Celtic continued their relentless pursuit of the Scottish Premier League title with a narrow 1-0 win over Motherwell yesterday that moves them 23 points clear at the top with nine games remaining.

With the chance to close in on Rangers in second place, visitors Motherwell started the match in determined fashion and frustrated their hosts for the majority of the match.

However, despite already holding a formidable lead over their Old Firm rivals, Celtic showed no signs of easing up and made the breakthrough in the 59th minute thanks to a superb finish from top scorer Gary Hooper.

Crisis-stricken Rangers, who were docked 10 points for entering administration earlier this month, play the first of two games in hand over the Hoops against Inverness today.

But there seems to be no stopping Celtic, who have won 17 in a row in the SPL, as they close in on their first title in four years and remain on course for a clean sweep of trophies this season.

Elsewhere, Dunfermline’s relegation worries worsened with a 3-1 defeat away to St Johnstone, while their nearest rivals, Hibernian, won 3-1 against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Dundee United leapfrogged Hearts into fifth place with a 2-0 win at Tynecastle, while Aberdeen and St Mirren drew 1-1.

Premier League
Celtic 1 - Motherwell 0
Hearts 0 - Dundee Utd 2
Kilmarnock 1 - Hibernian 3
St Johnstone 3 - Dunfermline 1
St Mirren 1 - Aberdeen 1


P W D L F A Pts
Celtic 29 24 2 3 61 16 74
Rangers (-10) 27 19 4 4 51 16 51
Motherwell 28 14 6 8 38 33 48
St Johnstone 27 11 6 10 36 33 39
Dundee Utd 28 9 10 9 44 39 37
Hearts 28 10 6 12 31 28 36
Aberdeen 28 7 11 10 28 31 32
Kilmarnock 28 7 11 10 31 43 32
St Mirren 28 6 12 10 26 37 30
Inverness CT 26 7 6 13 31 42 27
Hibernian 28 5 7 16 30 55 22
Dunfermline 29 4 7 18 30 64 19

Premier League – today
Inverness vs Rangers - 13.45

Division One
Ayr 3 - Livingston 1
Dundee 1 - Ross County 1
Falkirk 3 - Q’of the South 0
Morton 1 - Hamilton 2
Raith 2 - Partick 1

Division Two
Albion Rovers 2 - Forfar 2
Cowdenbeath 1 - Brechin 0
Dumbarton 4 - Stirling 1
East Fife 2 - Airdrie United 0
S’housemuir 1 - Arbroath 3

Division Three
Alloa 1 - Clyde 0
Berwick 0 - East Stirling 2
Montrose 2 - Elgin 3
Peterhead 3 - Annan 2
Queen’s Park 3 - Stranraer 2

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.