Mark Atkinson rounds up the main talking points from Saturday's Scottish football action.
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00:00Hello, welcome to the Scotsman football show.
00:06My name is Mark Atkinson, Sports Editor, and I'm speaking after an eventful and
00:11busy day of Scottish football on Saturday.
00:15I'm going to start with events at the Smyther Stadium,
00:18the game that I was covering between St Mirren and Hearts, which finished 2-1 to
00:24the Saints, as a result condemning Hearts to their eighth successive
00:29competitive defeat, and heaping even more pressure on embattled manager
00:34Stephen Naismith, who faced calls for his head from a number of the travelling
00:39support in Paisley, and the team did not play well once again.
00:45This was a poor performance, toothless in attack.
00:48That'll be the thing that will concern Hearts fans the most.
00:51They just don't like scoring goals.
00:53Only three so far in their nine matches this season,
00:56Laurence Shankland, a pale imitation of the man that scored 31 goals last season.
01:04The Hearts board now has a very big decision to make.
01:07Chief Executive Andrew McKinley and his fellow directors will be pondering
01:11what their next move should be.
01:12Hearts don't play again until Saturday when they host Ross County.
01:17It remains to be seen if Naismith will be in charge.
01:20The manager himself spoke very well after the game and said that he is still
01:24convinced he can turn things around, but he said he's realistic enough to know
01:29that the situation is perilous for him.
01:32St Mirren got their first win since the opening day of the season,
01:36and that moves Stephen Naismith's men into the top half of the division.
01:39They played well, their goals coming from Toyosi Olasanya,
01:43and an own goal from Gerald Taylor.
01:46There was one other game in the premiership today, and that was between
01:49the manager of St Johnstone and Ross County in Dingwall.
01:53The Saints were 3-1 up with just five minutes to go,
01:55but Ross County staged an impressive comeback to draw 3-0.
02:00The reason why there are only two games in the premiership is because it's also
02:03Premier Sports Cup quarterfinal weekend.
02:06We saw Motherwell defeat Dundee out at 2-1 on Friday night to book their place
02:10in the last four, and they'll be joined at Hamden by Aberdeen and Rangers.
02:14No surprises in the 2-5 30pm kick-offs today.
02:18The Dons won 4-0 over League Two side Spartans,
02:21a very straightforward victory for Jimmy Tolleen's in-form side.
02:25While there was a 3-0 win for Rangers on their return to Ibrox,
02:29with Sylvester scoring twice for this Rangers' first game in Govan
02:33for 130 days due to delays to their construction work in the stadium.
02:38They were good value for their victory in an international match
02:41against Tony Docherty's Dundee side.
02:43We'll find out on Sunday who will meet in the semi-final of the Cup
02:50when Celtic take on Falkirk.
02:52Celtic were very, very hot for years to win that match,
02:54and should they do so, they'll join Aberdeen, Motherwell and Rangers
02:58in the half of the draw, which takes place at around about five o'clock
03:02on Sunday evening, assuming that game at Celtic Park finishes in regulation time.
03:09The story of the weekend though so far is definitely hearts,
03:11and it'll be fascinating to see what happens in the corridors of power
03:16at Tyne Castle over the next 24 to 48 hours.
03:19We'll have all the action and reaction from the weekend's football
03:23on scotland.com or in print.