The Ladbrokes Premiership kicked off on Saturday and @splstats takes a look at some of the numbers behind the weekend games:
4 Dundee started the new season in style, thrashing Kilmarnock 4-0 at Rugby Park to move to the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table. It was their biggest winning margin away from home in the top flight since a 7-1 victory over Morton in December 1987 – only two of Saturday’s starting XI (Gary Harkins and Kevin Thomson) were even born then. Rory Loy and Greg Stewart scored two goals apiece – the first time that two Dundee players have done so in the same game since a 4-0 League Cup win over Dumbarton in August 1999. The Dens Park club continued their good recent form against Kilmarnock - they have lost just one of their last eight against Killie.
7 The highest-scoring game of the Ladbrokes Premiership weekend came at Tynecastle, where Hearts defeated St Johnstone 4-3 in a thrilling season opener. High-scoring matches have been a common occurrence for Hearts of late – Tynecastle has witnessed 90 goals in 22 matches since the start of last season – an average of over four per game. The goalfest would have come as quite a shock to St Johnstone, though – each of Saints’ previous 50 matches had featured three goals or fewer, stretching back to their final league game of the 2013/14 season.
20 Wes Fletcher scored the only goal of the game as Motherwell kicked off their season with a 1-0 victory away to Scottish Cup holders Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The sides have now met 20 times at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and amazingly there has still never been a draw. Saturday’s win was Motherwell’s 13th, while Inverness have come out on top on seven occasions. Inverness did draw their first home league match against Well after being promoted to the SPL in 2004, but that game was played at Pittodrie.
19 East Fife provided perhaps the biggest shock of the League Cup first round by defeating Championship side Dumbarton on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Bayview. It shouldn’t have been a huge surprise to see the Fife club in a shoot-out – they have been involved in more penalty deciders than any other side in Scottish senior football. Saturday was their 19th shoot-out, and an amazing 14 of those have been at home. In contrast, Dumbarton have been involved in just seven matches which have gone the full distance. Despite their win at the weekend, the Fifers are still below average – they have nine victories and 10 defeats in those 19 contests.
5 Morton booked their place in the second round of the League Cup with a 5-0 victory over Elgin City at Cappielow. The Greenock club have kept clean sheets in each of their last five matches against the Black and Whites, with Elgin’s only goal against them coming in the sides’ first ever meeting back in March 1968. The Ton’s five-goal winning margin was their biggest since December 2012, when they thumped Turriff United 6-0 in the Scottish Cup.
