ST JOHNSTONE may not have been playing on Saturday, with their game at Ross County an early casualty of the freezing weather, but their position at the top was strengthened with closest challengers Dunfermline going down 1-0 at Dundee.
Dunfermline, who won in midweek against Livingston, remain five points behind the Perth side, with the same number of games played.
The winner at Dens Park in front of more than 5,000 fans came through a 25-yard free kick that Eric Paton curled o
ver the visiting wall midway through the second half.
Dark Blues' manager Jocky Scott admitted that the winner was a surprise to him when he said: "We practised free kicks on Friday at training and I never saw Eric hit one like that. It was a great strike.
"It was not our best performance but the players dug in and got the points and deserve credit for that."
Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre was disappointed at not making any ground on St Johnstone and also at his toothless attack.
He said: "We had a chance to narrow the gap and failed to take it. We were not good enough in the final third of the pitch, in fact we were powder puff and that is not good enough."
Partick Thistle ended their recent disappointing run and moved back into third place courtesy of their 4-2 win over Clyde at Broadwood.
Clyde had gone in front when Pat Clarke took advantage of a Jonny Tuffey error to shoot into an empty net from 30 yards with 20 minutes played. The Firhill side equalised ten minutes later when Simon Donnelly glanced in a header, and went ahead shortly afterwards through a Gary Harkins penalty after Liam Buchanan had been fouled.
Paul Paton took advantage of a mistake by his former Queen's Park colleague Stuart Kettlewell to extend Thistle's lead before half-time, but Clyde got back into it early in the second half when Clarke scored from a spot kick after Dave McKay had been fouled by Marc Twaddle.
Buchanan secured the points for Thistle when he fired past David Hutton, and Partick manager Ian McCall explained afterwards why sometimes saying a little can mean a lot. He said: "After our recent displays I decided not to do a team talk.
"I just said 'it's up to you.' They responded as I thought they would, as you do not go from a good team to a poor team in the space of a week."
Clyde assistant manager Dougie Bell was left ruing his side's defensive display, saying: "Our defending is killing us. We had 15 minutes of madness. That is nine goals in three games we have lost so we are concerned."
The Livingston players showed their professionalism when they put talk of unpaid wages behind them to grab a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Airdrie United, who were on course for their second win in a row. Simon Lynch had fired the visitors ahead midway through the second half when substitute Paul Di Giacomo picked the striker out with a precise pass, Lynch making up for an earlier spot-kick miss.
Calum Elliot, able to play as his loan deal from Hearts does not run out until today, grabbed the leveller when he swept home a rebound.
Livingston manager Paul Hegarty praised his side: "What the boys did was magnificent, they showed great character to come back."
Airdrie counterpart Kenny Black added: "I felt that we were okay at 1-0 so to lose the late goal is disappointing. We created more chances than normal so I am pleased with that."
Queen of the South looked set to end their recent poor run and Morton's excellent record when they raced into a 2-0 lead at Cappielow, but they had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
New signing Barry Wilson shot the Dumfries men ahead only seven minutes into his debut, and the former Inverness Caledonian Thistle winger helped create his side's second for Gary Arbuckle before 20 minutes had been played. Peter Weatherson grabbed a goal back before half-time for Morton, and the afternoon started to turn sour for Palmerston manager Gordon Chisholm when Arbuckle was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg after a fierce challenge from Cappielow defender Dominic Shimmin.
Weatherson scored a last-gasp second for Morton to leave Chisholm saying: "This feels like a defeat, and as for the challenge on Gary, their defender just takes everything out, player and ball."
Morton manager David Irons said: "Dominic would not go out to injure anyone. It was a strong challenge, but he won the ball."
