Rangers stay in touch

SPL review: Anthony Stokes scored twice on his return to Easter Road as Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic claimed a comfortable 3-0 win over Hibernian.

After setting up a 44th-minute opener for Gary Hooper, who was returning from an ankle injury, Stokes tucked in a 50th-minute penalty after he was brought down by Lewis Stevenson.

Stokes, who moved to Celtic last August after helping Hibs to fourth place last season, skilfully netted his second after 64 minutes to confirm a 12th league loss of the season for his former club.

The win took the Bhoys eight points ahead of Rangers, but that advantage was only in place for a couple of hours as Vladimir Weiss stole the show in the Gers' 4-0 victory over Hamilton at Ibrox.

Weiss helped himself to a double and also won a penalty that was converted by Steven Whittaker, before Maurice Edu sealed the victory late on.

Though the Gers are five points adrift of their Old Firm rivals at the top of the table, they have three games in hand.

Elsewhere, Cleveland Taylor scored a late equaliser to give St Johnstone a point from their trip to to high-flying Kilmarnock.

The substitute drilled home a diagonal effort four minutes from time to cancel out Conor Sammon's first-half opener for the hosts from an Alexei Eremenko free-kick.

Killie dominated the first half and could easily have been further in front before the break after further opportunities for Garry Hay and Sammon in particular.

However, the second half was a much more even affair with Saints having the better chances in front of goal.

Aberdeen won for the fourth time in five matches under new boss Craig Brown with a 2-0 victory against St Mirren at Pittodrie.

A second-half double from Scott Vernon, both coming from Chris Maguire crosses, was enough to down the Buddies who are now four points behind the Dons.

After a forgettable first 45 minutes, the Dons broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half when Vernon chested home and the former Colchester striker headed in a second after 67 minutes to put the game beyond doubt.

Stuart McCall had to settle for a draw in his Fir Park debut as Motherwell manager but had the bonus of a clean sheet against Inverness CT despite losing Sheffield Wednesday-bound Mark Reynolds.

With Reynolds in Sheffield discussing a move after Wednesday had a second bid accepted for the defender, Shaun Hutchinson stepped up for an impressive start for 13 months.

Motherwell needed some excellent first-half saves from Darren Randolph to ensure the shut-out but they had the better of the second period without working Inverness goalkeeper Ryan Esson.

Dundee United's home match against Hearts was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

The Tannadice encounter failed an inspection set for 1145am after heavy overnight rain led to surface water on the pitch.

United already had a backlog of fixtures following the coldest December on record. They have played 17 SPL games, four less than some teams.