@splstats looks at some of the numbers behind the weekend games, with the focus on Hearts, Celtic, Rangers, Peterhead and East Fife.
6 Hearts kept up the pressure on Aberdeen and Celtic with a thumping 6-0 victory over Motherwell at Tynecastle on Saturday. It was the Jam Tarts’ biggest top-flight victory in almost 15 years – the last time they won a top-tier game by six goals was in February 2001 when Dunfermline were beaten 7-1 in Edinburgh. Current Hearts boss Robbie Neilson played for the Jambos in that game, while his assistant Stevie Crawford was on the losing side. Hearts had six different goalscorers - the first time this has happened in a top-flight match since Inverness CT defeated Gretna 6-1 in May 2008.
50 Celtic maintained their lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table with a 4-1 win over Dundee United at Tannadice. Leigh Griffiths netted a double to take his tally for the season to 24 goals in 31 appearances. Griffiths’ first strike was his 50th goal for Celtic, a tally which he achieved in just 86 appearances for the club (60 starts and 26 as a substitute). Griffiths is the ninth Celtic player to hit a half century since Henrik Larsson left - the others being Kris Commons, Gary Hooper, Shaun Maloney, Scott McDonald, Stilian Petrov, Georgios Samaras, Anthony Stokes and Alan Thompson. None of the other eight have managed to turn 50 into 100.
18 Rangers defeated Livingston 4-1 at Ibrox to extend their lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship to five points. The Gers have yet to lose a league match at home this season, picking up 31 points from a possible 33 at Ibrox. Including last season, their unbeaten home run extends to 18 Championship fixtures, consisting of 13 wins and five draws. The last away side to win a league game at Ibrox was Hibernian, back in February.
4 Peterhead moved to within two points of second-placed Ayr United in the Ladbrokes League 1 table after thumping Stranraer 5-1 at Stair Park on Saturday. The Blue Toon are unbeaten in their last nine League 1 fixtures, including six wins in their last seven matches. Those seven games have yielded 26 goals for Jim McInally’s side, who are the second-top scorers in the league behind leaders Dunfermline. Saturday was their fourth league win in a row – the first time they’ve managed this in the third tier since April to August 2008.
17 East Fife leapfrogged Annan Athletic into third place in Ladbrokes League 2 after beating them 4-2 at Galabank on Saturday. Their success at the weekend was their first ever away win against Annan – the Fifers had suffered defeat on each of their three previous visits. Gary Naysmith’s side are now the joint-top away goalscorers in the division – their tally of 17 goals matches that of leaders Elgin and second-placed Queen’s Park.
