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St Johnstone were relegated from the Scottish Premiership after Ross County scored a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw away to Dundee.
County’s Ronan Hale smashed home from 12 yards following a handball decision against Dundee’s Antonio Portales to condemn Simo Valakari’s side to the drop after they lost 2-1 away at Hearts.
A first-half own goal by Barry Douglas and an Alan Forrest strike at Tynecastle left St Johnstone needing the result at Dens Park to go their way knowing that should they lose, only defeat for County would leave them still fighting on the final day.
Graham Carey gave them hope of putting their fate back into their own hands but by then winger Scott Tiffoney’s goal for Dundee had looked like providing them with a crucial lifeline.
That was until Ryan Astley headed the ball against the arm of his teammate Portales at the death and Hale stepped up to end St Johnstone’s 16-year stay in the top flight.
Brendan Rodgers criticised Aberdeen midfielder Pape Gueye for a “needless challenge” on Reo Hatate in Celtic’s 5-1 victory.
Johnny Kenny marked his full Celtic debut with his first goal for the club, heading home the fourth early in the second half at Pittodrie. Maik Nawrocki also headed his first goal with Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan and Adam Idah also on target.
Kevin Nisbet had equalised for the Dons but their hopes of finishing third in the were well and truly extinguished. Aberdeen played the closing stages of the match with 10 men after on-loan Tottenham defender Alfie Dorrington saw red for two bookings. But it was Gueye’s challenge on Hatate, who went off injured and had an ice pack just below his knee, that irked Rodgers.
He said: “It was a needless challenge. The free-kick was given and the ball runs away – Reo’s just relaxed and stopping it and the guy loses his head and just kicks through and block-tackles him, so hopefully it’s not going to be too serious.”
Asked if the result will have an impact when the sides meet again in the Scottish Cup final a week on Saturday, Rodgers added: “That’s for Aberdeen. From my side, I’m really happy with the performance. For me this was still a big game for us and we did that.”
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Cyriel Dessers hit two goals as Rangers came from behind to beat Dundee United 3-1 at Ibrox, with Nicolas Raskin also scoring for Barry Ferguson’s team after Sam Cleall-Harding had earlier given United a first-half lead.
Hibernian are guaranteed a third-place finish after they drew 2-2 away to St Mirren. The home side hit back to earn a point after being two goals down within 10 minutes, while Motherwell scored three times in the final 13 minutes to beat 10-man Kilmarnock 3-0 at Fir Park.
