1 – Airdrieonians beat Raith Rovers 1-0 at Stark’s Park on Friday night to reach the final of the SPFL Trust Trophy. Nikolay Todorov’s early goal was enough to send Rhys McCabe’s side through to March’s showpiece, where they will face Welsh champions The New Saints. This will be Airdrie’s first final in the competition since 2008/09, when they won the trophy thanks to a penalty shoot-out victory over Ross County. The Diamonds are unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions, picking up five wins and two draws, and conceding just two goals.
3 – St Mirren defeated Hibernian 3-0 at Easter Road to close the gap on Kilmarnock in the battle for 4th place in the cinch Premiership. Alex Gogic, Greg Kiltie and Mikael Mandron all found the net as Stephen Robinson’s side ran riot in the first half. The Buddies also beat Hibs 3-2 in Edinburgh in August – this is the first time since 1984/85 they have won both league matches at Easter Road in a single season. Saturday’s victory was also their biggest winning margin over Hibs in Edinburgh since they won 4-0 on their second visit in that 1984/85 campaign.
20 – Heart of Midlothian strengthened their grip on third place in the cinch Premiership thanks to a 3-2 victory over Dundee at Dens Park. Alan Forrest scored Hearts’ first goal and a late Lawrence Shankland double ensured they took all three points. They were Shankland’s 20th and 21st goals for Hearts this season in all competitions – 16 have come in the league, where he is now four clear of Bojan Miovski in the race to finish as the cinch Premiership’s top scorer. Steven Naismith’s side are unbeaten in nine matches in all competitions – they have picked up seven wins and two draws.
5 – Greenock Morton thumped Dunfermline Athletic 5-0 at East End Park to move further clear in fourth place in the cinch Championship. Defenders Darragh O’Connor and Jack Baird both netted doubles for Dougie Imrie’s side before Michael Garrity rounded off the scoring. This was the Ton’s biggest away league win since they defeated Queen of the South by the same scoreline in October 2016. Morton are now unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions – this is their longest run since the 1979/80 campaign, when Benny Rooney led them to 15 games unbeaten as they finished 6th in the top flight.
8 – Hamilton Academical boosted their cinch League 1 title hopes with a 2-0 victory over Queen of the South at Palmerston. Lewis Smith and Kevin O’Hara scored the goals as John Rankin’s side closed the gap on leaders Falkirk to eight points. Accies have won each of their last eight matches against the Doonhamers in all competitions, which extends back to the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
2 – Elgin City defeated East Fife 1-0 at Borough Briggs to climb to 8th place in the cinch League 2 table. Brian Cameron scored the only goal of the game as Allan Hale’s side leapfrogged Stranraer in the table and, perhaps more importantly, moved nine points clear of bottom club Clyde. City have won four of their last six matches, having previously won just three times in their opening 16 league games. This was Elgin’s first league win over the Fifers in eight attempts – their last victory was back in January 2016.
