Celtic 5 Dundee 0: Joe Ledley hits brace as Hoops cruise

Stand-in skipper Ledley opened the scoring on 13 minutes before James Forrest added a second from the spot four minutes after the break when Dees substitute Matt Lockwood, on for the start of the second half as replacement for Brian Easton, was given his marching orders for denying Gary Hooper a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Dylan McGeouch, Ledley and Hooper then added goals to heap misery on the relegation-destined visitors, whose new interim boss John Brown looked on from the directors’ box.

The result leaves Dundee languishing 15 points adrift off St Mirren at the bottom of the table and their fate appears all but sealed.

Yesterday Hearts suffered a third straight defeat, losing at home 3-2 to Inverness Caley Thistle.

Gary Warren struck twice for the visitors, who were twice pegged back, thanks to goals from Jason Holt and Andy Webster. Billy McKay was also on target as Terry Butcher’s men returned to second in the table.

Elsewhere Kilmarnock were held to a 1-1 draw by Aberdeen.

The Dons took the lead through Rory Fallon on seven minutes, but the home side hit back shortly before half-time through Paul Heffernan.

Aberdeen had a number of chances to snatch the three points and were also denied a penalty when keeper Cammy Bell appeared to bring down Niall McGinn.

Ross County stormed to a 3-0 win over Motherwell, who dropped down to third in the table.

Ivan Sproule, Richard Brittain and Iain Vigurs were on the scoresheet for the home side.

Rowan Vine bagged the only goal as St Johnstone edged past St Mirren.

In the Scottish Third Division, Rangers made short work of Berwick in a match marred by sectarian chanting.

The Ibrox club issued a statement while the match was ongoing, describing the chants as “inappropriate.”

Anestis Argyriou scored an own goal to give Berwick the lead, but Rangers claimed the three points, thanks to goals from Dean Shiels, Andy Little and Sebastien Faure.