@splstats looks at some of the numbers behind the weekend games, with the focus on Rangers, Raith Rovers, Dunfermline, Annan and Berwick.
23 Rangers defeated Queen of the South 4-3 at Ibrox to move 14 points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship. Mark Warburton’s side remain unbeaten at home in the league this season; they have picked up 46 points from their 16 fixtures. The Gers’ last league defeat at Ibrox came against Hibs back on February 13, 2015 – they are unbeaten in 23 matches since then. The second-tier record unbeaten home run is a whopping 44 matches, set by St Johnstone in the early 1920s. With Rangers on the verge of promotion, it seems unlikely they will get the chance to challenge that tally.
4 Raith Rovers all but sealed their spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership play-offs after defeating Morton 1-0 at Cappielow to move 13 points clear of the Greenock side. Saturday’s victory helped Rovers seal the clean sweep over the Ton this season – they have won all four Championship meetings, all of them by a single-goal margin. Raith are now unbeaten in nine matches against Morton in all competitions, with Morton’s last victory coming back in January 2013.
29 Dunfermline Athletic sealed the Ladbrokes League 1 title, and promotion to the Championship, thanks to a 3-1 victory over Brechin City at East End Park on Saturday. The victory came courtesy of a Faissal El Bakhtaoui hat-trick, which took his tally for the season to 29 goals in all competitions. The French-Moroccan striker has scored 21 league goals, making him the first Pars player to break the 20-goal mark since John Watson, who netted 24 in that 1985/86 championship-winning campaign. This season marks the sixth time the Pars have won a national league title – they have won the second tier on four occasions, and now have two third-tier titles. Amazingly, four of those six titles have come in years ending in “6”. They won the second-tier title in 1925/26, the third tier in 1985/86, the second tier in 1995/96, and now the third tier again in 2015/16.
5 Annan Athletic moved back into the Ladbrokes League 2 play-off places after a convincing 5-0 victory over Montrose at Links Park. Saturday’s five-goal winning margin marked the Galabankies’ biggest away victory since they joined the SFL back in 2008. This was the fifth occasion that Annan have scored five goals in an away league fixture, but the first time that they also kept a clean sheet. Jim Chapman’s side are now just five points behind leaders East Fife with five matches remaining, and remain in with an outside chance of finishing the season on top.
4 Berwick Rangers moved another step closer to Ladbrokes League 2 safety after defeating Elgin City 2-0 at Shielfield to move 12 clear of bottom club East Stirlingshire. John Coughlin’s side have not lost at home in 2016 – their seven-match unbeaten streak at Shielfield is their best in almost a decade. Berwick have won their last four home matches, and have kept clean sheets in all of them. Their current run of four straight clean sheets is their best at home since August-September 2009, but they will need to keep two more to equal their all-time record.
