2 – Heart of Midlothian maintained their unbeaten start to the William Hill Premiership season by defeating Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox. A Lawrence Shankland double ensured that the Jam Tarts remain level on points with Celtic at the top of the table, with 13 points from five matches. Shankland moved on to 162 goals in the SPFL era, moving him level with Rory McAllister as the top goalscorer across all divisions since the merger of the SPL and SFL in 2013. Hearts ended a run of 18 matches without a win over Rangers in all competitions – their last victory was a 1-0 success in the Scottish Cup quarter-final in February 2020. Their last win at Ibrox was over a decade ago, when Osman Sow scored a late winner in a 2-1 victory on the opening day of the 2014/15 Championship season. Derek McInnes became the first manager to beat Rangers with four different clubs – he also recorded wins with St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock.
4 – St Mirren defeated Falkirk 2-1 at the Falkirk Stadium to move up to 4th place in the William Hill Premiership table. Goals from Declan John and Mikael Mandron ensured that Stephen Robinson’s side picked up their first league win of the season and extended their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions. Including the end of last season, Saints have lost just once in their last 16 matches – that was a late 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park on the opening day. The victory ended the Paisley side’s run of eight matches without a win at the Falkirk Stadium – their last victory was in October 2009, when Craig Dargo, Billy Mehmet and Tom Brighton were on target in a 3-1 win.
5 – Dunfermline Athletic thumped Arbroath 5-0 at Gayfield to climb into the top half of the William Hill Championship table. Three goals from Andrew Tod and one apiece from Zak Rudden and Rory MacLeod handed Neil Lennon’s side an emphatic victory. Nineteen-year-old Tod became the first teenager to score a hat-trick in the Championship since Ryan Hardie for Raith Rovers in a 4-3 victory over St Mirren in March 2016 at the age of 18. It was the Pars’ biggest away league win in almost exactly a decade, since they defeated Stenhousemuir 5-0 in League 1 on 19th September 2015. You have to go back to 1992 to find the last time the Pars won by a five-goal margin away from home in the second tier (or above) – that was a 5-0 win over Stirling Albion at Ochilview, temporary home for the Binos before they moved into Forthbank later that season.
1 – Stenhousemuir moved to the top of William Hill League 1 thanks to a 1-0 victory over Kelty Hearts at New Central Park. Euan O’Reilly’s penalty was enough to secure victory for Gary Naysmith’s side and move them on to 11 points from their opening six matches. The Warriors are now unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions – they have six wins and two draws since losing to Alloa Athletic on the opening day of the league season. This was their first competitive victory over Kelty at New Central Park – on their four previous visits they had drawn one and lost three.
6 – Clyde thrashed Annan Athletic 6-0 at Galabank on Saturday to move up to 6th place in William Hill League 2. A hat-trick from Marley Redfern plus goals from James Hilton, Mouhamed Niang and Kyle Connell secured a first league win of the season for Darren Young’s side. This was the first hat-trick of Redfern’s career – he had only scored six goals in 90 previous appearances. This was Clyde’s biggest win since 2011, when they beat East Stirlingshire 7-1 at Broadwood and is only the third time this century they have won by a six-goal margin (the other was a 6-0 win over Stenhousemuir in 2000). The last time the Bully Wee won by a margin of six or more goals away from home was back in March 1956, when they beat Airdrieonians 8-1.
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