• Hearts have positive points tally after beating Ross County
• Ashcroft and Boyd give Kilmarnock 2-0 win over Inverness
Hearts have a positive points tally at last after a 2-1 win at Ross County – their first victory in 12 matches. The Tynecastle club were deducted 15 points after going into administration in the summer and they have now cleared that deficit after goals from Callum Paterson after 37 minutes and Scott Robinson 10 minutes from full-time either side of Yann Songo’o's equaliser.
Lee Ashcroft and Kris Boyd scored the goals as Kilmarnock beat visitors Inverness 2-0 while St Mirren’s game at home to Partick finished goalless.
Killie opened the scoring when Sammy Clinigan’s free-kick was nodded in by Ashcroft after 16 minutes before Boyd’s powerfully struck shot in the 74th minutes sealed the three points for the Ayrshire team. After passing a pitch inspection earlier in the day, the heavy surface allied to the blustery conditions and driving rain at kick-off were not conducive to fluent football, although both sides tried to keep the ball on the ground, and showed plenty of endeavour.
In the First Division, a Lee McCulloch penalty enabled Scottish League One leaders Rangers to scramble a 3-2 victory against Arbroath in an action-packed game at Ibrox. The home side twice fought back from being behind as goals from Jon Daly and David Templeton cancelled out strikes from David Banjo and Bobby Linn.
McCulloch’s late spot-kick then proved to be decisive as Rangers secured another the win.
The Rangers manager, Ally McCoist, believes there is still plenty more to come from Templeton this season if he can avoid injury. The winger also made a scoring impact as a substitute in last Monday’s win at Forfar. The former Hearts player has endured injury problems throughout his time at Rangers but, according to the manager, still has the potential to play his way back into the side.
McCoist said: “An on-form David Templeton would play in most teams in the country. I said to Temps after the game that I thought he was absolutely terrific when he came on. He gave us another boost. He scored a great goal and hit the post – a real integral part of the win was Templeton coming on.”
- Scottish Premiership
- Rangers
- Hearts
- Ross County
- St Mirren
- Partick
- Kilmarnock
- Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Nial Briggs
theguardian.com