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Scottish League Cup roundup: Celtic, Hearts, Hibernian through

Sports Mole rounds up Wednesday's Scottish League Cup action as Celtic, Hibernian and Hearts seal their place in the fourth round.

Scottish League Cup holders Celtic have progressed to the fourth round with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Championship side Raith Rovers.

Ronny Deila named a strong starting XI for the tie, but the visitors threatened to cause a major shock in the first half when Craig Wighton produced a good stop from Craig Gordon.

However, Kris Commons gave the champions the lead shortly after the half-hour mark when he robbed the Rovers defence and arrowed a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Ross Matthews had the best chance of an equaliser when he volleyed over from 15 yards, but Celtic secured their fourth-round spot with a fast counter-attack which was finished off by Stefan Johansen after the Norwegian had run half of the length of the pitch.

There was a shock amongst Wednesday's three fixtures, however, as Scottish Premiership leaders Aberdeen fell to two late goals from Championship side Hibernian at Easter Road.

The visitors lost both Willo Flood and Graeme Shinnie to injury in a first half of few chances, but they nearly took the lead after the break when substitute Peter Pawlett headed over from Niall McGinn's cross.

Mark Oxley saved well from David Goodwillie as the SPL side continued to look the more likely, but with eight minutes remaining Jason Cummings put Hibernian in front in emphatic style when he chested the ball down and swivelled to fire a 20-yard shot past the helpless Danny Ward.

Hibs secured their win two minutes from time when Dominique Malonga raced away to seal victory and consign Aberdeen to a first domestic defeat of the season.

Meanwhile, Hibs' Edinburgh rivals Hearts came from behind in the most dramatic fashion to beat Kilmarnock 3-2 at Rugby Park.

Killie's Josh Magennis headed home the only first-half goal as the hosts took the initiative, but Alim Ozturk struck an equaliser with 16 minutes remaining.

Magennis must have thought that he had won it when he netted his second 10 minutes from time, but substitute Juanma Delgado came up with a last-minute equaliser before Sam Nicholson completed the turnaround in injury time.

Results in full: Celtic 2-0 Raith Rovers (1-0), Hibernian 2-0 Aberdeen (0-0), Kilmarnock 2-3 Hearts (1-0)

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Tom Nightingale
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Ryan Jack of Aberdeen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park Stadium on March 1, 2015
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Celtic1715204844447
2RangersRangers17112429111835
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4Dundee UnitedDundee Utd187742720728
5St Mirren198382630-427
6Motherwell188282331-826
7Hibernian195682631-521
8Kilmarnock195682335-1221
9Dundee185492733-619
10Ross County194691735-1818
11Hearts1944112129-816
12St Johnstone1942132236-1414


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