Resident statto @splstats looks at the numbers behind the weekend games, with the focus on Motherwell, Aberdeen, Queen of the South, Alloa Athletic and Forfar Athletic.
4 Motherwell moved back into the top half of the Ladbrokes Premiership after defeating local rivals Hamilton Accies 4-2 at Fir Park. Louis Moult was the Well hero, netting all four goals to take his tally to 25 in 46 matches for the Steelmen. Moult became the first Motherwell player in 27 years to find the net four times in a match – the last to do so was Stevie Kirk in a 4-0 victory over St Mirren in April 1989. Moult was the first player to score four times in a Premiership fixture since Partick Thistle’s Kris Doolan in January 2015 – that was also against Accies.
13 Aberdeen climbed to fourth in the Ladbrokes Premiership after defeating Dundee 3-1 at Dens Park on Sunday. The Dons are now unbeaten in their last 13 league matches against Dundee, racking up eight victories and five draws since the start of 2011/12. Dundee’s last league win against the Dons came way back in December 2004, when Neil Barrett scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory at Dens Park. Dundee have beaten Aberdeen twice in cup competitions in this period – they recorded a 3-2 victory in the League Cup in 2009/10 and a 2-1 win in the Scottish Cup in 2014/15.
7 Queen of the South moved to the top of the Ladbrokes Championship after defeating Raith Rovers 3-1 at Palmerston. Gavin Skelton’s side drew with Dundee United on the opening day but since then have recorded five wins out of five to move a point clear of Hibernian. The last time Queens led the second tier this far into a season was in 2009/10, when they topped the table until early November before going on to finish fourth. The Doonhamers have now recorded seven straight victories in all competitions for the first time since 2012/13, and are just two victories short of equalling a club record.
5 Alloa Athletic are joint top of Ladbrokes League 1, along with Livingston, after a late comeback helped them record a 2-1 victory over Queen’s Park at Hampden. Jack Ross and his side maintained their 100% record away from home this season – they have now recorded five wins out of five on the road in all competitions. This streak of five away wins is their best run in over 40 years – their club record of six straight away victories was recorded in the 1975/76 campaign. The Wasps also extended their winning run against Queen’s Park to five matches – the last time the Spiders avoided defeat against Alloa was a 0-0 draw in April 2009.
8 Forfar Athletic are the only club in the SPFL with a 100% record after Celtic and Hibernian both failed to win at the weekend. Gary Bollan’s side defeated Stirling Albion 4-1 at Station Park to remain five points clear of Clyde at the top of Ladbrokes League 2. Including their two wins in the IRN-BRU Cup, the Loons have now chalked up eight wins in a row, breaking a club record for consecutive victories in all competitions. Only three clubs have previously started a fourth-tier season with six wins out of six - Livingston (1995/96), Brechin City (2001/02) and Berwick Rangers (2005/06). Livi and Brechin both went on to win the league comfortably but Berwick finished second to Cowdenbeath on goal difference before losing in the play-offs.
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