Hearts unable to close on Celtic

SPL round-up: Hearts blew the chance to cut Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League when they lost 1-0 at Kilmarnock this afternoon.

Australian Danny Invincible hit the only goal for Kilmarnock a minute into the second half while champions Rangers eased to a 4-1 home victory over bottom club Livingston thanks to two goals apiece from Kris Boyd and Croatian striker Dado Prso.

Second-placed Hearts have 47 points from 23 games. Celtic, on 54 points from 22, visit Motherwell on Sunday.

Hibernian, in third spot on 41 points, defeated Dunfermline Athletic 3-1. Fourth-placed Rangers are a further point adrift.

Hearts manager Graham Rix was critical of his players after their defeat.

"For some reason, certainly in the first half, we were not at the races at all," Rix told BBC Radio."I have just said to the lads, 'you are a big scalp' and everyone wants to beat them wherever they go.

"We had to match their determination, effort and commitment and then our quality would shine through but we didn't match them in the first half...nowhere near it."

Rix's mood was in stark contrast to that of his counterpart at Rangers, Alex McLeish.

"It was a brilliant start for us," said McLeish referring to Boyd's seventh-minute opener. "Hearts losing is a favourable result for us but we have a lot of catching up to do. Overall, we created a lot of chances and have taken four of them."

Elsewhere, managerless Inverness Caledonian Thistle recorded a 4-1 victory at Falkirk. It was caretaker Charlie Christie's third win in three games in charge.

Dundee United and Aberdeen shared a 1-1 draw in new United manager Craig Brewster's first match since replacing Gordon Chisholm.