Charlie Christie: Rare to see all of Scotland's top clubs drop points on same weekend

It is an extremely rare occasion where Scottish football sees a league weekend where not one of our top five clubs could register a win!

Whilst Hearts and Hibs will both be disappointed with the two points dropped against Ross County and St Mirren respectively it will be Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers who will be most annoyed with their weekend haul.

Rangers dominated much of the play at home to Motherwell but misfired in front of goal and paid the penalty with the loss of a 66th minute equaliser from the Steelmen, and it is apparent that the Ibrox side have not yet got near their performance levels of last season; rightly acknowledged by Steve Gerrard in his post-match interview.

Celtic travelled to a ground where they have struggled for several seasons and yet again came away with nothing.

Much was said prior to the match about the artificial playing surface at Almondvale and, whilst I am not a fan of these surfaces in our top league, I did not expect Celtic to lose given the very poor start Livingston have made to their SPFL campaign.

A terrific finish from Andrew Shinnie was enough to give David Martindale his first win and condemn Celtic to their third consecutive away league defeat.

Aberdeen meanwhile were again toothless at home to St Johnstone and it is a worrying time for the Pittodrie faithful as they watch their side struggle to create any clear cut chances.

The fact that they have scored just six goals in their opening six matches does not bode well and they have an incredibly difficult run of fixtures in October which will see them play sides currently above them in the league table and their lack of a creative spark will need to be addressed if they are to get any reward from these games.

On Sunday lunchtime I watched the Tayside derby but by half time I wished I’d gone to the dentist instead! 21 fouls conceded in the first 45 minutes summed up a fiery and hugely competitive affair which sorely lacked in any quality.

The ‘safety first’ mindset of both teams saw them constantly knock balls on instead of looking to take a touch and try to play through the opposition and it made for difficult viewing.

In the end it took a decent strike from United’s Ian Harkes to settle matters although Dundee goalkeeper Adam Ledzgins did not cover himself in glory with his attempt at turning the ball round the post.

Dundee will feel hard done by losing the game and probably had the better chances throughout, but a combination of two last ditch goal line clearances and weak finishing saw them extend their desperately poor run of winless matches at Tannadice to eleven.

It also saw them wake up on Monday morning bottom of the table on goal difference from Ross County and it doesn’t get any easier for James McPake’s side as they welcome Rangers to Dens Park tomorrow.

One thing is certain: if they are to get anything out of the game then they will need to be braver in possession of the ball and take whatever chances that come their way.