Scottish Premiership: Celtic and Aberdeen’s late wins maintain unblemished start, Rangers make it three in a row and more

There was plenty of late drama in the Scottish Premiership this weekend as Aberdeen continue to split Celtic and Rangers – so what did we learn from the latest round of games?

Celtic leave it late, but domestic domination continues

Brendan Rodgers wanted his Celtic side to bounce back from their Dortmund defeat in style, but it was far from a box office performance in Dingwall.

With Cameron Carter-Vickers already out, Greg Taylor’s injury appeared to cause more issues at the back as Auston Trusty and Alex Valle showed they still need time to settle into the side.

Nicolas Kuhn continued his strong start to the season with the winning goal, but it was the substitutions who changed the game with Kyogo, James Forrest, Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan bringing some much lacking creativity.

Ross County created problems for the champions, they kept things tight and looked like they were heading for what could be a vital point until Celtic piled on the late pressure.

Cerny impresses amid criticism

Rangers made it three straight wins without conceding as Vaclav Cerny scored a double to silence the doubters after his midweek miss against Lyon.

The on-loan winger impressed with his first goals since their win against Motherwell in August as he also made up for a poor showing at Hibs last weekend. Is this the start of things to come for the 26-year-old? Time will tell.

Ianis Hagi returned from the wilderness but now faces another spell out after his high challenge saw him red-carded following a VAR review.

New St Johnstone head coach Simo Valakari was watching from the stand as he awaits his work permit – he may be glad of the international break for some much-needed time with his new squad as he looks to lift them away from the danger zone.

Are Aberdeen real title contenders?

13 proved lucky for Aberdeen as Jimmy Thelin’s winning start continued to keep them above Rangers and only behind Celtic on goal difference.

Hearts pushed them all the way and looked like they were set to end the Dons unbeaten run but, despite being the poorer side again, their inner determination saw them through as Ante Palavera’s late goal sparked wild celebrations at Pittodrie.

Although it may be a bit far-fetched to suggest they could win the title, Aberdeen head to Celtic next with at least one of their winning runs certain to end.

Hearts appeared to have been lifted by their Europa League win and did not look like a team languishing at the bottom of the table, but missed chances and Jorge Grant’s red card left saw them head back to Tynecastle with nothing from the game.

Wasteful Hibs punished by Motherwell

Hibs were left to rue missed chances at Ibrox and it was the same story against Motherwell with David Gray blasting his players for being “unprofessional.”

Nectar Trianis’ dismissal for a second booking did not help, but Mykola Kuharevich and Chris Cadden should have had them ahead at Easter Road.

Their defence was far from convincing too as they did not learn from Moses Ebiye’s disallowed goal with Andy Halliday’s eventual winner coming from a similar situation as the Steelmen secured their third straight win.

There is work to do for Hibs during the international break if they are to avoid being dragged further into the relegation battle, even at this early stage.

Kilmarnock’s late show earns first win

It was an incredible turnaround from Kilmarnock as they finally claimed their first win of the season despite being second-best for much of the game.

Goals from Ziyad Larkeche and Oluwaseun Adewumi looked like being enough to give Dundee manager Tony Docherty a first win against Derek McInnes, but Killie didn’t give up.

A Bruce Anderson strike and Matt Kennedy double in the final 10 minutes saw them snatch the points as the Dark Blues were punished once again.

Dundee lost more points from winning positions last season than any other side in the Premiership, Docherty will be keen to stop these late errors creeping in again.

United continue to impress on Premiership return

Dundee United may still be a work in progress, but they are unbeaten away from home this season and have only lost one of their seven in the Premiership.

It wasn’t pretty to watch at times in Paisley with both sides lacking creativity, but United had the extra edge to grind out a victory.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tweaked his formation as he looked for a more attacking threat but both Roland Idowu and striker Kevin van Veen failed to impress.

The Buddies now have just one win in 10 games although, for now, remain in the top six.

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