Saturday and Sunday saw all 4 of Scottish football Leagues host a full card for the first time this season. With The SPL starting this weekend it joins the SFL sides who have been playing now for 4 weeks now in 3 completions.
The SPL got underway with the early kick off at Inverness where the 1st division champions took on Celtic. After a slow start where Inverness dominated the first 30 mins , Celtic totally took over and fully deserves their 1-0 win courtesy of Paddy McCourt's 56th minute goal. It should have been 3 or 4 for Celtic but for bad finishing. Jamie Forrest was closest for Celtic adding to their lead as the sub came on and had a blistering drive crash off the bar.
Champions Rangers starting their quest for a 3rd straight title by seeing off Kilmarnock 2-1 in front of the biggest crown in Scotland (45,739). Kenny Miller got the opener in 16th minute when a failed clearance hit him on the back and shot straight into the net. Rangers 2nd goal was created by Miller as he fed Naismith in wide and Striker who was playing in midfield blasted the ball home. Killie pulled one back exactly 1 minute later when Papac gave away a penalty. Jamie Hamill easily sent McGregor the wrong way as Killie got a life-line. James Beattie made his debut for Rangers and should have scored on 50 minutes as he pounced on a mistake by Fraser Wright but the striker took too long to get his shot off.
Paul Hartley had the performance of the day as he scored a hat-trick of penalties as Aberdeen saw of Hamilton 4-0. Hartley will now surely be pushing for a place in the Scotland squad for the up coming EURO 2012 Qualifiers in 3 weeks time. Zander Diamond scored Aberdeen's other goal as the result gave Mark McGhee the perfect start to the season. The men from the North East now need to show consistency and Hamilton must improve greatly if they are to survive for a 3rd straight season in the SPL.
Hearts and St Johnstone played out a 1-1 draw where 2 goals in 2 minutes just before half time decided this game. Callum Elliot got the opening goal in 44 minutes but it was immediately cancelled out by St Johnstone new boy Sam Parkin. Steven Anderson was sent off in 72 minutes for St Johnstone for a rash tackle on Spaniard Suso Santana , Hearts then pressed for the winner but never really put the St Johnstone defence and new keeper Enkelmen under enough pressure so the points were shared.
New St Mirren boss Danny Lennon was just one minute away from the perfect start as his St Mirren team were beating Dundee Utd 1-0 until a John Daly goal spoiled his day. The buddies had taken the lead with Simon Lynch finding the top corner with an excellent strike from outside the box. It looked it would finish that was until a bad touch by new signing Jure Travner set up the Utd captain from 6 yard to rescue a point for his Europa League bound team.
Sunday's game was a replay of last season's 6-6 draw between Motherwell and Hibs. This game didn't disappoint as Hibs finally ran out 3-2 winners thanks to goals from Stokes , Hanlon and Miller. Motherwell had dominated the first half and were rewarded in 14 minutes when John Sutton opened his SPL account for the season. Stokes Scrambled a goal right on half time for Hibs to make it 1-1 , a result that they didn't deserve. A dubious Paul Hanlon goal put Hibs in front on 64 minutes , the defender using his arm to get the ball over the line. Liam miller then put the Easter road men 3-1 up on 73 minutes before Jamie Murphy Pulled a goal back and continued his great form to the start of season from the penalty spot. Motherwell will feel hard done by in this game and didn't deserve to get beat but they can now look forward to their Europa League play off on Thursday vs Odense BK.
Aberdeen 4 v 0 Hamilton
Hearts 1 v 1 St Johnstone
Inverness 0 v 1 Celtic
Motherwell 2 v 3 Hibs
Rangers 2 v 1 Kilmarnock
St Mirren 1 v 1 Dundee Utd
In week 1 i think Mark McGhee will be the most please of all the SPL manager's as a 4-0 win against a team that won a Pittodrie twice last season cannot be sniffed at. Paul Hartley should also get player of the week as his hat-trick makes him the SPLs top goals scorer. Hamilton as already mention will need to improve , but its early and I'm sure manager Billy Reid will get the best out of his squad in the coming season.
Celtic looked sharp against Inverness and Neil Lennon must hope that the last hour's performance vs ICT continues on Thursday night Europa League game vs Utrecht. Inverness will just be looking to build on the first 30 minutes where they were excellent.
Rangers looked strong although one look at their bench tells the story of why they need another 3-4 players , other than Alexander and Velicka , the rest of the subs were kids. Have to say Killie looked very good vs Rangers , they were well organised and gave Rangers plenty of problems especially in the first half. Invincible should have definitely scored.
Hearts should have got the win vs St Johnstone , if Jim Jefferies men want to be contesting the European places then beating a team with 10 men on your park is a must. St Johnstone showed why they stayed up with ease last season by staying strong and keeping Hearts out , early impressions are that St Johnstone wont suffer from second season syndrome.
Dundee Utd will need to improve before their Europa league tie vs AEK Athens on Thursday , hopefully a full house can cheer the arabs onto a famous win vs the Greek side. St Mirren will be quietly satisfied by their performance against Utd , its a decent start vs one of the harder teams in the league , definitely something to build on.
Motherwell will now travel to Denmark looking for that away goal that could prove crucial in what is Turning out to be a great European adventure for the steel men. Hopefully another piece of Murphy magic does the job. Hibs have started well again but John Hughes must hope that Hibs don't fade like they did last season. Hibs will now face Rangers next week in what promises to be a cracker infront of the Sky Cameras and Hibs new stand.
Thank the lord the football season is now fully back....yeee haaaa
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