INT SPL - Scottish Premier League

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St. Johnstone 1-0 Dundee

A first half strike from former Ipswich Town midfielder Liam Craig helped St Johnstone claim victory in the Tayside derby against Dundee.

The defeat for the Dark Blues sees them remain adrift at the bottom of the table, nine points behind Ross County, with the Highland side holding a game in hand.

The goal came just after the half hour mark as Dundee keeper Rab Douglas failed to properly deal with a cross from Gregory Tade and that allowed Craig to step in and fire home the opener for the home side.

St Johnstone continued to pile on the pressure during the second half, but they could not find the finish that would have killed off Dundee's hopes, but they managed to hang on and claim their first win at McDiarmid Park in six attempts.

 

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St. Mirren 1-1 Kilmarnock

A second half Paul McGowan penalty helped St Mirren put further away from relegation danger with a point at home to Kilmarnock.

In front of a crowd of 6,347 at St Mirren Park both sides failed to deliver in what where testing conditions for the players on the park.

Kilmarnock took the lead in five minutes as James Dayton was adjudged to have been brought down inside the box by Jim Goodwin and with referee Brian Colvin pointing to the spot, Liam Kelly stepped up and slammed home his second penalty this week.

It was the home side, however, who dominated the remainder of the first half with striker Stephen Thompson missing a handful of chances to get his side back on level terms.

The equaliser did come midway through the second half when substitute Dougie Imrie was brought down inside the penalty area by Kilmarnock youngster Michael O'Hara.

Despite the visitors protests, referee Colvin awarded the spot kick, which McGowan fired home to claim a point for Danny Lennon’s side.

 

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Hearts 0-0 Hibernian: Edinburgh derby ends in stalemate

Hibernian managed to hang on to claim a point against a weaken Hearts side to remain unbeaten in the Edinburgh derby this season.

The Tynecastle side had both the majority of the possession and the chances but couldn’t put their city rivals to the sword to give their fans some New Year cheer.

 

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ESPN Transfer News

Sky Sports are reporting that Rangers are hoping to extend Neil Alexander's contract at the club.

Assistant manager Kenny McDowall has said:

"Will it be sorted soon? Hopefully. It's up to those upstairs. We've told them we're happy with him so it's a matter of getting the numbers right."

 

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Rangers 1-1 Elgin City: Late Leslie goal hands visitors a point

A late goal by Stuart Leslie helped Elgin City snatch a point at Ibrox and ended Rangers' 100 per cent home league record.

Lewis McLeod had the league leaders in a commanding position with his early strike, but they were not able to hang on and claim their 12th victory in a row.

 

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Rangers communications director James Traynor has branded new plans to restructure the Scottish league system as "ridiculous" and "an abomination".

An agreement was reached in a meeting at Hampden Park on Tuesday that the current structure of four leagues would be decreased to three leagues of 12, 12 and 18 teams, with Traynor criticising the sporting integrity of the decision.

 

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Clubs in Scotland are ready to vote after the Scottish Football League (SFL) and the Scottish Premier League (SPL) proposed changes to restructure the game.

The vote is set to take place later this month - with plans to alter the number of clubs competing to 12, 12 and 18, as well as the SFL and SLP merging.

The changes, which could happen as early as the start of the next campaign, would result in the top two divided into three sets of eight teams after 22 matches have been played.

 

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Rangers chief executive Charles Green has delivered a scathing assessment of plans to reconstruct the Scottish league system.

League bodies have agreed in principle to a new 12-12-18 structure, with the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League set to vote on the proposals this month.

But Green has launched an attack on the plans - which could be implemented by the start of next season - and says the Gers may even leave Scottish football as a result.

 

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Rangers 4-2 Berwick: Little hat-trick helps hosts return to winning ways

A hat-trick from Andy Little and a David Templeton strike saw Rangers return to winning ways at Ibrox against Berwick Rangers as they continue their charge towards the Third Division title.

Second-half strikes from Ross Gray and Fraser McLaren had got the Borders side back into the game, but they could not compete with the league leaders.

 

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Rangers chief executive Charles Green has called for clubs to pursue an alternative to the proposed 12-12-18 restructure of Scottish football.

The Scottish Football Association are set to vote on whether to push on with the mooted changes in January, but Green believes a 14-14-14 league system would be the fairer option.

The Englishman has cited the fact that Gers would likely remain in the third tier even should they finish top of the Third Division this season as evidence that the SFA are “sleep-walking into a solution”.