Weekend in numbers

40 – Dundee United defeated Rangers 1-0 at Tannadice in the cinch Premiership to end the visitors’ 40-game unbeaten league run. Jamie Robson scored the only goal of the game to hand Thomas Courts his first league win as United manager. It was only Robson’s third goal for United in 171 appearances, and his first since a 3-0 victory over Falkirk in the Championship in November 2017. The Terrors have now won five of their last nine matches against the Gers, including three of the last four meetings at Tannadice.  

6 – Celtic bounced back from last week’s defeat at Tynecastle by thumping Dundee 6-0 at Celtic Park in the cinch Premiership. A treble from Kyogo Furuhashi plus goals from Tom Rogic, Tony Ralston and Odsonne Edouard gave Ange Postecoglou his first league win in charge of the Hoops. Furuhashi is the second Asian player to score a hat-trick in the Scottish top flight – the other was fellow Japan and Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura, who did so against Dundee United in 2006 and St Mirren in 2008. Celtic are now unbeaten in 37 matches against Dundee in all competitions, picking up 31 wins and six draws and racking up a 92-16 aggregate scoreline since their last defeat back in May 2001.

2 – Kilmarnock made it two wins out of two in the cinch Championship thanks to a 1-0 victory over Queen of the South at Palmerston. Killie left it late to seal the three points, with Jason Naismith scoring the winning goal in stoppage time. The Ayrshire side have now won their last five matches against the Doonhamers, but that run of matches extends over more than 30 years. The last time these sides met in the league, Madonna was at No 1 with “Vogue” and “Step On” by the Happy Mondays was also in the top ten – that was April 1990, when Killie won 4-1 on their way to promotion as runners-up to Division Two champions Brechin City.

1 – Queen’s Park defeated Cove Rangers 2-0 at Firhill in the battle of two of the pre-season favourites for the cinch League 1 title. Goals from Simon Murray and Bob McHugh sealed a first league win for manager Laurie Ellis, who took over at the newly-promoted side in the summer. This was the Spiders’ first win over Cove in a competitive fixture – they had lost all three previous meetings in the 2019/20 League 2 campaign. Queen’s Park are one of four teams tied on four points at the top of cinch League 1 – Dumbarton, Montrose and Falkirk also have a win and a draw from their first two matches.

7 – Annan Athletic defeated Stranraer 3-0 at Stair Park to kickstart their cinch League 2 campaign following a defeat to Forfar Athletic last weekend. Goals from Chris Johnston, Aidan Smith and Owen Moxon ensured the Galabankies ended a run of seven league matches without a win over the Blues. Annan’s previous league win over Stranraer was over a decade ago, when Sean O’Connor and Ian Harty helped them to a 2-1 victory. Saturday’s success was their first ever league win at Stair Park on their eighth visit – their only previous win at the ground came in the Challenge Cup in 2013.