Weekend in numbers

7 – Celtic thumped St Johnstone 7-0 at Celtic Park to celebrate their Ladbrokes Premiership flag day in style. Ryan Christie netted the first hat-trick of his career, in addition to goals from Mikey Johnston, Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths. The Hoops managed seven goals in a league game for the first time since they defeated Motherwell by the same scoreline in May 2016. Celtic’s winning margin was the biggest by any club on the opening day of the top-flight season since they themselves defeated Clyde 9-1 in 1971/72. It is just the ninth time a side have won by seven or more goals on the opening day of a top-flight season.

7+ goal wins on the opening day of the top-flight season:
15/08/1891 – Clyde 10-3 Vale of Leven
15/08/1908 – Rangers 7-0 Port Glasgow Athletic
12/08/1933 – Aberdeen 8-0 Ayr United
13/08/1938 – Celtic 9-1 Kilmarnock
10/08/1946 – Hibernian 9-1 Queen of the South
23/08/1961 – Aberdeen 7-0 Stirling Albion
19/08/1964 – Heart of Midlothian 8-1 Airdrieonians
04/09/1974 – Celtic 9-1 Clyde
03/08/2019 – Celtic 7-0 St Johnstone

5 – Ross County marked their return to the Ladbrokes Premiership with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Hamilton Academical at the Global Energy Stadium. Billy Mckay and Ross Stewart both found the net, taking their tallies for the season to five goals. Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell’s side won all four Betfred Cup group stage matches and have continued that form into the league to make it five wins out of five.  That makes it the Staggies’ best start to a season since 1998/99, when they recorded eight in a row on their way to the Third Division title.

Ross County’s longest winning starts to the season since joining the SFL in 1994:
1998/99 – 8 wins
2019/20 – 5 wins
2002/03 – 4 wins
2005/06 – 4 wins
2010/11 – 4 wins

4 – Dundee United defeated Inverness Caledonian Thistle 4-1 at Tannadice to ensure a perfect start to the Ladbrokes Championship season. New signing Lawrence Shankland marked his league debut for United by scoring all four of his side’s goals – repeating the feat he achieved against the Terrors at Tannadice for Ayr United last season. Shankland was the first Dundee United player to score four in a match since Robbie Winters in an 8-0 victory over Andorran side CE Principat in the UEFA Cup in July 1997.

Dundee United’s four-goal heroes (in the last 50 years):
29/12/1973: Andy Gray v Dumbarton (H) – League
30/01/1980: Willie Pettigrew v Dundee (H) – Scottish Cup
17/11/1984: Paul Sturrock [5 goals] v Greenock Morton (H) – League
30/04/1988: Mixu Paatelainen v Greenock Morton (A) – League
02/12/1995: Craig Brewster v Dumbarton (H) – League
06/04/1996: Gary McSwegan v Dumbarton (H) – League
23/07/1997: Robbie Winters v CE Principat (A) – UEFA Cup
03/08/2019: Lawrence Shankland v Inverness CT (H) – League

7 – Raith Rovers kicked off their Ladbrokes League 1 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Dumbarton at the C&G Systems Stadium. Grant Anderson marked his Rovers return with the only goal to continue the club’s impressive record in away league openers. Raith have not lost away from home on the opening day since they went down 2-0 to Greenock Morton in 2006 – since then they have started away from home on seven occasions without defeat.

Rovers away on the opening day in recent years:
04/08/2007 – Airdrieonians 0-1 Raith Rovers 
02/08/2008 – Ayr United 0-0 Raith Rovers
08/08/2009 – Queen of the South 1-1 Raith Rovers
06/08/2016 – Ayr United 0-2 Raith Rovers
05/08/2017 – Alloa Athletic 1-1 Raith Rovers
04/08/2018 – Stranraer 1-1 Raith Rovers
03/08/2019 – Dumbarton 0-1 Raith Rovers

5 – Cove Rangers announced their arrival in the SPFL in style by thumping Edinburgh City 5-0 at Balmoral Stadium in Saturday’s Ladbrokes League 2 opener. Mitch Megginson scored Cove’s first SPFL goal, and soon followed it up with a second before Harry Milne (2) and Jordon Brown completed the rout. Paul Hartley’s side are just the second side since the Victorian era to score five times on their SFL/SPFL debut – the others were Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who beat Arbroath 5-2 in their first ever league match in 1994.