Weekend in numbers

3 – Heart of Midlothian extended their lead at the top of the William Hill Premiership table to three points with a 2-1 victory over Hibernian at Easter Road. Hibs opened the scoring before being reduced to nine men and a Warren O’Hora own goal levelled things up before Blair Spittal scored a dramatic late winner. This is the sixth time this season the Jam Tarts have scored winning goals in the 86th minute or later – three have come against Hibernian. The last time Hearts beat Hibs three times in the league in a single season was back in 2013/14, when both teams were ultimately relegated. The victory moved Hearts on to 73 points, just one short of their record top-flight tally set in 2005/06. There have only been three other occasions when a club other than Celtic or Rangers has managed 73 or more in a top-flight season – all of those were set by Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen, in 2014/15 (75 points), 2016/17 (76 points) and 2017/18 (73 points).

31 – Livingston defeated St Mirren 2-0 at the SMISA Stadium to keep their William Hill Premiership survival hopes alive. An Alex Gogic own goal and a goal from Scott Pittman handed Marvin Bartley his first win as Livi manager and closed the gap on 11th-placed Kilmarnock to nine points. This was the Lions’ first league win since the second day of the season, when they beat Falkirk 3-1. Livi’s run of 31 league matches without victory equalled the top-flight record. The only other team to do this was Arbroath, whose run covered two distinct spells – they failed to win any of their final 14 games of the 1959/60 season then didn’t return to the top flight until 1968/69, when they didn’t win any of their opening 17. This was Livi’s first win in Paisley in 11 attempts – their last success was in August 2018, when Jack Hamilton and Alan Lithgow scored in a 2-0 victory.

4 – Ross County thumped Greenock Morton 4-0 at the Global Energy Stadium to keep alive their hopes of avoiding automatic relegation from the William Hill Championship. Goals from Akil Wright, Jordan White, Noah Chilvers and Ryan Duncan handed the Staggies an emphatic win, leaving them a point behind 9th-placed Airdrie and three behind Morton in 8th. Morton host Airdrie at Cappielow on Friday so it is now impossible for the Staggies to escape the bottom two but a positive result away to Raith Rovers could see them move above one of the other two sides and into the play-off spot. This was County’s biggest league win since February 2023, when they beat Dundee United 4-0 in the Premiership. The Staggies have now lost just one of their last 16 matches against Morton in Dingwall (W11 D4 L1) – that defeat came back in November when the Ton won 3-0.

6 – Cove Rangers defeated Kelty Hearts 2-0 at New Central Park to take a huge step towards securing their safety in William Hill League 1. Goals from Adam Emslie and Mitch Megginson kept Paul Hartley’s side three points clear of 9th-placed Hamilton Academical heading into the final weekend – they will be safe unless they lose to East Fife and Accies win away to Inverness. Cove took just five points from their opening 13 fixtures but have managed 32 from their next 22 to move themselves up to seventh. Cove also maintained their impressive 100% league record away to Kelty – they have six wins out of six at New Central Park in the SPFL.

4 – Forfar Athletic secured a play-off spot in William Hill League 2 thanks to a 4-0 victory over Edinburgh City at Station Park. Blair Alston, Craig Slater, Jake Sutherland and Stuart Morrison all scored for Jim Weir’s side as they secured their top-four spot with a game to spare. The Loons started the month in sixth place, five points behind Elgin in fourth, but have strung together a run of four consecutive league victories, their best winning streak since January-February 2023. Saturday’s success was their first ever league win over Edinburgh City – in seven previous meetings they had drawn three and lost four.