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On Saturday, five matches of the 27th round of the Scottish Premier League took place, in which the home favorites "Celtic," "Hearts," and "Aberdeen" secured victories, as well as the teams "Motherwell" and "Dundee Utd" playing away in the lower part of the table.
In the ranks of "Hearts," coached by Valdas Ivanauskas, the Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon missed his fourth consecutive match due to injury, Saulius Mikoliūnas, who missed the match of the Lithuanian national team, was unable to play, while Marius Žaliūkas, Edgaras Jankauskas, and former "Kaunas" striker Arkadiušas Klimekas, who made his debut for the team, started the match in the starting eleven.
At the beginning of the match at home against "Inverness," "Hearts" were saved from conceding a goal by goalkeeper Steve Banks, who deflected Graham Bayne's shot, while the hosts responded with dangerous but inaccurate attempts by A. Klimekas and Takis Fyssas.
Later, S. Banks saved Barry Wilson's shot, and then, after the latter's pass towards goal, Rory McAllister failed to redirect the ball. The not very impressive first half ended with a draw.
After the break, the hosts took some initiative, and in a dangerous attack, A. Klimekas failed to find his teammate, while Andrew Driver's shot went wide. After an hour of playing, E. Jankauskas was replaced by Roman Bednar, who immediately found himself in the heart of the attack. Initially, his shot was blocked by the visitors' goalkeeper Michael Fraser, but soon the striker headed the ball over the goal.
In the 70th minute, fortune smiled on "Hearts" - after a shot by "Inverness" player R. McAllister's header hit the crossbar of Edinburgh team's goal. However, the victory for V. Ivanauskas' disciples was secured by Michal Pospišil, who replaced A. Klimekas, scoring a header from a pass by A. Driver.
However, "Hearts" victory was not enough to climb to third place, as three points were also won by the higher-ranked "Aberdeen," who thrashed the bottom team "Dunfermline" 3-0. The goals for Aberdeen were scored by Darren Mackie, Barry Nicholson, and Steve Lovell.
The defending champions Glasgow "Celtic" secured another victory at home, defeating Edinburgh "Hibernian" 1-0 after Craig Beattie's goal in the beginning of the second half, while the "Motherwell" club managed to recover from a missed goal and scored two goals in a minute in the second half to beat "Falkirk." "Dundee Utd" secured a victory over Paisley's "St. Mirren" thanks to the team captain Barry Robson's goal in the 78th minute.
Results of the 27th round matches on Saturday:
"Hearts" 1 - 0 "Inverness"
82' [1 - 0] Michal Pospisil
"Aberdeen" 3 - 0 "Dunfermline"
33' [1 - 0] Darren Mackie
58' [2 - 0] Barry Nicholson (pen.)
83' [3 - 0] Steve Lovell
"Falkirk" 1 - 2 "Motherwell"
41' [1 - 0] Patrick Cregg
66' [1 - 1] Scott McDonald
67' [1 - 2] Graeme Smith
"St. Mirren" 0 - 1 "Dundee United"
78' [0 - 1] Barry Robson
"Celtic" 1 - 0 "Hibernian"
55' [1 - 0] Craig Beattie
86' Ivan Sproule ("Hibernian") sent off the field
