Scottish Premiership Review: Aberdeen secure second as St Mirren fight on

Aberdeen secured a top-two finish in the Scottish Premiership with a 2-1 comeback win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Third-placed Inverness were unable to make their first-half dominance count on Saturday and Marley Watkins and Nick Ross both spurned chances.

They eventually found the breakthrough early in the second half when Edward Ofere netted via the underside of the crossbar.

But Niall McGinn’s free-kick was decisively touched home by unfortunate Inverness defender David Raven in the 69th minute to level the scores before McGinn made sure of putting his name on the scoresheet with the winner five minutes later.

Aberdeen move to within five points of leaders Celtic, who can still move closer to retaining their title with victory over Dundee United on Sunday.

At the other end of the table, St Mirren kept their slim survival hopes alive with a resounding 4-1 win over Kilmarnock

On a weekend where their relegation could have been confirmed had results not gone their way, St Mirren capitalised on Motherwell’s loss to Hamilton Academical on Friday, as Sean Kelly fired them into an eighth-minute lead.

Kieran Sadlier headed the hosts 2-0 up and, although Josh Magennis reduced the arrears, Stephen Thompson converted a pair of second half penalties to leave St Mirren seven points behind 11th-placed Motherwell with four games remaining.

St Johnstone remain firmly in the hunt for European football thanks to a 2-0 win over Dundee that moves them up to fourth.

Danny Swanson and an own goal from Iain Davidson came either side of a second-half red card for Dundee’s Greg Stewart.

Inverness’ advantage over St Johnstone is reduced to four points and Dundee United are a place and two points further back with games in hand.

Ross County’s relegation fears are not completely ended after they spurned a first-half advantage to go down 2-1 to Partick Thistle in Dingwall.

Michael Gardyne broke the deadlock for the hosts after a error from Frederic Frans in the 21st minute but the Belgian defender atoned for his mistake five minutes later and then Stephen O’Donnell scored the winner nine minutes into the second half.