St Johnstone sealed Betfred Cup glory while there were four key Scottish Premiership matches this weekend.
Saints beat Livingston 1-0 at Hampden to secure the first League Cup triumph in their history.
There were wins on Saturday for Celtic, Motherwell and St Mirren while Kilmarnock drew with Dundee United.
Here are five things we learned from the weekend’s action.
St Johnstone a force to be reckoned with
🏆⚽️ Congratulations to @StJohnstone who have won the #BetfredCup after a 1-0 win over Livingston in the final at Hampden Park! pic.twitter.com/LgIp6YNhX7
— SPFL (@spfl) February 28, 2021
Saints secured their second major trophy to become Scotland’s second most successful club of the past decade in terms of major silverware. The Perth side have not only survived the departure of Tommy Wright but are thriving under his protege and successor, Callum Davidson.
Livingston meet their match
Saints ended David Martindale’s 14-match unbeaten run as manager after scoring two set-pieces at the Tony Macaroni Arena earlier this month. Another headed goal from Shaun Rooney following a first-half corner did the job at Hampden. The Perth defence were equal to all Livingston could throw at them and kept their opponents at bay even after Martindale had loaded his team with attacking substitutes.
Klimala gets his chance
Polish striker Patryk Klimala was a surprise inclusion in John Kennedy’s first match in interim charge of Celtic. Klimala was chosen ahead of Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti, Mohamed Elyounoussi and the absent Tom Rogic in order to give the Hoops a threat in behind against Aberdeen as he made only his fourth start of the season. It was a more familiar threat that did the damage as Odsonne Edouard’s ninth goal in nine games earned Celtic three points.
Alexander sees red again
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander was shown a red card for the second time in four games towards the end of his side’s 2-0 win over Hibernian, having also been booked against St Mirren in midweek. Alexander remained silent on his latest brush with authority having claimed he was only guilty of coaching his team in midweek. A Scottish Football Association disciplinary process is likely to follow.
Goodwin defends Quaner
“At this stage of the season it doesn’t matter how you win.”
🗣 Jak Alnwick#STMROS | #BeInThatNumber | #BeatHeartbreakForever pic.twitter.com/AjMUhQGE84
— St Mirren FC (@saintmirrenfc) February 27, 2021
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin recently called for players who fall over in the box at the slightest contact to be named and shamed and given punishments. But that was exactly what his forward, Collin Quaner, was accused of doing. Ross County boss John Hughes claimed Quaner was guilty of “conning” referee Greg Aitken after winning the spot-kick that earned a 1-0 win. Goodwin admitted it was soft but denied it was a dive and stated he would take a closer look.
