Saturday's Scottish football: Hearts go top; St Mirren & St Johnstone also win - reaction

That wraps up our live coverage of another incident-packed day in Scottish football, but don't forget there's lots more tomorrow.

Reigning champions Rangers host Hibernian in a first-versus-second showdown, with both having the chance of going top of the Premiership ahead of Hearts with a win.

Meanwhile, first up, Aberdeen entertain Celtic as the two Glasgow sides look to recover from Europa League disappointment on Thursday.

Join us for the match build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction from those two big games.

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Motherwell manager Graham Alexander tells BBC Sportsound: "Both teams committed to the game and wanted to win it. Second half, we were the dominant team.

"I thought my players were excellent against a tough opponent at a tough venue.

"We understand it's not always going to go our way, but it's important we hold ourselves as a team."

Livingston manager David Martindale tells BBC Scotland: “I’m gutted for the boys. I thought they deserved more than that from the game.

“I knew we’d fight right until the end. They give me an honest shift every week and to come off the park with no points today I think is very, very disappointing and frustrating at the same time.

“We just need to trust the process. This is why we take every game in isolation. We’ll deal with it on Monday morning.

"There’s no denying we’re sitting 10th in the league and are probably everybody’s bet for relegation. Yes, there are aspirations to do better, but we are where we want to finish if that makes sense."

Martindale confirmed that defender Jack McMillan and attacking midfielder Andrew Shinnie "are both away for X-rays" as injury problems pile up for his squad.

On County falling to defeat at Tannadice, manager Malky Mackay tells BBC Scotland: "Disappointment obviously to come away without anything. I thought, over the piece, we deserved at least a point with the amount of chances we had.

"That's something that's hard to come away with because of the amount of dominance we had. We created countless opportunities not just to equalise but to go on and win the game."

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Ross County manager Malky Mackay describes Dundee United counterpart Tam Courts holding up a Show Racism the Red Card t-shirt to the away support as an "interesting stance".

"There was a shout came from the stand," he explains to BBC Scotland. "There's been a bit of confusion as to what that shout was, but there's been a lot of people in the stand, including Dundee United stewards and Dundee United medical people, who say they heard nothing controversial.

"I thought it was interesting in terms of his stance, in terms of where the t-shirt came from, so it wasn't spur of the moment. As far as I'm led to believe, there were a number of Dundee United stewards sitting there and what they heard was a swear word and nothing more."

Speaking to BBC Sportsound, St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin says: "Very rarely do you come here and see a free-flowing game of football. It was quite scrappy at times.

"I thought we got the goal at a really good time in the game as well. Overall, I’m delighted with the clean-sheet, effort and commitment of the players. Really pleased with the end result."

On now being five games unbeaten, he adds: “It gives the group confidence and helps gain that little bit of momentum. To get two wins back-to-back in the top flight is not an easy thing to do, but I’m delighted that we were able to back up last week’s performance with another good result here."

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On Dundee United's three points against Ross County, assistant manager Liam Fox tells BBC Scotland: "We had to really work hard for the three points.

"In the second half, we probably managed the game too early and we really had to dig deep.

"But one thing for that group of players, when they get in front, they defend their box really well."

Dundee manager James McPake tells BBC Sportsound admits his side face a crucial couple of weeks after their defeat by St Johnstone.

"They got their goal and we fell to pieces," he says. "We need to use the international break to work on our defending, but we have defended well this season.

"The goals we gave away today, however, are ridiculous.

"It's easy to take the ball when you are 3-0 down as St Johnstone probably thought they already had the game won.

"I am being critical. I'll be the first to be positive if we have turned in a good performance. There's a big couple of weeks coming up."

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Dundee United assistant manager Liam Fox refuses to be drawn on boss Tam Courts holding up a Show Racism the Red Card t-shirt after the game.

"That's an incident I don't really want to speak about," Fox told BBC Scotland. "The club are looking into it."

On Courts holding up a t-shirt, he replies: "I was too busy congratulating our players, I wasn't aware of that, I didn't see that."

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Hearts boss Robbie Neilson tells BBC Sportsound: "I'm delighted to get three points against a team that's done really well at the start of the season.

"First half, we passed it really well and controlled the game. The second was a bit more difficult.

"The players are together - winning helps that. We're sitting in a great position. After the international break, we'll go to Ibrox ahead of them or just behind.

"We've faced a lot of challenges so far. There's going to be more."

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson tells BBC Sportsound he is pleased with his side's work over the last four weeks ahead of the next international break.

"This month was going to be a really tough month," said Davidson.

"We have won a couple of games - one today against our local rivals - and we are through to another national cup semi-final. I am delighted.

"We asked the players to be a lot more clinical and we started with two strikers up top. It was great for them to get the goals."

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League debutants Kelty stay four points clear at the top of the fourth tier with a hard-fought win over third-top Annan.

Stirling remain their closest challengers after a win away to Elgin.

Meanwhile, Stenhousemuir move above Cowdenbeath at the bottom thanks to a 90th-minute equaliser at home to fourth-top Forfar.

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Cove jump above Queen's Park, who play tomorrow, to lead the third tier after a win over 10-man hosts Alloa.

Dumbarton not only miss out on going top but suffer a five-goal thumping by second-bottom Peterhead and fall from second to fifth.

East Fife are five points adrift at the bottom after Falkirk come from behind to secure a win that takes them up to third.

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It's as you were at the top of the second tier but in unexpected circumstances, with leaders Caley Thistle and Kilmarnock both losing - and third-top Arbroath being held to a draw.

Raith Rovers' win away to Kilmarnock lifts them to within a point of Arbroath.

Meanwhile, the warning signs are flashing red for Dunfermline as a late Queen of the South goal leaves Peter Grant's side two points adrift without a league win this season and a tough run of fixtures coming up.

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United stretch their unbeaten Premiership run to four games as they hold off a spirited County fight-back at Tannadice.

Finnish midfielder lmari Niskanen rifled in a first-half goal to give the home side a deserved half-time lead.

However, Malky MacKay's strugglers improved after the break with Jordan White and Harry Clarke passing up glorious close-range opportunities.

Their failure to score leaves County second bottom of the table and without a league win in eight.

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Livingston are undone by a lack of a cutting-edge as goalkeeper Jak Alnwick was equal to everything thrown at him.

Ethan Erhahon’s opener was one of the few clear chances St Mirren managed to create but stood resolute as David Martindale’s side created chance after chance.

Injuries continue to impact Livingston too as they were unable to effectively change the game from the bench as they were forced into changes due to Andrew Shinnie and Jack McMillan limping off.

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