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Scottish Premier League Review [Wed Aug 31st, 2005]
Champions Rangers were stunned as they went down 3-0 at home to Hibs at the weekend. Ivan Sproule came off the bench to fire a stunning second-half hat-trick to lift the Edinburgh side up to joint second in the league ahead of both sides of the Old Firm.
Rangers had seemed to be controlling the game, but were made to pay for a failure to take their chances. Sproule was introduced to provide some extra pace to stretch a weary Rangers defence, however Scotland striker Garry O’Connor was frustrated at being taken off on 63 minutes.
Just 4 minutes later, the decision was justified as Sproule lobbed Hibs into a lead. He doubled his tally on 86 minutes before latching on to a Fernando Ricksen error in injury-time to secure a famous victory.
That result handed the initiative to league leaders Hearts and they took full advantage with a 2-1 victory at home to Motherwell. Rudi Skacel scored his 5th goal in as many league games to open the scoring 4 minutes before half-time. Edgaras Jankauskas made it 2-0 in the 70th minute with his first league goal of the season and the points looked to be safe.
However, Richie Foran tucked away an 84th-minute penalty to set up a grandstand finish. The 'Well could have snatched a point but for a stunning save by Craig Gordon at the death from William Kinniburgh. That makes it 5 wins out of 5 for the Jambos as they stretch their lead at the top to 5 points.
Aberdeen taught Falkirk a lesson in finishing today as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at Pittodrie. The game was just 2 minutes old when Jamie Smith volleyed home a spectacular opening goal from Scott Muirhead’s corner.
He added a second midway through the first half with a curling shot before Chris Clark completed the scoring 10 minutes later with another fine finish. The game fizzled out in the second half as Aberdeen sat back on their 3-goal cushion. The Dons remain in the bottom half of the table.
In the third 3-0 win of the day, Kilmarnock soared to joint second in the league with victory over lowly Livingston. Killie were buoyed in midweek by Kris Boyd’s decision to stay in Ayrshire for the time-being, however it was his strike partner Colin Nish who stole the headlines today with a 15-minute hat-trick.
He opened the scoring on 28 minutes after a good pass from Boyd. He added a second 7 minutes later and his third came 2 minutes before half-time after good work from skipper Gary Locke. Livvy remain rock bottom with just one point and one goal from their opening 5 league games.
Meanwhile, Maciej Zurawski and Shunsuke Nakamura both opened their Celtic accounts as the Bhoys ran out comfortable 4-0 winners against Dunfermline at East End Park.
Zurawski drew first blood with a fine finish just 5 minutes in before top scorer John Hartson pounced on a poor kickout from goalkeeper Bryn Halliwell to make in 2-0 in the 10th minute. Nakamura then tapped in a third just before the hour before Zurawski completed the scoring on 74 minutes. Celtic now leapfrog Kilmarnock into second.
The other match saw Inverness Caley Thistle player-manager Craig Brewster snatch a late point against his former club Dundee United at Tannadice. The evergreen striker broke United hearts with a header 6 minutes before time.
Lee Miller, buoyed by his Scotland recall, had earlier given the Terrors the lead on 66 minutes with his 4th goal of the season. Caley now lie in the top half of the table, just 2 points behind the clutch of teams on 10 points in joint second.
Thomas O’Sullivan
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