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On the penultimate day of the year, the battles continued in the Scottish stadiums - with the 22nd round matches of the "Premier" league. The top four leaders all dropped points - leader "Celtic" let victory slip away, "Rangers" and "Hearts" ended their matches in draws against "St. Mirren" and "Kilmarnock" respectively, while "Aberdeen" suffered a loss on the road.
After their victory in the city derby against "Hibernian", Edinburgh's "Hearts" coach Valdas Ivanauskas made six changes to the lineup for the match against "Kilmarnock", with Nerijus Barasa coming off the bench, Andrius Velicka replacing the injured Edgaras Jankauskas in the starting eleven, and Saulius Mikoliunas and Marius Zaliukas retaining their spots.
In the first half, the visiting "Hearts" team dominated the field and had several chances to score, but Marius Zaliukas headed wide, Paul Hartley's penalty hit the crossbar, and Czech Michal Pospisil's shot was blocked by the defender and goalkeeper Graeme Smith.
After the break, the visitors kept the initiative and Saulius Mikoliunas came close to scoring, but his shot from the penalty area missed narrowly, while Steven Naismith rattled the "Hearts" goalpost in the hosts' response. Towards the end of the match, former "Hearts" player Gary Wales also missed from a grateful position - the match ended goalless.
Both Glasgow clubs did not fare much better - "Rangers" had to come from behind at home after conceding against "St. Mirren" and managed to salvage a draw thanks to Kris Boyd's accurate shot, while title-holders "Celtic", despite unconvincing play, led against "Motherwell" away, but conceded a goal in the dying moments and allowed the hosts to snatch a deserved point.
Of the four leaders, the least successful was the "Aberdeen" team, who occupy second place, losing to "Dundee Utd". Although the successful Aberdeen team this season took the lead through Scott Severin's goal, the home side quickly equalized, and with the visitors reduced to ten men at the end of the match, they scored two more goals unexpectedly and won.
18-year-old "Falkirk" forward Anthony Stokes scored another hat-trick, with his team beating "Inverness" after his first-half treble, while "Hibernian" won against bottom side "Dunfermline" thanks to two goals from Chris Killen and reduced the gap to the top four.
Results of the 22nd round:
"Falkirk" 3 - 1 "Inverness" 33' [1 - 0] Anthony Stokes 37' [2 - 0] Anthony Stokes 45' [3 - 0] Anthony Stokes 90' [3 - 1] John Rankin
"Hibernian" 2 - 0 "Dunfermline" 63' [1 - 0] Christopher Killen 72' [2 - 0] Christopher Killen (pen.)
"Kilmarnock" 0 - 0 "Hearts"
"Motherwell" 1 - 1 "Celtic" 37' [0 - 1] Derek Riordan 90' [1 - 1] Darren Lee Smith
"Rangers" 1 - 1 "St. Mirren" 14' [0 - 1] Richard Brittain 19' [1 - 1] Kris Boyd
"Dundee Utd" 3 - 1 "Aberdeen" 56' [0 - 1] Scott Severin 62' [1 - 1] Collin Samuel 81' [2 - 1] Barry Robson (pen.) 90' [3 - 1] Collin Samuel
66' Michael Hart ("Aberdeen") sent off
League table:
