Scottish Premiership: Celtic stay top, Rangers breeze to win, Dundee hit for four

Wednesday night brought us three matches filled with goals, VAR drama and major repercussions at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

Aberdeen 0 - 1 Celtic

Reo Hatate scores to secure three points for Celtic (Kyodo News)

The main event of the evening saw a highly anticipated contest between league leaders Celtic and second-place Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The last meeting between the two sides came just a few weeks ago as Celtic hit the Dons for six in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden.

It would be Aberdeen who started the game on the front foot this time around though, as Duk forced an important save from Kasper Schmeichel inside the opening minutes.

Celtic were convinced they should’ve had a penalty not long after as Alistair Johnston’s header struck the arm of Jamie McGrath, however, VAR opted not to intervene.

From the resulting corner, Celtic had the ball in the net. It wouldn’t count though as referee Don Robertson had already blown for a foul on the Aberdeen goalkeeper.

Celtic rounded out the first half with more chances to take the lead but failed to capitalize, sending both sides into the break on level terms.

Aberdeen had a penalty claim of their own early in the second half as Sivert Nilsen went down in the area. VAR, again, chose not to get involved.

Celtic began to pile the pressure on Aberdeen in the following stages, forcing some fantastic saves out of Ross Doohan.

The opening goal came with 10 minutes to play. A lovely chipped ball in behind was met by Reo Hatate, who calmly finished into the far corner, giving Celtic the lead.

The Glasgow side were able to see out the remainder of the game with relative ease, moving them a step closer to the title.

Rangers 6 - 0 Kilmarnock

Cyriel Dessers celebrates during Rangers victory over Kilmarnock (Alan Harvey - SNS Group)

Rangers would take on Kilmarnock at Ibrox with both teams in desperate need of points at opposite ends of the table.

Despite a mountain of early pressure from Rangers, it took until just before halftime for the hosts to find the opening goal. A teasing ball from Ianis Hagi was finished off by James Tavernier at the back post to give Rangers the lead.

Rangers had a second immediately after the break as Danilo tapped in to make it 2-0.

Moments later, Hamza Igmane got his name on the score sheet through a sumptuous strike from outside the box, which flew past McCrorie for Rangers' third.

It was three goals in ten minutes for the Gers as Cerny added a fourth with a fine finish into the far corner.

Soon after, Killie were opened up again as Dessers met Jefte’s cross for a fifth goal.

With moments left to play, Dessers had his second goal of the match as he found himself in acres of space inside the Kilmarnock box and made no mistake with the finish, capping off a ruthless Rangers performance at Ibrox.

Dundee 4 - 1 Motherwell

Dundee players celebrating (Paul Devlin - SNS Group)

The battle for European football continued at Dens Park as Dundee hosted Motherwell.

It took just 14 minutes for Dundee to find the opening goal. Adewumi cut inside and fired a sizzling shot past Oxborough to give the hosts the lead.

Four minutes later, Motherwell had an immediate response from striker Stamatelopoulos who made no mistake from a few yards out, levelling the game.

It took until the 60th minute to see any more goalmouth action. A perfectly executed counterattack from Dundee ended with a fantastic finish into the far corner from Scott Tiffany to put Dundee 2-1 up.

Two goals in the space of three minutes put the hosts two ahead, this one coming from Lyall Cameron’s deflected shot, which left the Motherwell keeper with no chance.

Moments later, Lyall Cameron got a brace to put the game to bed as his effort from inside the box made it three goals in seven minutes for Dundee.

Dundee would go on to take all three points and move above Motherwell into fifth place.

Aaron Lynch