Celtic, Rangers need late goals to earn draws

Soccer Betting Lines

12/13/2008 - Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen McManus scored in the 79th minute as Celtic tied Hearts 1-1 and Kyle Lafferty scored in the 76th as Rangers tied Dundee United 2-2 on Saturday in games pitting the top four teams the Scottish Premier League.

Three-time defending champion Celtic retained its four-point lead over Rangers, but third-place Dundee and fourth-place Hearts both pushed the Scottish powers.

Hearts is 14 points behind Celtic in fourth - with one less match played - but stunned the leaders at Celtic Park when Andrew Driver opened the scoring in the 23rd minute.

Driver drove a left-footed shot from six yards past Celtic goalie Artur Boruc, a lead that stood for more than 50 minutes. McManus finally delivered the tying goal in the 79th, heading past Janos Balogh from six yards.

Rangers got off to a good start at Tannadice Park when striker Kris Boyd bagged his 15th goal of the season - which easily leads the SPL - in the 11th minute.

Boyd scored off a left-footed shot from 18 yards, picking out the bottom left corner to increase his league-leading total.

Dundee fired back early in the second half, getting goals from Lee Wilkie and Warren Freeney five minutes apart. Wilkie leveled the game in the 50th, scoring from six yards out into the upper left and Feeney headed into the bottom right in the 54th from about the same distance.

Lafferty helped Rangers escape with a draw - and remain 10 points head of its nearest challenger for second - with a right-footed shot from 12 yards to the bottom right corner.

Also Saturday, Derek Riordan and Robert Jones scored to lead Hibernian to a 2-0 win over last-place Hamilton, Lee Miller scored twice for his eighth and ninth goals of the season to lead Aberdeen to a 2-1 win over Falkirk, and Andy Dorman and Garry Brady scored in St. Mirren's 2-0 win over Iverness.

On Sunday, Motherwell hosts Kilmarnock.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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