The Scotsman's Boxing Day Football Show

The Scotsman

Mark Atkinson rounds up all of the Boxing Day football in the Scottish Premiership.

Transcript

00:00Good evening. Mark Atkinson, Scotsman sports editor here. Just to give you a quick rundown

00:08on what happened in a busy Boxing Day card in the William Hill Premiership. We had a

00:13full complement of six matches and there was no shortage of drama whatsoever. Every game

00:20having a lot riding on it at this time of the season and so many talking points. So

00:25let's get started. Let's go with the Edinburgh Derby first. The game I was at between Hearts

00:29and Hibbs. Hibbs went into the match having not won at Tyne Castle for five years, exactly

00:34five years actually, since Martin Boyle scored twice in a 2-0 win. The history books have

00:39been rewritten because Hibbs prevailed 2-1 over their Edinburgh rivals. Really enjoyable

00:44derby. Not the quality levels weren't fantastic but entertainment levels were certainly high.

00:50In the end it was substitute Dwight Gale who scored in the 78th minute to give Hibbs all

00:55three points. A really, really nice goal actually. Latching onto a great cross from

00:59Nicky Caddon to give Hibbs all three points. Hearts had levelled in the stroke of half-time

01:05through an own goal from Rocky Bushiri. That castles out Kai Rowles' own goal at the other

01:09end that put Hibbs in front just nine minutes in. Tyne Castle, again, not a happy place

01:15at full-time. Lots of boos and grumbles and shouts against the players and also head coach

01:21Neil Critchley who must desperately be hoping for the January transfer window to open so

01:25that he can bring in some of his own players. He continues to operate with an inherited

01:29squad and Hearts now sit 11th place, only two points clear of bottom spot and are unable

01:36to find any tangible momentum. Hibbs, conversely, move up to 7th on the back of that result

01:42and can now start to think about the top six rather than fighting relegation. Bottom spot

01:48belongs to St Johnstone still. They lost 2-1 at home to Dundee United despite taking

01:53the lead through Mackenzie Kirk. Dundee United, under Jim Goodwin, motoring along so nicely.

02:00Sam Dalby got their winning goal after Glenelg had levelled matters. They are in a rich area

02:06of form and have to be talked about for European places. That is because Aberdeen, who sit

02:11third, are only six points clear of Dundee United after their astonishing collapse at

02:17Kilmarnock. They lost 4-0 in Ayrshire. Jimmy Tolleen's worst result and performance since

02:24coming in as Don's boss. Killy, excellent value for their victory. Could have actually

02:29won by more and they also move further clear of the relegation zone. Aberdeen will hope

02:36that they can arrest this slump. That's now seven matches that they've gone without winning.

02:42Talking of slumps, Ross County came into today's card on an incredible run of poor away form

02:48in the league. 481 days in the laps since they last won in the top flight away from

02:55Dingwall. But that's over and over in some style. They defeated Dundee by three goals

03:00to deal at Dens Park. An excellent performance, outstanding individual display from Noah Childers

03:07and Don Coway's men can actually look at the table and go excellent. We're out of the

03:12bottom two spots momentarily. Only a point behind Dundee, actually, after that result.

03:18Ross County, this was their last chance to win before the year was out. Otherwise, we

03:22would have had a whole calendar without getting that precious victory on the road. It just

03:27shows how tight it is in the bottom. Given that result, it moves them away from the danger

03:32zone momentarily and sucks Dundee right back into it. Tony Doherty apologised to the fans

03:37after that performance and result. Other than the table, Celtic, pretty straightforward,

03:444-0 victory over Motherwell. Although there was some controversy in that match, the opening

03:48goal which came on the short of half time was a result of a penalty kick after Motherwell

03:53keeper Aston Oxburgh fouled. Yang Hyun-Joon, Stuart Kettlewell set the decision to award

03:59Celtic a penalty. Baffleton, certainly contact looked minimal on the replays, but in the

04:05end, the VAR did not overturn it and Celtic scored the spot kick and actually the second

04:09half went on to win convincingly. It was a great day for Ben Rogers' team. The first

04:13time they've been playing at home at Boxing Day for more than 10 years, remarkably, and

04:19they can enjoy an extra Christmas gift because Rangers, their supposed closest title challengers,

04:26lost 2-1 to Cinder in the evening game. A last minute goal from Caelan Boyd-Muntz, giving

04:32the Paisley side all three points. They had gone ahead at half time thanks to an Oceansmith

04:37penalty. Rangers rallied, to be fair, after a woeful first half performance and level

04:43for WLO. You thought they were going to be the ones that come back and win it, but in

04:46the end, it was the Sains or the Buddies, as you say, that had the final say and they

04:50actually moved up to fifth place on the back of that huge result. It means that Celtic

04:55go into the next set of fixtures which come on Sunday a monstrous 12 points clear at the

05:00top of the previation. And if indeed we had any flickers of a title challenge from Rangers

05:07after the last set of results in which Celtic dropped points on the outers, you have to

05:11feel that those chances of such a scenario playing out have been extinguished by the

05:18gap that is now there. And of course, Celtic and Rangers do battle in the Old Firm derby

05:24on January 2nd, 12 points at this stage, an enormous chasm between the two teams. It certainly

05:30is more interesting at the bottom of the table, one would argue, with so many teams

05:33involved, but it hits with the big winners as well as Kilmarnock moving away from the

05:37allegations of Hearts, on the other hand, have a lot to chew over before they go to

05:41Dingwall on Sunday, which is a huge match against Ross County. As always, we'll have

05:46it all covered on scottsman.com. Please tune in to these bulletins, plus read all our comment

05:52analysis and reaction on the website and of course in the newspaper. From myself, Mark

05:57Atkinson, it's bye for now.

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