Black becomes Scotland assistant

Former Airdrie United manager Kenny Black becomes one of Scotland coach Craig Levein’s assistants.

No Scotland return for Ferguson

Former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson opts to continue his exile from international football.

Healy would welcome Rangers move

Northern Ireland striker David Healy says he would love the chance to move to Rangers.

Clubs await fixtures for 2010/11

The Premier League, Football League, Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League fixtures will be announced on Thursday at 0900 BST.

Levein reignites Driver pursuit

Craig Levein reveals he has resurrected his bid to select Hearts winger Andrew Driver for Scotland.

Scottish round-up: Steve MacLean secures Aberdeen’s top-flight status

• MacLean tap-in earns Dons draw at St Johnstone
• Falkirk defeat leaves their SPL future in doubt

Aberdeen secured their Scottish Premier League status for next season despite conceding a late equaliser in the 1-1 draw at St Johnstone.

Derek McInnes’s side started the contest stronger, with Chris Millar forcing a fine save from Stuart Nelson inside 50 seconds and the resulting Danny Grainger corner saw Davidson mistime a header, Dave Mackay have a shot cleared off the line and Jody Morris fire wide following up.

But, in remarkably similar fashion, it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Graeme Smith tipped a Davide Grassi header on to the bar from a Paul Marshall corner, Darren Mackie steered the follow-up goalward and Steven MacLean got the final touch on the line.

As the Dons finished the first half strongly, MacLean beat Grainger to Marshall’s deflected cross but was under enough pressure for his volley to strike the bar.

The Saints’ second-half pressure was finally rewarded with an 88th-minute equaliser. Nelson could only parry a Liam Craig free-kick and injury-plagued Saints striker Andy Jackson was first to the rebound to scuff the ball against the post, off the goalkeeper and over the line. The draw bolsters the home side’s position in seventh.

A first-half header from Marco Paixão gave Hamilton all three points at Falkirk but the visitors had to withstand a second-half onslaught.

There were 19 minutes on the clock when the Portuguese midfielder found himself with lots of time to steer a Dougie Imrie cross past Robert Olejnik, and the Lanarkshire side were good value for their interval lead.

After the break it was one-way traffic towards the Accies’ goal but the equaliser failed to arrive leaving the Bairns at the bottom of the table. Accies enjoyed some luck in the 70th minute when a Pedro Moutinho corner from the right was met by Darren Barr whose header struck the post, rebounded off the unwitting Mikaël Antoine-Curier and back into the arms of Sean Murdoch. The visitors were now in retreat mode and they brought on Joel Thomas for Antoine-Curier in a bid to take the game to Falkirk.

With four minutes left Moutinho had an effort from distance that went just wide, and the home side passed up several chances to level in a dramatic finale, leaving their SPL future in doubt.

Andy Dorman snatched the late winner as St Mirren took a massive step towards SPL survival with what could be a crucial 1-0 victory over relegation rivals Kilmarnock. Dorman struck late on with the only goal in what was a scrappy game at new St Mirren Park as both sides desperately tried to haul themselves away from the danger zone.

In a further boost for the Paisley club, with Falkirk suffering defeat against Hamilton, Saints are now four points clear of the drop zone, while Killie remain a single point ahead of rock-bottom Bairns. Kilmarnock and Falkirk meet on the final week of the season.

Scottish Cup Finalists Dundee United host Celtic at Tannadice today and Walter Smith’s Rangers travel to Easter Road to play fourth-placed Hibernian.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s manager, Terry Butcher, hailed his club’s “absolutely brilliant” supporters as his side celebrated winning the First Division title with a 7-0 away victory against Ayr United. Seven different scorers helped the Highlanders to an SPL return. Butcher’s team are undefeated in their last 20 matches. Nial Briggs

Steven MacLean gives Aberdeen breathing space with defeat of Falkirk

• Aberdeen open up nine-point gap over bottom side
• St Johnstone draw 2-2 with St Mirren after late equaliser

Aberdeen took a big step towards securing their Scottish Premier League status next season with a 1-0 victory over the bottom side, Falkirk. Steven MacLean, the on-loan Plymouth striker, broke the deadlock after 11 minutes when he pounced on a Davide Grassi flick to strike the ball past Robert Olejnik.

The Bairns were unfortunate to be denied a penalty just before the break when Ryan Flynn fell in the penalty area under pressure from home defender Zander Diamond. But despite dominating possession in the second half, Steven Pressley's side rarely tested Jamie Langfield in the Aberdeen goal as the Dons held on for their second win in 16 matches, to open up a nine-point gap over bottom side Falkirk.

St Johnstone substitute Paul Sheerin netted an injury‑time penalty as the Saints battled back to claim a point in a thrilling 2-2 encounter against relegation-threatened St Mirren at McDiarmid Park. Sheerin kept his cool to slot home the spot-kick, which was awarded after a Murray Davidson shot was kept out by a St Mirren hand on the goal-line.

Graham Carey had opened the scoring for St Mirren, while Andy Dorman made it 2-0 early in the second half. Michael Duberry brought St Johnstone back into the contest late on before Sheerin completed the fightback.

A 15-minute second-half blitz helped Hamilton sweep aside Kilmarnock 3-0 and secure their SPL status for a third successive season.

After a dull first half, the game came to life less than four minutes after the restart when Mickaël Antoine‑Curier and Mark McLaughlin were both appealing for what they appeared to think was handball on the line from Garry Hay after a Flavio Paixão corner.

Dougie McDonald, the referee, had a big call to make just after the hour mark when Antoine-Curier got the wrong side of Tim Clancy and fell under pressure from the defender. It appeared to be a decent penalty shout but McDonald decided to book the Hamilton striker for diving instead.

Hostilities briefly ceased when Tomas Cerny required treatment just outside his own penalty area before Antoine-Curier had a golden chance to put Hamilton ahead in the 68th minute.

A Steven Hamill clearance careered off Marco Paixão straight to the striker, whose shot was turned behind superbly by Cammy Bell.

Jimmy Calderwood made substitutions for the visitors but they fell behind almost immediately, Bell failing to claim a Marco Paixão corner and Dougie Imrie sweeping home from point-blank range 18 minutes from time.

The home side soon had a second goal and it was as spectacular as their opener was scrappy. Imrie's 77th-minute cross was headed clear by Pascali but the ball was met on the volley by Flavio Paixão and flew into the bottom corner.

Killie looked beaten, while Billy Reid's side were now full of confidence, though they had to replace Cerny with Sean Murdoch.

Accies' afternoon was capped three minutes from time when Thomas made it 3-0, outmuscling Simon Ford before striking a left-foot finish into the bottom corner.

Motherwell play Dundee United at Fir Park tomorrow, while Rangers host Hearts at Ibrox in the early kick-off. A victory for the visitors will take the Tynecastle side to within three points of their neighbours with an Edinburgh derby match remaining.

Swedish venue chosen for Scotland

Scotland's August friendly with Sweden will be played at the Rasunda National Stadium in Stockholm.

Ferguson leaves Fury for Glory

Former Rangers and Scotland midfielder Ian Ferguson leaves his North Queensland coach role to become Perth Glory assistant.

Scots’ English form boosts Levein

Scotland coach Craig Levein is buoyed by the form of his country's players in England's top flight.

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