"Hearts" Failure in the Scottish Championship © EuroFootball.com

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fter the international match break, the battles continued on Saturday in the Scottish "Premier" League. A surprising defeat at home against "St.Mirren" was suffered by the "Lithuanian" Edinburgh "Hearts", whose stumble allowed the leader position to be secured by "Celtic" after a hard-fought victory, while "Rangers" won convincingly, and "Dunfermline" and "Inverness" recorded their first wins.

"Hearts" once again did not have the injured Deividas Česnauskas and Nerijus Barasas, as well as Edgaras Jankauskas, and the match began with Saulius Mikoliūnas, while Marius Žaliūkas and Andrius Velička were among the substitutes. The first good opportunity to score was for S. Mikoliūnas, but his shot from eight meters was expertly blocked by "St. Mirren" goalkeeper Tony Bullock.

When a corner was raised, the goalkeeper already saved his team from a header by S. Pressley, and a little later two defenders brought down S. Mikoliūnas in the penalty area, but the referee decided to show a yellow card to Lithuania's safety for simulation. As the match continued, Hughas Murray and "Hearts" Chilean Mauricio Pinilla attempted to exchange blows, and near the hosts' goal, John Sutton broke through with a header.

In the 72nd minute, A. Velička appeared on the field for the Edinburgh club, but it was not a day for the wards of Valdas Ivanauskas, and with eight minutes left until the end of the match, a counterattack saw C. Gordon block a shot from Craig Molloy, which rebounded to Stewart Kean, who scored the only goal of the match and helped "St. Mirren" secure their first victory against "Hearts" since the 1988/89 season.

Capitalizing on the loss by "Hearts," the defending champions, Glasgow "Celtic," became the sole leader with a hard-fought away victory against "Aberdeen." The only goal came in the 79th minute from a penalty by "Celtic" newcomer Dutchman Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, and at the end of the match, the host captain Russell Anderson hit the crossbar.

Another Glasgow club, "Rangers," under the guidance of Paulo Le Guen, moved up to second place with an easy home win against "Falkirk," with a score of 4-0. The goals for the winners were scored by Phil Bardsley, Dado Pršo, Kris Boyd, and Thomas Buffel.

For the first time, the "Dunfermline" team recorded three points in their account, coming back twice after conceding goals and snatching a victory against "Kilmarnock" at the end of the match, while the underdogs convincingly won 4-1 against "Motherwell" in an away match, "Inverness" club.

Saturday's Round 6 results:

0 - 1

79' [0 - 1] Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

3 - 2

9' [0 - 1] Daniel Invincibile

42' [1 - 1] Derek Young

52' [1 - 2] Gary Wales

73' [2 - 2] Gary Mason

84' [3 - 2] Crawford

0 - 1

82' [0 - 1] Stewart Kean

1 - 4

25' [0 - 1] Ross Tokely

48' [0 - 2] Craig Dargo

72' [1 - 2] Scott McDonald

79' [1 - 3] Grant Munro

87' [1 - 4] Liam Keogh

4 - 0

17' [1 - 0] Phillip Bardsley

28' [2 - 0] Dado Prso

68' [3 - 0] Kris Boyd (11m.)

78' [4 - 0] Thomas Buffel

League table: