5 – Celtic breezed into the Betfred Cup final thanks to a 5-2 victory over Hibernian at Hampden Park on Saturday. The Hoops have now won 30 consecutive matches in domestic cup competitions, with their only minor blip coming when Dunfermline Athletic took them to extra time in this season’s last 16. The last time Celtic scored five goals at Hampden was a Scottish Cup semi-final back in April 1980 – their opponents that day were also Hibernian, and they won 5-0. This is just the third time in the last 14 years that a side has scored five goals in a major domestic semi-final/final, and all three have involved Hibs.
Scoring 5 or more in a major semi-final/final since 2000
08/04/2000 – Rangers 7-0 Ayr United (Scottish Cup semi-final)
02/02/2005 – Rangers 7-1 Dundee United (League Cup semi-final)
20/03/2005 – Rangers 5-1 Motherwell (League Cup final)
18/03/2007 – Hibernian 5-1 Kilmarnock (League Cup final)
19/05/2012 – Heart of Midlothian 5-1 Hibernian (Scottish Cup final)
02/11/2019 – Celtic 5-2 Hibernian (League Cup semi-final)
3 – Rangers defeated Heart of Midlothian 3-0 in Sunday’s second semi-final to set up a Betfred Cup final clash with Celtic. It will be the Gers’ first League Cup final since they won the trophy in 2010/11 – their victory over Celtic that year was the last time the two sides met in a major cup final. It will be Steven Gerrard’s first final as Rangers boss, and he will be attempting to secure major silverware for the club for the first time since they won the 2010/11 SPL title. Gerrard will be the 13th Rangers manager to contest a cup final – eight of the previous 12 won their first one.
Rangers managers’ first major cup final
William Wilton – 1902/03 Scottish Cup v Hearts (won)
Bill Struth – 1920/21 Scottish Cup v Partick Thistle (lost)
Scot Symon – 1957/58 League Cup v Celtic (lost)
Davie White – 1968/69 Scottish Cup v Celtic (lost)
Willie Waddell – 1970/71 League Cup v Celtic (won)
Jock Wallace – 1972/73 Scottish Cup v Celtic (won)
John Greig – 1978/79 League Cup v Aberdeen (won)
Graeme Souness – 1986/87 League Cup v Celtic (won)
Walter Smith – 1991/92 Scottish Cup v Airdrieonians (won)
Dick Advocaat – 1998/99 League Cup v St Johnstone (won)
Alex McLeish – 2001/02 League Cup v Ayr United (won)
Paul Le Guen – none
Ally McCoist – none
Mark Warburton – 2015/16 Scottish Cup v Hibs (lost)
Pedro Caixinha – none
Steven Gerrard – 2019/20 League Cup v Celtic (?)
5 – Dundee United maintained their three-point lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship thanks to a 3-0 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the Caledonian Stadium. Lawrence Shankland netted his 16th league goal of the season, while the other goals came courtesy of Nicky Clark and a Shaun Rooney own goal. Robbie Neilson’s side have recorded five consecutive wins over the Caley Jags, and have conceded only a single goal in the process. Their last defeat against Inverness was a Scottish Cup quarter-final loss at Tannadice back in March.
Dundee United’s wins over Inverness
20/04/2019 – Inverness CT 0-2 Dundee United (Ladbrokes Championship)
14/05/2019 – Inverness CT 0-1 Dundee United (Ladbrokes Premiership play-off semi-final)
17/05/2019 – Dundee United 3-0 Inverness CT (Ladbrokes Premiership play-off semi-final)
03/08/2019 – Dundee United 4-1 Inverness CT (Ladbrokes Championship)
02/11/2019 – Inverness CT 0-3 Dundee United (Ladbrokes Championship)
8 – Falkirk defeated Forfar Athletic 2-0 at Station Park to climb to the top of Ladbrokes League 1. The Bairns have won each of their last eight matches against Forfar, a run which stretches back to August 1992. Their unbeaten run stretches back even further, with their last defeat to The Loons coming in October 1988 – they have picked up 14 wins and four draws in 18 meetings since then. Their eight-match run against Forfar is by far their longest active winning streak against any current SPFL side.
Falkirk’s winning runs v current SPFL sides
8 – Forfar Athletic
4 – Arbroath
4 – Cowdenbeath
3 – Brechin City
3 – Elgin City
7 – Stirling Albion moved three points clear of the Ladbrokes League 2 relegation thanks to a 3-0 victory over Albion Rovers at Forthbank. Kevin Rutkiewicz’s side lost their first five league matches but have picked up two wins and four draws since then to propel themselves above Albion Rovers and Brechin City in the table. The Binos are unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and have only conceded two goals in those matches.
Stirling Albion’s unbeaten run
14/09/2019 – Stirling Albion 1-0 Elgin City (Ladbrokes League 2)
21/09/2019 – Annan Athletic 0-0 Stirling Albion (Ladbrokes League 2)
28/09/2019 – Stirling Albion 1-1 Stenhousemuir (Ladbrokes League 2)
05/10/2019 – Brechin City 1-1 Stirling Albion (Ladbrokes League 2)
19/10/2019 – Stirling Albion 2-0 Strathspey Thistle (Scottish Cup)
29/10/2019 – Stirling Albion 0-0 Cowdenbeath (Ladbrokes League 2)
02/11/2019 – Stirling Albion 3-0 Albion Rovers (Ladbrokes League 2)
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