The split

Normally the SPL waits until April before "the split", the quirky arrangement where the league divides into 2 parts and the top six and bottom six play out the season against each other. Last weekend, though, there was a different kind of split on offer, with 3 games each on Saturday and Sunday as Setanta imported more of Sky's marketing blueprint into Scottish football. Celtic, Rangers and Hearts were made to wait until Sunday, in order to maximise the TV audience.

Saturday, then, would have been a good day for Kilmarnock and Hibernian to put some points on the board and try and jump up the table, if only for 24 hours. Both fluffed it, and it was hard to say who had the worse day. On the face of it, a 5-0 drubbing by Motherwell (currently 12 out of 12 in the table) is as bad as it gets, but Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies will probably see this as a one-off. Provided, of course, it remains a one-off.

Hibs, on the other hand, managed to make September a month to forget - and when they had already beaten Rangers and put 6 past Gretna in the CIS Cup, this would seem like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Two successive 1-0 defeats against teams they *should* be beating - Falkirk and St Mirren - has brought despondency to the Leith club's fans. The season just refuses to get going for them.

Oh, and Dunfermline had a bad day too, but when don't they?

On to the Lord's day, and Celtic laboured and laboured and then got the 3 points at Falkirk after an 85th minute goal from Aiden McGeady. If only the 21 year old winger had chosen to represent Scotland rather than Ireland, the entire nation could rejoice, because McGeady is the best player in the league at the moment, and looks to be improving by the game. Regardless of his nationality, if his form continues like this Strachan will be having a word with the Celtic hierachy about getting him signed on a longer contract.

Rangers huffed and puffed too, and eventually beat an unlucky Aberdeen by the same margin, and by another late goal. Through the group stages of the UEFA Cup and no further adrift from the top of the league, Paul le Guen has steadied the ship, and goes into the international break a considerably happier man than a week ago.

Hearts, though, are out of the UEFA Cup, but paradoxically seem to be playing much better than they were. Staying away from Murrayfield seems to help, playing their most expensive player, the Bosnian winger Mirsad Beslija also does them favours, and of course playing Dundee Utd never does any harm.

St Mirren 1-0 Hibernian
ICT 1-0 Dunfermline Athletic
Motherwell 5-0 Kilmarnock
Falkirk 0-1 Celtic
Rangers 1-0 Aberdeen
Hearts 4-0 Dundee Utd