@splstats looks at some of the numbers behind the weekend games:
100 Scott McDonald scored a late equaliser to earn Motherwell a point at Pittodrie and keep them out of the relegation play-off spot. McDonald’s strike helped him join a fairly elite bunch of players who have scored a century of goals in the top flight of Scottish football – Kris Boyd is the only other currently active player who has managed this feat. McDonald has now scored 49 league goals across his two spells in Lanarkshire, and netted 51 in his time at Celtic. It took the Aussie until his 15th SPL appearance to score his first league goal in Scotland, in Motherwell’s 3-2 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle in May 2004. His goalscoring ratio has improved somewhat since then – Saturday took him to 100 goals from 219 top-flight appearances.
52 Celtic defeated Dundee United 5-0 at Celtic Park on Sunday to increase their lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table to four points. The victory extended the Bhoys’ unbeaten run against Dundee United in Glasgow to an incredible 52 matches – the last time United travelled back to Tayside with a victory was back in December 1992, when Duncan Ferguson scored the only goal. Since then, Celtic have beaten United 40 times, with 12 draws. Sunday’s match was the 13th time in those 52 games that Celtic have scored four or more goals.
5 Falkirk defeated Dumbarton 5-0 at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium to move above Raith Rovers into third place in the Ladbrokes Championship. Saturday’s match was the Bairns’ biggest away league win since they defeated Stirling Albion by the same scoreline in November 2010. John Baird netted a hat-trick on Saturday, becoming the first Falkirk player to score an away treble since Phil Roberts in a 3-0 win over Livingston in August 2013.
10 Ayr United defeated Stenhousemuir 1-0 at Ochilview to stay within a point of Dunfermline Athletic at the top of Ladbrokes League 1. Ian McCall’s side have strung together a 10-match unbeaten run in the league since losing to Albion Rovers in the opening day. The last time the Honest Men went 10 league matches without defeat was February to April 2009, when they went on to finish second in this division and eventually earn promotion via the play-offs.
5 Annan Athletic defeated Berwick Rangers 4-1 at Galabank to move into the third round of the Scottish Cup. The Galabankies have won each of their last five home matches against Berwick, scoring a whopping 17 goals in the process. Prior to that run, they had only recorded one home win against the Black and Gold in their last 11 attempts. It was just the second time the sides had met in the Scottish Cup, with Berwick winning on the previous occasion back in January 1996, when Annan were still an East of Scotland League side.
