Aberdeen’s recovery and a fresh ref row – 5 things from the cinch Premiership

Rangers lost 2-0 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie to leave Celtic within 90 minutes of retaining their cinch Premiership title.

The Hoops are 13 points clear with five post-split fixtures remaining.

Here are five things we learned from the weekend’s action.

Aberdeen continue their recovery while Rangers are rocked

Aberdeen secured their seventh straight win under interim boss Barry Robson with a deserved 2-0 victory over Rangers at Pittodrie. Second-half goals from Liam Scales and Bojan Miovski helped the Dons to their first home win over Rangers since September 2016 and piled pressure on Gers boss Michael Beale. Holders Rangers take on Treble-chasing Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final next week but Beale has failed in three attempts to beat Ange Postecoglou’s side. He must come up with something special at Hampden Park.

No room for error if Celtic want to break record

Celtic dropped points at home for the first time this season after being pegged back by Motherwell following Callum McGregor’s deflected opener. The 1-1 draw ended a run of 17 consecutive wins for Postecoglou’s side but they can still beat the 106-point total set by Brendan Rodgers’ Invincibles in 2017, but only if they win their remaining five matches after the split.

Golden boot challenge laid down

Kyogo Furuhashi looked odds-on to be the Premiership top scorer not so long ago but there are some genuine alternative contenders now. The Celtic striker has 23 league goals but Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland is only two behind after hitting his second hat-trick of the season in the rout of Ross County. Kevin van Veen is also putting the pressure on after his impressive equaliser at Celtic Park made it nine goals in six games and saw the Motherwell striker hit the 20-mark.

Another row over a red

After the controversy over the past week surrounding Graeme Shinnie’s red card and Aberdeen’s subsequent unsuccessful appeal, another dismissal at McDiarmid Park on Saturday sparked a fresh wave of uproar. Hibernian midfielder James Jeggo’s red card for a challenge on St Johnstone’s Connor McLennan has been widely criticised, with manager Lee Johnson branding it a “horrendous” decision by referee Craig Napier. Mindful of how Shinnie had an extra game added to his ban after it was deemed frivolous, the Easter Road boss claimed he does not trust Scottish football’s “broken” disciplinary system to overturn the card. It will be interesting to see how the situation unfolds over the next week.

Jambos back in the groove

Just when they looked to be veering badly off course in the battle for Europe – and particularly third place – Hearts rediscovered their mojo with an emphatic 6-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Ross County in their first home game under caretaker boss Steven Naismith. It was only the third time this century that the Jambos have hit six or more in a top-flight match and – after halting their six-game losing streak in such impressive style – they can now go into the post-split fixtures with renewed confidence.