⚽ The Kick-Off | Monday 3rd March 2025
Weekend round up. Away allocations finally agreed for Celtic and Rangers games. Hickey gets first minutes. Gilmour starts for Napoli. McKenna sees red in Spain. Lower league loan deadline.
➡️ Random Scottish Football Fact #6: The first ever Edinburgh derby took place on Christmas Day 1875. The match was played on the Meadows in Edinburgh.
The Weekend Round Up
➡️ SPFL Premiership
Hibs are 15 unbeaten and beat Hearts in consecutive games for the first time since the 2008-09 season. They now sit third following their 2-1 win and Aberdeen and Dundee United’s 2-2 draw at Pittodrie. Celtic are now three wins away from winning the title after beating St Mirren 5-2 in Paisley on Saturday evening. Rangers lost three consecutive home matches for the first time since 2012 following Motherwell’s 2-1 win at Ibrox. At the bottom, Dundee and St Johnstone couldn’t be separated at Dens with it finishing 1-1. Ross County kept their top six hopes alive with a 1-0 over Kilmarnock in Dingwall. - View the full league table.
➡️ SPFL Championship
Ayr United closed the gap on leaders Falkirk to three points following their 4-1 win against bottom side Airdrieonians. It was a game that saw Scott Brown start his third different goalkeeper in as many games, his fifth in total this season. Falkirk could only draw 2-2 at Hamilton while Livingston sit second after a 1-1 with Partick Thistle on Friday night. Queen’s Park put four past Raith Rovers without a reply in Kirkcaldy. Dunfermline picked up a valuable three points at home to Morton. - View the full league table.
➡️ SPFL League One
Arbroath and Stenhousemuir kept up their title challenges with wins. Arbroath beat Annan Athletic 3-0 while The Warriors won 3-1 away to Dumbarton. Cove lost ground on the leaders following a 2-1 defeat away to Alloa Athletic. Inverness is one point behind seventh-placed Annan following their 1-1 draw with Montrose. Charlie Mulgrew picked up his first win as Kelty boss with a 1-0 win over Queen of the South in Dumfries. - View the full league table.
➡️ SPFL League Two
Following East Fife’s 1-0 defeat to Stirling Albion, Peterhead closed the gap on the leaders to one point with a 2-0 win over Elgin City. Elgin remains in the play-offs but the club is on a poor run of defeats and will be looking over their shoulder following The Spartans 2-1 win over Bonnyrigg Rose. Clyde won 1-0 away to bottom-side Forfar. Stranraer also won 1-0 away to Edinburgh City. - View the full league table.
➡️ SWPL
The title race took another turn in the final round of fixtures before the split. Rangers could only draw 2-2 home draw to Hearts. Rangers had to come back from two down to salvage a point. Hibs beat Celtic 1-0 and Glasgow City won 4-0 at home to Motherwell. - View the full league table.
News
🤝 Celtic and Rangers have finally agreed to away fans returning to the fixture for the first time since 2023.
Both clubs have agreed to allocate "4% of saleable capacity" at each stadium to away fans. Rangers will get approximately 2500 tickets for Celtic Park this month. - Peter Cassidy, STV
🚪Shaun Maloney has been sacked as manager of Wigan Athletic. Wigan lost 2-1 at home to Reading on Saturday and the club announced his departure yesterday. It wasn’t easy for Maloney at the Latics after facing severely reduced budgets, selling his best players and managing a points deduction last season. - Wigan Athletic website
💬 Stephen Robinson revealed St Mirren are in discussions with Mikael Mandron about a new deal. The 30-year-old’s current contract expires this summer. - Andy Coyle, STV
↔️ With the lower league loan deadline at the weekend, there were plenty of last-minute deals…
Defender Leon King signed for Queen’s Park on loan from Rangers. - Keiran Fleming, STV
St Johnstone loaned out three players at the end of last week.
Trinidad & Tobago defender Andre Raymond joined Dunfermline Athletic after falling out of favour with Simo Valakari. Alex Ferguson joined Forfar Athletic and youngster Arran Crocks went to Jeanfield Swifts. - Eric Nicolson, The Courier
Stenhousemuir signed Celtic goalkeeper Joe Morrison on loan. - Stenhousemuir website
Alloa Athletic signed Magnus MacKenzie from Queen’s Park. - Alloa Athletic website
Central midfielder Murray Aiken has joined Bonnyrigg Rose from Hibs. - Hibernian website
The Spartans have taken Hearts’ youngster Bailey Dall on loan until the end of the season. - Heart of Midlothian website
🔙 Aaron Hickey made his first steps to a full return after 16 months out injured. Aaron played 45 minutes and scored in Brentford Under-21’s 2-0 win over Birmingham City on Friday. - Brentford FC on X
⚽️ Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay both started in Napoli’s top-of-the-table clash with Inter Milan on Saturday.
Gilmour was eventually substituted in the 79th minute with McTominay playing the full match. It ended 1-1.
©️ Lewis Ferguson came on at half-time yesterday to help Bologna come back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against Calgari in Serie A. - Matthew Elder, The Scotsman
🔴 Scott McKenna saw red for Las Palmas on Friday night.
Las Palmas were 1-0 up away to Real Valladolid before McKenna was sent off in the 29th minute. It didn’t get much better for Oli McBurnie who was then substituted in the 32nd minute. The game finished 1-1. - Robbie Hanratty, The Herald
😬 The Albion Rovers board of directors released an open letter on Saturday outlining the precarious position the Coatbridge club is in and how they will need to drastically reduce budgets for next season. Their sole focus will be survival in the Lowland League and sourcing new revenue and fundraising streams.
The letter also outlines the issues the directors have been having with appointing new board members due to current shareholders. - Albion Rovers website
🏆 Brora Rangers and Fraserburgh will face each other in this year’s Highland League Cup Final. Brora left it late to beat Deveronvale 3-1 on Saturday. Fraserburgh beat Banks O’Dee 2-0 on Friday. - Callum Law, Press & Journal
🚪 In the Highland League, Brechin City dropped more points in the title race and remain second behind Brora. They could only draw 1-1 at home to Clachnacuddin.
Following that result, the Angus club has sacked manager Patrick Clegg. They only have one win in their last five league games. - Brechin City website
Scottish Football Fixtures Today
No fixtures today 👎
Scottish Football On TV
📺 SWPL Highlights - BBC Scotland, 7.30pm