Celtic hungry for first derby win – Sadiku

Celtic boss Elena Sadiku says getting the better of their Glasgow rivals for the first time in four attempts is priority with the title gone and European qualification now all but impossible, something which the side are still coming to terms with. “The loss against Glasgow City was a horrible one when it comes to  not performance maybe, but in terms of how we lost it. And also, when we lost it, we knew that the league is probably going to be out of reach now and it’s a tough one to swallow,” said Sadiku. “Obviously, even if we haven’t won silverware, we wrote history and we managed to do something incredible in the first part of the season. In the second part of the season, we’ve not been consistent, we’ve not been good enough to really compete for the league.” However, Sadiku believes her side have reset full focus on finishing the league campaign on a high, against a side they have been unable to beat in three attempts, with two draws and a loss to date. “We have still nine points to play for and that’s the biggest focus we have right now. Rangers on Sunday, they’re still obviously fighting for their place in the league,” she said. “Yes, they are five points behind Hibs. But it’s a Glasgow derby and we’re going to treat it as a Glasgow derby. We have struggled to get results in these derbies over the last few games.” With one eye on the weekend, Sadiku also has one cast on the summer and plans to strengthen the side. “Like I’ve said before, I think we need more leaders as well in terms of the situation that we’ve had this season. We have a part-time captain and a part-time vice-captain and that cannot be the case for next season. We need more consistency in the camp all the time.”

“Unplayable” St Mirren Frontline Boost European Ambitions

Dundee United 0-2 St Mirren Mandron (31′) Ayunga (66′) St Mirren secured their first win at Tannadice since 2022 with a commanding 2-0 victory over Dundee United, significantly bolstering their prospects of consecutive European qualification. The Buddies established early control, confidence clearly stemming from their unbeaten post-split form. Initial forays saw Mikael Mandron and Ronald Idowu direct efforts wide of the target, much to the encouragement of their vocal travelling support. For United, their top goal scorer, Sam Dalby was a consistent presence, but he could only head over their best chance of the first half from a dangerous Glen Middleton delivery. Just after the half-hour mark, St Mirren’s early pressure paid dividends. A neat exchange with Ryan Alebiosu culminated in Mandron drilling a precise low shot past a helpless Jack Walton in the United goal. The visitors should have doubled their advantage shortly thereafter when Richard Taylor’s incisive pass split the Dundee United defence, sending Jonah Ayunga clear on goal, but his strike lacked composure and soared over the bar. This seemed to prompt a formation change for the home side, it offered a glimmer of hope when Ross Docherty’s header narrowly missed the target. Overall, Stephen Robinson would have been the considerably happier of the two managers at the interval, with Mandron’s well-taken goal marking their first against Dundee United in five encounters this season. United offered a brief resurgence at the beginning of the second half, with Dalby flashing a shot wide before his powerful header was parried away by Zach Hemming. However, it was St Mirren who consistently appeared the more likely to extend their lead. The dynamic Alebiosu surged down the right flank before unleashing a fierce strike that Walton did well to tip away. A recurring theme of the second period was the Saints’ potent counter-attacking threat, with Stephen Robinson later describing his forward pairing of Mandron and Ayunga as “unplayable.” Indeed, the likes of Mandron, Ayunga, Killian Phillips, and Idowu frequently threatened the exposed United backline. Phillips himself squandered a golden opportunity to seal the victory when the ball fell kindly to him inside the six-yard box, but mirroring Ayunga’s earlier miss, he blazed his shot over the bar. St Mirren did have the ball in the net for a third time when Mandron cleverly played in Ayunga, who cut inside and slotted a shot past Walton, only for the celebrations to be cut short by the linesman’s raised flag. As the final minutes ticked away and sections of the United support began to drift out of Tannadice, Greg Kiltie’s powerful shot was well saved by Walton. Considering the chances created, St Mirren’s victory could arguably have been even more emphatic than their last Tannadice success, a 3-0 win. Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United will seek to recover from this setback when they travel to Ibrox on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, St Mirren extend their unbeaten league run to three matches and will look forward to a crucial home fixture against Hibernian on Wednesday, a game that has the potential to significantly shape their European aspirations. Teams Dundee Utd: Walton Sevelj Gallagher Adegboyega Strain Ferry Sibbald (Campbell 83’) Docherty (Moult 70’) Middleton Trapanovski (Paton 64’) Dalby St Mirren: Hemming Taylor (Iacovitti 72′) Gogic Fraser Alebiosu John (Tanser 61’) Boyd-Munce Phillips Idowu (Kiltie 76’) Ayunga Mandron Attendance : 9,821

Sun, Shankland and suspicious Steelmen as Hearts take three points

Hearts 3 – 0 Motherwell A second Lawrence Shankland brace topped off with James Forrest finisher saw an improving Hearts dispatch a frustrated Motherwell side in the ‘best of the rest’ clash. Attempting to combat the heat, the referee called a stop to play to allow players to take a water break. However there would be no denying Shankland in front of goal, the striker profiting from a defensive howler from Stephen O’Donnell to give Hearts the lead. Having tasted the back of the net Shankland would come back for seconds after the break, meeting James Penrice’s delicate cross to almost put the game out of reach and in doing so scoring as many post-split as he had prior. Just two minutes later it was good night Vienna for Wimmer, as Forrest tapped home Aston Oxborough’s save after some excellent work from substitute Yan Dhanda to force the parry. Motherwell for their part did threaten prior to the collapse, Callum Slattery’s sizzling long range effort going just over the bar as the visitors probed for a hole in debutant Ryan Fulton’s goal. Slattery wheeled away in celebration after thundering home an equaliser, only to be denied after a lengthy VAR check ruled for offside as Dan Casey was judged to have obscructed in play. Fulton suffered his first real test, spilling Tom Sparrow’s low driven shot, fortunate not the have it collected by a Motherwell player. Three points for Hearts see them leapfrog Motherwell to go seventh and confirm survival for next season. Missing diamond but Shankland shines bright Quick to deny any criticism of his predecessor Critchley, interim boss Liam Fox did not need to say what he thought of the decision to drop Shankland deeper at the top of a midfield diamond. Instead he showed it by making the striker the sole man up top and it has paid dividends. Four goals in two games has gone some way in reminding the Tynecastle faithful just how good he is, but also what a player they will be losing should Shankland not re-sign. With Craig Gordon also more out than in as it stands, Fox, or whomever the board select as their next manager have a wealth of experience to replace. Either way, with Shankland in red hot form for the first time this season, fans may finally have something to smile about following a torrid year. Auditions but no x-factor In the build-up to this week, Wimmer called the three remaining games “an audition” for some members a bloated Motherwell squad. If that was the case, no prizes for guessing how many of the players earned the golden buzzer. Very much in the game even a goal down, the quickfire double sucked the life out any attempts to salvage something from the game. The manager denied he would make any decisions off the back of a single game. However, with a healthy expected for the signing of Lennon Miller and a cull of the fringes, fans can expect a stronger squad than the one that has flattered to deceive this year. What the managers said: Hearts interim boss Liam Fox: “I think I repeat what I said last week. If you put Lawrence Shankland in these types of  positions and you do work on how you’re going to get the ball to him, Lawrence Shankland will score goals.” “This is not in any way, shape or form a criticism of the previous regime, I just felt it needed to get Shankland closer  to the goal.” “At this moment in time, we’ve got a day off tomorrow and we’re back in on Monday and that until somebody tells me any different, that is where it’s at.” Motherwell boss Michael Wimmer: “It was a disappointed result.  But this happens in football, I think, if you see the stats, it was four shots for Hearts or five shots and they scored three goals, and we had all of our shots and we didn’t score.” “It was not good enough, especially in both boxes, but to make decisions on players depending on one game. I don’t think it’s fair.” “My only thing is what I always say, but also in Germany, if the VAR says something and if the VAR says ‘come on, I have something to say’ then in my opinion it should be a clear mistake.” Line-ups: Hearts: Fulton, Penrice, Halkett, Kent, Forrester, Grant (Kartum 72), Baningime (Nieuwenhof 81), Devlin, Forrest (Kabangu 81), Shankland (c) (Wilson 72), Vargas (Dhanda 53) Unused subs: Clark, Kartum, Kingsley, McKay, Steinwender Goals: Shankland (30, 60), Forrest (62) Booked: Devlin, Halkett Motherwell: Oxborough, Seddon, Casey, O’Donnell (c), Sparrow, Miller, Halliday (Andrews 84), Thompson (Wilson 68), Slattery (Zdravkovski 80), Maswanhise (Dickson 68), Watt (Armstrong 68) Unused subs: Armstrong, Balcombe, Ebiye, Paton, Wilson, Jair Tavares Booked: Halliday, Miller