© EuroFootball.com
The Scottish champion "Rangers" is gradually recovering, while "Hearts" unsuccessful series under the guidance of a new coach continues - in the 19th round of the "Premier" league match in Glasgow, the hosts defeated the visitors from Edinburgh and reduced the gap, while the second capital club "Hibernian" snatched victory in the last minute.
Although the starting lineup of "Hearts" once again featured the main striker duo - Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar, starting the match together with Deividas Česnauskis, last week's winless streak ended by "Rangers" played more successfully and in the 35th minute took the lead deservedly when the ball bounced to Peter Lovenkrands after a penalty kick and he took advantage of his opportunity.
In the second half, the Glasgow team could have doubled their lead, but failed to capitalize on opportunities to score. In the 63rd minute, E.Jankauskas and D.Česnauskis were replaced by C.Elliott and Saulius Mikoliūnas, but just as R.Bednar broke through, the best "Hearts" attack was interrupted by the sidelined referee.
Furthermore, as the result remained unchanged, at the end of the match Saulius Mikoliūnas received a red card for a foul against Barry Ferguson. "Rangers" won and reduced the gap from the opponents to 11 points.
Four points behind "Hearts" are Edinburgh's "Hibernian", who took the lead at home against "Motherwell" after Steven Fletcher's goal, but had to try to move forward again after Scott McDonald equalized the score for the visitors. Nevertheless, the efforts of the hosts paid off - in the 90th minute, the team's attack leader Derek Riordan scored the winning goal.
A similar scenario unfolded in Falkirk, where trailing against "Kilmarnock", the local team "Falkirk" managed to equalize the deficit, but after the most productive league player Kris Boyd's goal in the final moments, had to admit defeat to their opponents.
In the last match of the day, "Livingston" played a goalless draw at home with "Aberdeen" and increased their lead against the absolute underdog "Dunfermline", whose match against "Dundee Utd" away was postponed due to poor weather conditions, to three points. Meanwhile, on Sunday's match against "Inverness", league leader Glasgow "Celtic" will have the opportunity to further distance themselves from the pursuers.
Results of the 19th round
(Rescheduled to December 20th)
1 - 2
50' [0 - 1] James Fowler
74' [1 - 1] Kenny Milne
90' [1 - 2] Kris Boyd
2 - 1
3' [1 - 0] Steven Fletcher
17' [1 - 1] Scott McDonald
90' [2 - 1] Derek Riordan
0 - 0
1 - 0
35' [1 - 0] Peter Lovenkrands
