Cruise for Celtic, Saints second

Celtic cruised to a 5-0 win at St Mirren in the SPL on Saturday, while St Johnstone are up to second in the table after beating Kilmarnock 2-1.

Celtic warmed up for a trip to the Nou Camp by thrashing St Mirren in Paisley.

Goals from Gary Hooper and Efe Ambrose, then Victor Wanyama's double, gave an under-strength Hoops side an unassailable interval lead against sorry-looking Saints.

Tony Watt scored with four minutes remaining to seal a commanding victory, which manager Neil Lennon would have wanted ahead of their Champions League Group G clash with Barcelona on Tuesday night.

Skipper Scott Brown (hip), winger James Forrest (groin) and midfielder Kris Commons (hamstring) were out and striker Georgios Samaras was rested with full-backs Emilio Izaguirre and Mikael Lustig starting on the bench.

St Johnstone lifted themselves up to second place with a fifth consecutive top-flight win for the first time since 1971, beating Kilmarnock 2-1.

Murray Davidson's scrappy first-half opener was enough to earn the McDiarmid Park outfit another three points in a sequence that was sparked by an unlikely victory over champions Celtic in mid-September.

The win should have been more comfortable and would have been had Nigel Hasselbaink not failed to find an open net in a second half in which Kilmarnock could not spark a comeback.

With just a minute remaining, Hasselbaink - who had passed up another one on one with Cammy Bell - finally scored the second the Perth men deserved.

And, with the game now beyond them, Killie netted what proved to be no more than a consolation in injury-time courtesy of James Fowler's deflected strike.

A late goal from Colin McMenamin, his first of the season, was enough to earn Ross County their first home victory in the SPL as they beat Hibernian 3-2.

McMenamin came off the bench and made a big impact by grabbing what proved to be the winner with seven minutes to spare.

In an entertaining match Leigh Griffiths gave Hibs the lead in the sixth minute but Stuart Kettlewell levelled three minutes later.

Iain Vigurs then gave County the lead in the 34th minute before Hibs equalised through James McPake on the stroke of half-time.

The match looked to be heading for a draw in a equally entertaining second half but super sub McMenamin popped up with the winner.

Niall McGinn was on target as Aberdeen extended their unbeaten run to 11 games and left Dundee United winless in six after a 1-1 draw.

John Rankin's 22nd-minute goal was cancelled out eight minutes into the second half by Aberdeen striker McGinn, who netted in Northern Ireland's midweek draw in Portugal on the occasion of Cristiano Ronaldo's 100th cap.

After 88 minutes, United should have sealed victory but Rankin fired wide across goal with a wasteful ball when he should have shot himself or passed to Johnny Russell.