cinch Premiership
- Celtic 4-0 St Mirren
- Kilmarnock 2-3 Rangers
- Hearts 5-0 Aberdeen
KYOGO FURUHASHI HIT a double as Celtic consolidated top spot in the cinch Premiership with a 4-0 victory over St Mirren.
With Giorgos Giakoumakis absent and seemingly on his way out of the club, the Japanese striker perhaps showed why Ange Postecoglou appears to be so relaxed about the prospect of losing his top league goalscorer from last season.
Furuhashi took his recent tally to seven goals in as many games as his ability to play just on the shoulder of the last man twice paid off after lengthy VAR checks.
Liel Abada had earlier put the champions ahead in the 15th minute and substitute David Turnbull hit a brilliant fourth as Celtic dealt impressively with the only team to have beaten them in the league this season.
Giakoumakis has been heavily linked with a move to Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds but Postecoglou stated before the game that a minor injury was behind his absence.
At Rugby Park, Alfredo Morelos grabbed a double as Rangers came from behind to beat 10-man Kilmarnock 3-2.
In a barnstorming Killie start, defender Chris Stokes headed in from a corner after six minutes only for Rangers’ Colombian striker to level midway through the first half.
Ryan Kent struck six minutes after the break before Kilmarnock winger Danny Armstrong was sent off by referee Kevin Clancy for picking up the second of two yellow cards for an elbow in the face of left-back Borna Barisic.
Morelos headed in his second from a Barisic cross in the 73rd minute but Killie pulled a goal back in the 85th minute through defender Joe Wright to ensure a nervy ending.
Michael Beale has won seven and drawn one of his eight games as Rangers boss but it was another patchy performance and they remain nine points behind relentless Celtic at the top of the table.
Elsewhere, Hearts took a big step towards finishing third as they destroyed beleaguered Aberdeen with a four-goal first-half blitz at Tynecastle.
Josh Ginnelly notched a double while Michael Smith and Lawrence Shankland were also on target before the break, and Cammy Devlin made it 5-0 just after the hour to seal the Jambos’ biggest top-flight victory in seven years.
It took Hearts – now unbeaten in eight games – seven points clear of fourth-placed Livingston and nine points ahead of the Dons, widely predicted to be their main rivals for third place.
