4 – Defending champions Celtic kicked off their William Hill Premiership campaign with a 4-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Celtic Park. Reo Hatate, Liam Scales, Nicolas Kuhn and Anthony Ralston all found the net for Brendan Rodgers’ side – it was Ralston’s first goal since December 2021. The Hoops continued an impressive record on flag day, they have racked up 11 consecutive wins stretching back to 2008 – the last time they failed to do so was a 0-0 draw with Killie in 2007. Incredibly, it has been 110 years since Celtic lost their first game of the season as defending champions – that was a 2-0 defeat away to Heart of Midlothian in 1914.
3 – St Mirren defeated Hibernian 3-0 at the SMISA Stadium to make an impressive start to their William Hill Premiership campaign. Roland Idowu opened the scoring before an Oisin Smyth double sealed a comprehensive victory for Stephen Robinson’s side. Smyth is the first St Mirren player to come off the bench to score more than one goal in a league game since Cody Cooke netted a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Dundee in May 2019. St Mirren have now recorded back-to-back 3-0 victories over Hibs, having also beaten them by that scoreline at Easter Road in February – prior to this they hadn’t beaten them in consecutive matches since 2014. Sunday’s success equals Saints’ biggest ever home win over Hibs – they have now beaten them 3-0 in Paisley on eight separate occasions, the most recent of which was back in 1983.
10 – Ayr United picked up a 2-0 victory over Hamilton Academical at New Douglas Park in their opening William Hill Championship fixture. George Stanger and Anton Dowds found the net as Scott Brown’s side started the season with three points away from home. This was Ayr’s first opening-day victory since they defeated Queen of the South in 2020/21. The Honest Men are now unbeaten in their last 10 matches against Accies in all competitions – they have picked up six wins and four draws since their last defeat in October 2020.
1 – Annan Athletic made an impressive start to their William Hill League 1 season with a 3-1 victory over Cove Rangers at Balmoral Stadium. Goals from Tommy Muir, Josh Todd and Malik Zaid handed player-manager Willie Gibson a victory in his first league match in charge of the Galabankies. This was Annan’s first league victory away to Cove – they had lost on all four of their previous visits, in League 2 in 2018/19 and League 1 last season. Their only previous away win against Cove was in the 2014/15 Scottish Cup, when they secured a 2-1 win at Cove’s former ground, Allan Park.
4 – Elgin City defeated East Fife 4-2 at Borough Briggs to kick off their William Hill League 2 campaign in style. Kyle Girvan, Jack Murray, Russell Dingwall and Ryan Sargent all found the net to give Allan Hale’s side all three points on the opening day. The last time Elgin had four different goalscorers in a league game was a 5-1 win over Berwick Rangers in November 2017, when Bruce Anderson (2), Darryl McHardy, Brian Cameron and Declan Byrne all found the net. Saturday’s win was the first time in almost two years that Elgin had scored four goals in a game – they last did so with a 4-0 win over Camelon Juniors in the Scottish Cup in October 2022.
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