Hibernian 5 – 1 Hamilton
John Hughes' side romped to a comfortable victory against an Accies side looking weary after their extra-time Scottish Cup defeat at Ibrox.

Colin Nish scored the opener from Liam Miller's cross then Anthony Stokes added the second with a deflected drive. Derek Riordan tapped in the third after Tomas Cerny saved Stokes' drive then smashed in the fourth just after the break.  Stokes took his goal tally for the season to 13 when he drove in from a tight angle after 53 minutes before Flavio Paixao pulled a consolation back for Accies from Stuart Elliott's cross.  Despite the scoreline, Hamilton had chances - Mark McLaughlin had an early effort cleared off the line by Kevin McBride and Richard Hastings' cross rebounded from the bar.

Aberdeen 1 – 0 Kilmarnock
Aberdeen made it a disappointing return to Pittodrie for former manager Jimmy Calderwood with a narrow win.  Derek Young volleyed home the only goal of a disappointing match four minutes after the interval.  Darren Mackie and Gary McDonald both saw efforts cleared off the line while, for Killie, Mark Burchill volleyed over the bar and substitute Kevin Kyle drove straight at Jamie Langfield in injury-time.

Motherwell 2 – 0 St. Mirren
'Well finally broke their live TV hoodoo thanks to two second-half goals.  The Fir Park team hadn't won in a live TV clash since 2005 but Jamie Murphy opened the scoring with a half-volley from John Sutton's knock-down before Sutton himself added the second after Keith Lasley set him up with 14 minutes remaining.  The only negative aspect in Craig Brown's first home win was the first-half injury to Lukas Jutkiewicz. The on-loan striker was stretchered off and needed 12 stitches in a thigh wound.

Rangers 1 – 1 Hearts
Rangers needed sub Andy Little's injury-time equaliser to save a point against 10-man Hearts.  Hearts 'keeper Marian Kello had denied Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis before Hearts were reduced to ten men with 17 minutes left.  Christian Nade, who had been booked for a push on Davie Weir, was shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away. But Hearts quickly took the lead when Scott Robinson stabbed the ball in after Allan McGregor had saved from Lee Wallace.  But Rangers rescued a point when Little - a sub for Kirk Broadfoot - scored after Kello blocked Lee McCulloch's effort.

Falkirk 1 – 4 Dundee United (Sun, 24 Jan)
United jumped back into third place after a comprehensive rout of strugglers Falkirk.  David Goodwillie put them ahead after Brian McLean's error then Jon Daly's lob increased the lead just before the interval.  Daly slotted the third from Danny Swanson's pass after 57 minutes then completed his side's scoring from Craig Conway's cross with two minutes left. Pedro Moutinho pulled one back for the home side from Jack Compton's cross.

St. Johnstone 1 – 4 Celtic (Sun, 24 Jan)
Celtic reduced the gap at the top of the table to seven points with a second-half onslaught against ten-man Saints.  Liam Craig put the home side ahead from the spot after 12 minutes after Glenn Loovens and Darren O'Dea fouled Steven Milne.  But the second yellow card for Graham Gartland, just after the interval for hauling back Marc-Antoine Fortune, gave Celtic the lift they needed.  Fortune drove in the equaliser after 64 minutes then Josh Thompson headed down for Georgios Samaras to put them ahead after 77 minutes. Fortune and sub Paddy McCourt completed the rout – the 17-2 shots on target margin underlining Celtic's supremacy.

By cbfootball.co.uk   Last updated: 25 January 2010