6 – Rangers continued their impressive start to the season with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Hibernian at Ibrox in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Sunday. Steven Gerrard’s side have picked up six wins and a draw in their seven matches so far and have scored four or more goals in four of those matches. It was the Light Blues’ biggest victory over Hibernian since a 7-0 trouncing at Ibrox in December 1995 – Gordon Durie netted four times that day. Jermain Defoe scored his first hat-trick in three-and-a-half years – his previous one came in Sunderland’s 4-2 win away to Swansea in the Premier League in January 2016.
Rangers hat-tricks v Hibs since 1945:
01/11/1958 – Billy Simpson [4] (Rangers 4-0 Hibernian)
08/08/1959 – Ralph Brand (Hibernian 1-6 Rangers)
09/11/1968 – Colin Stein (Rangers 6-1 Hibernian)
01/03/1986 – Ally McCoist (Rangers 3-1 Hibernian)
30/12/1995 – Gordon Durie [4] (Rangers 7-0 Hibernian)
22/08/2010 – Kenny Miller (Hibernian 0-3 Rangers)
11/08/2019 – Jermain Defoe (Rangers 6-1 Hibernian)
16 – St Mirren defeated Aberdeen 1-0 to pick up their first Ladbrokes Premiership victory of the season. Ilkay Durmus scored his first goal for Saints to give his new side their first league victory over Aberdeen in eight years. St Mirren had previously failed to beat the Dons in 16 league meetings – they had picked up nine draws and suffered seven defeats since their last victory back in July 2011. Saints manager Jim Goodwin was part of their winning side that day, as Nigel Hasselbaink scored the only goal of the game.
30/07/2011 - St Mirren 1 (Hasselbaink) Aberdeen 0
St Mirren: Samson, van Zanten, McGregor, Mair, Tesselaar, Goodwin, Thomson, McGowan, Teale, Thompson (Carey), Hasselbaink (McShane).
Aberdeen: Gonzalez; Foster, Considine, Arnason, Robertson, Milsom, Pawlett (Megginson), Osbourne, Mackie, Magennis (Paton), Vernon (Low).
3 – Greenock Morton thumped Alloa Athletic 4-1 at Cappielow to secure their first three points of the Ladbrokes Championship season. David Hopkin’s side have guaranteed entertainment so far this season – their six matches have featured a total of 33 goals, with Morton scoring 20 and conceding 13. Bob McHugh was the hero on Saturday – he netted his first career hat-trick to take his tally for the season to five goals. McHugh is the first ‘Ton player in six years to score a treble in the second tier, and just the fifth to do so this century.
Second-tier hat-tricks for Greenock Morton in the 21st century
06/10/2007 – Peter Weatherson (Greenock Morton 4-2 Partick Thistle)
03/04/2010 – David Witteveen (Greenock Morton 3-3 Queen of the South)
01/09/2012 – Archie Campbell (Greenock Morton 3-0 Dumbarton)
06/04/2013 – Peter MacDonald (Greenock Morton 5-2 Airdrieonians)
10/08/2019 – Bob McHugh (Greenock Morton 4-1 Alloa Athletic)
6 – Falkirk laid down a marker in the Ladbrokes League 1 title race as they thumped Dumbarton 6-0 at The Falkirk Stadium on Saturday. Ray McKinnon’s side raced into a 5-0 half-time lead – it was the first time they had scored five times in a single half since they netted six times in the second half of a 7-1 Challenge Cup victory over East Stirlingshire in July 2014. The Bairns recorded their biggest win in five years – the last time they won by a six-goal margin was in October 2014 when they defeated Cowdenbeath by the same scoreline. This is just the seventh time since 1990 they have won by six or more goals.
Falkirk’s biggest wins since 1990:
03/11/1990 – Falkirk 7-1 Raith Rovers (League – 2nd tier)
01/05/1993 – Falkirk 6-0 Heart of Midlothian (League – 1st tier)
03/01/1998 – Stirling Albion 0-6 Falkirk (League – 2nd tier)
18/03/2000 – Falkirk 8-0 Airdrieonians (League – 2nd tier)
25/10/2014 – Falkirk 6-0 Cowdenbeath (League – 2nd tier)
26/07/2014 – East Stirlingshire 1-7 Falkirk (Challenge Cup)
10/08/2019 – Falkirk 6-0 Dumbarton (League – 3rd tier)
4 – Albion Rovers and Cove Rangers played out the highest-scoring game of the SPFL weekend – a 4-4 draw in Ladbrokes League 2. It was the first ever meeting of the clubs, and they marked the occasion in style – Rovers led 1-0 and 4-3, while Cove led 3-1, but in the end both sides had to settle for a draw. The match equalled the record for the highest-scoring draw in the fourth tier – it was the sixth 4-4 draw to be recorded since the Third Division was introduced in 1994.
Fourth tier 4-4 draws since 1994/95:
07/12/1996 – Ross County 4-4 Montrose
26/02/2002 – Albion Rovers 4-4 Elgin City
09/05/2009 – Forfar Athletic 4-4 Stenhousemuir
12/11/2009 – Stranraer 4-4 Montrose
23/11/2013 – Annan Athletic 4-4 Stirling Albion
10/08/2019 – Albion Rovers 4-4 Cove Rangers
