures, but for

me, the other will be difficult fixtures, but for

me, teams have an opportunity against St Mirren because I don't

see them taking anything out of their opening two fixtures of those

five. The other three have an opportunity to get points on the

board. Put the same question to you, Michael. I avoided it. I will

answer it. St Mirren are going to get that play-off spot, but it will

be tight. It has been tight all season and there would be much to

choose between them. It has been a fantastic development for the

Premiership. Finally to Friday, the last of the three matches between

Hibernian and Dundee United prevented equal. This was different.

-- have ended. Just one change for Hibernian, Liam Craig is in the

line-up. Danny Handling is among the substitutes. Dundee United one last

Friday night. Third straight win, all of them at an advice -- their

home stadium. Taken out by Paul Hanlon. That was

surely outside the box. The referee stuns Hibernian by awarding a

penalty. He was well positioned, just yards away. He looks to have

got this badly wrong and there is furious Easter Road about that

decision. Stood his ground, Paul Hanlon. Clearly not inside the box.

It is Nadir Ciftci, he has made a complete hash of that. Big

opportunity lost. Ben Williams makes the save but did not have much to

do. Ryan McGivern. That is pure. -- poor. Straight at Paul Paton. Paul

Hanlon has lost out and Nadir Ciftci... He makes up for his

penalty miss. He gives Dundee United the lead, two minutes before

half-time. Bad from Paul Hanlon. Now the achieved she makes him play --

Nadir Ciftci makes him pay. One last chance. It is flicked up by rather

slab chairs -- it is flicked up by the

goalkeeper and Jordon Forster squares the game. It is a big bonus

for Hibernian. The goalkeeper got it all wrong. In from Gary

Mackay-Steven, it is Gavin Gunning! He does like Fridays. Two goals last

Friday night. That is the goal this Friday night which restorers Dundee

United's AdVantage. Here is a celebration he planned earlier.

Turning on the style, and Gavin Gunning is taken out by Michael

Nelson. This was a clumsy challenge. Another penalty, which he wants to

take himself, and I think the instructions from the touchline had

to give it to Gary Mackay-Steven. Can he do better than his team-mate?

No. Two penalties missed by Dundee United. There are still 2-1 up.

Well, it is Tom -- Tom Taiwo, it is a red card for the Hibs midfielder.

Down to ten men, and a difficult job has got more difficult for them.

Gets it back, Andy Robertson, and Farid El Alagui has scored. Surely

they have a fourth win on the bones. Just minutes off the bench.

We made things hard for ourselves but we came through it. We might

have lost that in December. That is the way football goes. You have to

apologise to the Hibs fans. It is not good enough, not anywhere good

enough for Hibernian football club. The players know that, they have

been told that, the only way is up and we need to come back fighting

and put in a better display against Motherwell next week. It was either

a fantastic or surrender school celebration from Gavin Gunning. Your

verdict? It is great. Brilliant. They tried to launch Terry

Butcher's green and white army to not much success. How bad our

Hibernian? -- bad are. Not great. The summer will be interesting

because I think there will be a real cul. -- cull. You can tell that he

is not happy one little bit with that. He has had a few interviews

where he has said the players have been told. I think it is at the

stage where he knows what players he wants to get rid of, and when it

comes to the summer there will be a huge turnaround. If he does not do

it, his job will be in jeopardy. That will happen in the summer.

Again, it is interesting to see what will happen next year. You were

there on Friday night. Impressed, not for the first time, by Nadir

Ciftci. Impressed with Dundee United, they have got their edge

back. But this guy, he has a bit of everything. He has strength, pace,

intelligence, just cannot take a penalty. I think he felt so

embarrassed that they got the penalty. He gave it back to the

goalkeeper. You can see that he has a final ball. That pace and power.

He can dig out of the cross. This was one for the cameras. This is

what he's all about. Paul Hanlon pushed out the way. He has been the

most consistent player for Hibernian. It is all about Nadir

Ciftci. You want composure? There it is. After missing a penalty, to show

that confidence, to just gave it into the corner, he has been some

find for Dundee United. What is your take on the situation for Hibernian?

Could they get into the play-offs? I think they will get enough results

to keep them out of that but all is not well. Terry Butcher knows that.

It is not as if they might be able to sign a centre-half that will make

their team look better, it is all over the pitch. Defenders,

midfielders, strikers, there is so much missing from that team. Thanks.

After all that, the table looks like this.

Getting very interesting at the bottom, Partick Thistle and Ross

County both on 26 points. Hearts had 20 points adrift with ten games

left. It is the Scottish Cup next weekend which means a triple-header

of live matches on Saturday and Sunday. It should be great. Join us

then. Good night.