Celtic pulled 10 points clear with a thumping 5-0 Premiership win over Hearts as Rangers crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock – a loss that left Steven Gerrard admitting his players “couldn’t cope” with the pressure
Olivier Ntcham opened the scoring for Celtic on the half-hour mark before second-half goals from Christopher Jullien, Callum McGregor, substitute Ryan Christie and Jozo Simunovic completed the rout. Hearts’ substitute Marcel Langer was shown a straight red card late on for a foul on Celtic captain skipper Scott Brown.
Parkhead cheered loudly when news of Eamonn Brophy’s 88th-minute goal for Killie came through and Steven Gerrard’s side are now 10 points behind the champions, albeit with a game in hand. The Rangers manager questioned the mentality of his players after the defeat at Rugby Park.
“In the second half, we never handled the heat or the pressure,” Gerrard said. “We never played like a team that was trying to fight to remain in a title race, a team that was trying to come away from here with three points.
“The reality is [Celtic] are in the driving seat. That’s down to two things – their form and us not being good enough since the winter break – but I’m responsible for that. I put this group together. I coach them, they are my tactics and decisions.
“We came here tonight and it was a pressure game in a stadium where you know you are going to be under the cosh. The reality is that we couldn’t cope tonight. The consistency seems to have disappeared, which is a worry.”
Kilmarnock was the venue when the wheels came off for Gerrard’s team during last season’s championship race. History repeated itself as goals from Stephen O’Donnell and Eamonn Brophy overturned the early lead given to the visitors by Scott Arfield, and leave Rangers’ arch-rivals with one hand on the Premiership trophy.
Motherwell missed the chance to return to third after they were beaten 2-1 at St Johnstone courtesy of Chris Kane’s stoppage-time winner.
The substitute flicked home Jason Kerr’s near-post cross and was mobbed by his team-mates, including goalkeeper Zander Clark – who was no doubt the most relieved man inside McDiarmid Park after his blunder allowed Christopher Long to equalise five minutes after Motherwell had gifted Callum Hendry a well-taken opener.
The visitors had substitute Christy Manzinga sent off for a second bookable offence after he was deemed to have dived in the penalty area with eight minutes left.
Hibernian claimed back-to-back victories for the first time since November as they swept aside Ross County 3-0 at Easter Road.
The potent partnership of Christian Doidge and Marc McNulty both found the net during a dominant first half. McNulty saw a second-half penalty saved before the defender Adam Jackson netted a third with a towering header late on.
A Steven Lawless penalty and strike from Lyndon Dykes earned Livingston a 2-1 win at home to St Mirren, who pulled a goal back through Jonathan Obika at the start of the second half.