Dundee cruise into promotion box seat

It is advantage Dundee in the race for the Championship title after their 4-0 win over Cowdenbeath at Dens Park. The Dark Blues now lead Hamilton by two points with three games to go after ten-man Accies were held 1-1 by hosts Livingston.

Paul Hartley: Focus on Morton. Picture: SNS

Paul Hartley’s side raced into the lead after four minutes when Gavin Rae and Peter MacDonald combined to release Craig Wighton and the 16-year-old showed maturity beyond his years to shoot home from 14 yards.

It was 2-0 just before half-time when Wighton turned creator to set up Martin Boyle and he raced clear to net.

Jim McAlister headed in a third and Boyle completed the scoring with 25 minutes still to play.

Hartley said: “There is pressure on us but the boys handled it really well. It is probably the best we have played since I came in. It is always pleasing to see players standing up to tricky situations and that is what this group did.

“We are back on top and now we will start turning our attention to next Saturday at Morton. I will not look any further forward than that.”

The Blue Brazil look set for a battle to keep their Championship place in the play-offs and manager Jimmy Nicholl said: “We really need to improve defensively. We have still got a lot to play for, so we need to regroup and get ready for the rest of our season.”

Hamilton may have dropped two points and lost control of top spot, but may feel pretty good after hitting back to grab a point against Livingston with only ten men.

After Accies defender Stephen Hendrie was dismissed nine minutes into the second half, it looked like a massive dent in New Douglas Park title hopes was coming when Kyle Jacobs reacted quickest nine minutes later to a Craig Sives knockdown to score.

The size of the dent became smaller when Jason Scotland shot home with five minutes left after a pass by Louis Longridge.

Hamilton boss Alex Neil said: “I have to be happy with a point as making up a two-point gap with three games to go is a bit easier than making up three points.”

Falkirk remain in the hunt after securing their fourth consecutive win with a 2-1 success at Queen of the South. The game took over an hour to catch alight, but two quick goals put Falkirk in command. Blair Alston drilled home to break the deadlock and shortly afterwards Mark Beck punished Andy Dowie for being short with a headed passback by lobbing the ball over the advancing Zander Clark.

Gavin Reilly fired in a rebound to get the Doonhamers back into things. The Bairns finished with ten men after Jonny Flynn was dismissed.

At the other end of the table it is goodbye to Morton after their recent revival ended with a 2-0 defeat by Alloa at Recreation Park.

Headers by Kevin Cawley and Ryan McCord ended the Greenock side’s stay in the Championship and boosted the Wasps’ hopes of remaining for a second season.

Ramsdens Cup winners Raith Rovers were brought back down to earth with a bump as they went down 3-1 to visitors Dumbarton.

Mark Gilhaney and Mitch Megginson had the Sons two up at the break before Colin Nish made it 3-0 at the start of the second half. Gordon Smith curled in a goal for the Kirkcaldy men, but their hopes of a comeback ended when Dougie Hill was dismissed.