Hibees pull away at top of the table
IT was a profitable day for Hibs as they extended their lead at the top to eight points with a 1-0 victory at Queen of the South.
Hibees manager Neil Lennon admitted he was glad to see John McGinn hit the net after seeing his side dominate the opening 45 minutes without scoring.
He said: “The goal was something we had worked on and and it gave us the points.
“I thought we played very well and controlled long periods but I was concerned we hadn’t tested their keeper early on and that was what our half-time talk was about.
Second-top Dundee United started well against Dunfermline at East End Park and took the lead when Tony Andreu netted after 18 minutes – his 12th goal of the season. But the hosts responded 10 minutes later through John Herron’s first goal for the club as the Pars extended their unbeaten run to 11 games.
Jim Duffy’s Morton raced to a 3-0 lead at Ayr after 31 minutes with a stunning double from Ross Forbes and a Gary Oliver counter.
Jamie Adams pulled one back before the break but Oliver netted again on 65 minutes.
Morton are now just three points adrift of United in third place but with a game in hand.
Falkirk kept in touch for the play-off places and inflicted further doom on Paisley as St Mirren could not turn around their fortunes and now seem destined for the drop.
Two John Baird goals either side of half-time did the damage with the Paisley men only reply coming from a late Rory Loy effort on his second home debut back at Saints on his second spell at the club.
Despite taking the lead through Ryan Hardie after 27 minutes, hosts Raith Rovers went down 3-1 to Dumbarton.
Christian Nade levelled in 49 minutes, and Daniel Harvie put the Sons in front eight minutes later.
There was no way back for the Kirkcaldy side when Gregor Buchanan made it 3-1 in 63 minutes.
Rangers legend Ian Durrant was in the Dumbarton dug-out following his appointment as assistant to manager Steve Aitken.