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The Scottish "Premier" League ended on Sunday in a very dramatic way - Glasgow "Celtic", who had almost secured the champions title, conceded two goals in the final two minutes and lost the first place to their city neighbors and main rivals, Rangers.
Celtic had a two-point advantage over their rivals, so in the final round they just needed to beat Motherwell to defend their title, while Rangers had to win against Hibernian away and hope for help from Motherwell.
After the first halves in all championship matches, it seemed that a Celtic victory was just a matter of time, as the green-whites team from Glasgow led against Motherwell after a goal from C.Sutton, while Rangers failed to score.
The hope for Rangers was given by N.Novo's goal in the 59th minute against Hibernian, but all the drama started in the end - in the match against Celtic, with two minutes left, Australian S.McDonald equalized the result with a great shot, and at the start of extra time, his shot ball once again flew into the shocked Celtic team's goal.
So Rangers finished in first place with 93 points, while Celtic with one less point ended up second, and the third position and a ticket to the UEFA Cup tournament was secured by Edinburgh Hibernian, who beat Aberdeen based on goal difference.
Despite Aberdeen easily defeating Hearts 2-0 at home, where only S.Mikoliūnas from Lithuania played until the 64th minute, they needed a victory with a margin of five goals to climb higher.
In other matches of the 38th round, Dundee Utd won away with a minimal advantage against Inverness, Kilmarnock crushed Dunfermline 4-0 with A.Skerla playing the entire match, and Dundee withdrew from the league, playing a draw 1-1 with Livingston in their last match.
Final teams ranking (Place, team, points) 1. Rangers 93 2. Celtic 92 3. Hibernian 61 4. Aberdeen 61 5. Hearts 50 6. Motherwell 48 7. Kilmarnock 49 8. Inverness CT 44 9. Dundee Utd 36 10. Livingston 35 11. Dunfermline 34 12. Dundee 33
Most scoring players: (Place, player, club, goals) 1. John Hartson (Celtic) 30 2. Nacho Novo (Rangers) 25 3. Derek Riordan (Hibernian) 23 4. Dado Prso (Rangers) 21 5-7. Craig Bellamy (Celtic) 19 Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock) 19 Garry O'Connor (Hibernian) 19
