Celtic extend lead at the top, Motherwell secure top six spo

A late goal from Kris Commons sealed a win for Celtic over St. Mirren at the top while Motherwell’s point at Tynecastle secure their top six slot.

Celtic won narrowly to extended their lead at the top of the SPL despite a below-par performance at home against St Mirren, in a game which saw Freddy Ljunberg make his first start for the club.

After a lacklustre first half the home side made three changes in an attempt to inject more cutting edge to their game in the second period, including the introduction of Commons

It eventually paid off on 79 minutes when substitute Kris Commons fired in a low drive from 20 yards. St Mirren's John Potter missed a good close-range chance in added time.

The win takes Celtic onto 73 points at the top of the SPL table, five ahead of Rangers, who are inactive until they travel to play their game in hand against Hamilton Accies on Sunday.

Motherwell sealed a top six slot with a draw at Tynecastle which combined with Inverness drawing at Rugby Park this proved to be enough.

This was a game with precious few chances, Darren Randolph did pull off excellent saves from Templeton and Jason Thomson to record his 18^th clean sheet of the season. At the other end Motherwell hit the post in the first half with a Saunders shot, and then towards the end Ross Forbes hit the bar.

In the three other games Inverness took the lead at Kilmarnock through Hayes but Kelly equalised quickly to end the Highlander’s hopes of making the top six.

Aberdeen continued their slump by losing at home to Hibs, and another Cup Semi finalist, St. Johnstone lost 0-2 at Dundee Utd.