Ricksen spot-kick rallies Rangers

By Alex O'Henley

A dramatic injury-time penalty by Fernando Ricksen gave Rangers FC a 2-1 win at Heart of Midlothian FC to maintain their six point lead over Celtic FC, who themselves defeated Dundee FC 3-0.

Ricksen converts
Ex-Celtic player Mark Burchill looked to have done his former team a favour when the substitute pounced on a Paul Hartley free-kick parried by Ronald Wattereus three minutes from time, to cancel out Nacho Novo's 49th-minute opener set up by a Pršo through-ball. But in the final moments Sotirios Kyrgiakos was adjudged to have been pushed in the area by Lee Miller and after both Pršo and Hearts player Saul Mikoliunas were sent off, Ricksen kept his nerve to convert.

Celtic prevail
At Celtic Park, Dundee frustrated the home side with a magnificent first-half defensive performance, but Stilian Petrov headed a 49th-minute goal and Dianbobo Balde scored on 60 and 87 minutes in similar fashion to keep the champions, who have two games in hand, in touch with the leaders.

Inverness defeat Hibernian
Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC recorded an impressive 3-0 victory against third-place Hibernian FC to creep further away from relegation danger. Spanish midfield player Juanjo opened the scoring with an opportunist strike six minutes from half-time and player-manager Craig Brewster and Barry Wilson were on target after the interval to give Inverness their first win against the Edinburgh side.

Aberdeen revenge
Aberdeen FC exacted revenge on Dundee United FC for their Scottish Cup defeat on Sunday by returning to Tannadice and securing a 2-1 win in a game where both sides ended with ten men. That result means that bottom club Livingston FC have closed the gap on Dundee United to three points following their 3-1 win against Kilmarnock FC. Dunfermline AFC and Motherwell FC drew 0-0.