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The Scotsman's Boxing Day Football Show
The Scotsman
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26/12/2024
Mark Atkinson rounds up all of the Boxing Day football in the Scottish Premiership.
Category
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Sports
Transcript
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00:00
Good evening. Mark Atkinson, Scotsman sports editor here. Just to give you a quick rundown
00:08
on what happened in a busy Boxing Day card in the William Hill Premiership. We had a
00:13
full complement of six matches and there was no shortage of drama whatsoever. Every game
00:20
having a lot riding on it at this time of the season and so many talking points. So
00:25
let's get started. Let's go with the Edinburgh Derby first. The game I was at between Hearts
00:29
and Hibbs. Hibbs went into the match having not won at Tyne Castle for five years, exactly
00:34
five years actually, since Martin Boyle scored twice in a 2-0 win. The history books have
00:39
been rewritten because Hibbs prevailed 2-1 over their Edinburgh rivals. Really enjoyable
00:44
derby. Not the quality levels weren't fantastic but entertainment levels were certainly high.
00:50
In the end it was substitute Dwight Gale who scored in the 78th minute to give Hibbs all
00:55
three points. A really, really nice goal actually. Latching onto a great cross from
00:59
Nicky Caddon to give Hibbs all three points. Hearts had levelled in the stroke of half-time
01:05
through an own goal from Rocky Bushiri. That castles out Kai Rowles' own goal at the other
01:09
end that put Hibbs in front just nine minutes in. Tyne Castle, again, not a happy place
01:15
at full-time. Lots of boos and grumbles and shouts against the players and also head coach
01:21
Neil Critchley who must desperately be hoping for the January transfer window to open so
01:25
that he can bring in some of his own players. He continues to operate with an inherited
01:29
squad and Hearts now sit 11th place, only two points clear of bottom spot and are unable
01:36
to find any tangible momentum. Hibbs, conversely, move up to 7th on the back of that result
01:42
and can now start to think about the top six rather than fighting relegation. Bottom spot
01:48
belongs to St Johnstone still. They lost 2-1 at home to Dundee United despite taking
01:53
the lead through Mackenzie Kirk. Dundee United, under Jim Goodwin, motoring along so nicely.
02:00
Sam Dalby got their winning goal after Glenelg had levelled matters. They are in a rich area
02:06
of form and have to be talked about for European places. That is because Aberdeen, who sit
02:11
third, are only six points clear of Dundee United after their astonishing collapse at
02:17
Kilmarnock. They lost 4-0 in Ayrshire. Jimmy Tolleen's worst result and performance since
02:24
coming in as Don's boss. Killy, excellent value for their victory. Could have actually
02:29
won by more and they also move further clear of the relegation zone. Aberdeen will hope
02:36
that they can arrest this slump. That's now seven matches that they've gone without winning.
02:42
Talking of slumps, Ross County came into today's card on an incredible run of poor away form
02:48
in the league. 481 days in the laps since they last won in the top flight away from
02:55
Dingwall. But that's over and over in some style. They defeated Dundee by three goals
03:00
to deal at Dens Park. An excellent performance, outstanding individual display from Noah Childers
03:07
and Don Coway's men can actually look at the table and go excellent. We're out of the
03:12
bottom two spots momentarily. Only a point behind Dundee, actually, after that result.
03:18
Ross County, this was their last chance to win before the year was out. Otherwise, we
03:22
would have had a whole calendar without getting that precious victory on the road. It just
03:27
shows how tight it is in the bottom. Given that result, it moves them away from the danger
03:32
zone momentarily and sucks Dundee right back into it. Tony Doherty apologised to the fans
03:37
after that performance and result. Other than the table, Celtic, pretty straightforward,
03:44
4-0 victory over Motherwell. Although there was some controversy in that match, the opening
03:48
goal which came on the short of half time was a result of a penalty kick after Motherwell
03:53
keeper Aston Oxburgh fouled. Yang Hyun-Joon, Stuart Kettlewell set the decision to award
03:59
Celtic a penalty. Baffleton, certainly contact looked minimal on the replays, but in the
04:05
end, the VAR did not overturn it and Celtic scored the spot kick and actually the second
04:09
half went on to win convincingly. It was a great day for Ben Rogers' team. The first
04:13
time they've been playing at home at Boxing Day for more than 10 years, remarkably, and
04:19
they can enjoy an extra Christmas gift because Rangers, their supposed closest title challengers,
04:26
lost 2-1 to Cinder in the evening game. A last minute goal from Caelan Boyd-Muntz, giving
04:32
the Paisley side all three points. They had gone ahead at half time thanks to an Oceansmith
04:37
penalty. Rangers rallied, to be fair, after a woeful first half performance and level
04:43
for WLO. You thought they were going to be the ones that come back and win it, but in
04:46
the end, it was the Sains or the Buddies, as you say, that had the final say and they
04:50
actually moved up to fifth place on the back of that huge result. It means that Celtic
04:55
go into the next set of fixtures which come on Sunday a monstrous 12 points clear at the
05:00
top of the previation. And if indeed we had any flickers of a title challenge from Rangers
05:07
after the last set of results in which Celtic dropped points on the outers, you have to
05:11
feel that those chances of such a scenario playing out have been extinguished by the
05:18
gap that is now there. And of course, Celtic and Rangers do battle in the Old Firm derby
05:24
on January 2nd, 12 points at this stage, an enormous chasm between the two teams. It certainly
05:30
is more interesting at the bottom of the table, one would argue, with so many teams
05:33
involved, but it hits with the big winners as well as Kilmarnock moving away from the
05:37
allegations of Hearts, on the other hand, have a lot to chew over before they go to
05:41
Dingwall on Sunday, which is a huge match against Ross County. As always, we'll have
05:46
it all covered on scottsman.com. Please tune in to these bulletins, plus read all our comment
05:52
analysis and reaction on the website and of course in the newspaper. From myself, Mark
05:57
Atkinson, it's bye for now.
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5:41
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