THE results in three of the five weekend games emphasised that there is a large spilt developing between a hefty-sized promotion chasing pack and a trio of clubs who are being isolated at the foot of the table.
Queen of the South and Dundee, who are leading the way on 26 points and meet next Saturday at Dens Park, enjoyed victories over Ayr United and Airdrie United sides that are bringing up the rear with seven points apiece.
Fourth-placed Partick This
tle defeated third-bottom Morton to see the top seven sides separated by only eight points, with Dunfermline sitting on 18 points before a gap finds the Greenock men in third bottom with half that total.
Queen of the South travelled to Somerset Park and came back with a 1-0 win over Ayr United courtesy of Derek Holmes' header in 20 minutes. It was the first time in three attempts that Gordon Chisholm's men have held on to top spot this season.
"This was a hard-fought victory where sleeves had to be rolled up," said Chisholm. "It sets things up really nicely for a top-of-the-table clash with Dundee next week at their place and I am really looking forward to it."
Dundee, who will go into next week's match without Leigh Griffiths due to the striker being on Scotland Under-21 duty, are lucky to have another player in goal-scoring form with Sean Higgins knocking in both goals as Airdrie United were defeated 2-1 at Dens Park.
All the goals came in the first-half with Kenny Black's visitors stunning their hosts when John Baird drilled home a cut back to put them ahead. Higgins levelled with a header shortly afterwards before grabbing the winner with a well-struck shot from the edge of the box.
Dundee manager Jocky Scott said: "We should have had this game put to bed long before we did. We got away with things towards the end but we may not in the future, so we have to kill teams off when we are on top."
Partick Thistle got back to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph at Morton, the goals coming in the second-half from Liam Buchanan and Simon Donnelly, who have now netted 18 times between them this term.
Thistle manager Ian McCall gave debuts to Jamie Adams and Steve Lovell as substitutes. "Jamie made a difference when he came on and I ended up disappointed that we did not go on and score more after going two up," said McCall.
Dunfermline won the Fife derby against Raith Rovers in front of over 6,000 fans at Stark's Park – their first success on league duty against their local rivals this Millennium - thanks to a last-gasp goal in a 2-1 victory.
The scorer of the injury-time winning goal has been the subject of much debate, with the home side's Craig Wilson and visiting David Graham both involved in forcing the ball over the line from a Willie Gibson cross. It would probably be fair to say that the Kirkcaldy man will not want to claim such a landmark winner.
Raith had led at half-time through Mark Campbell's looping header before the Pars levelled with a trademark Graeme Bayne header ten minutes into the second-half.
"It was a fantastic game and full credit to the players for getting back into things after going behind," said Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre. "I was confident that we had the quality to hurt them."
Raith manager John McGlynn said: "You have to take late defeats like that on the chin. I think that the best team on the day won the game."
Ross County defeated Inverness for a second time in the league this season with Michael Gardyne providing the inspiration in a 2-1 win at Victoria Park.
Gardyne scored County's second after Scott Boyd had opened the scoring, with Adam Rooney pulling a goal back as Inverness got their act together after the break.
"Michael Gardyne was excellent and he has a lot more ability than he gets credit for. In saying that, there was not a failure in my team, they were all outstanding," said County manager Derek Adams.
Caledonian Thistle manager Terry Butcher was far from pleased. "We have let everybody down and we were embarrassing," he said. "If the truth hurts some people, then fine as it was a bitterly disappointing performance."
