Scottish Premiership: Dundee and Ross County both win at home

Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Kostadin Gadzhalov scored as Dundee ended 2016 on a high after beating St Johnstone 3-0 at Dens Park.

St Johnstone's misery was completed when defender Steven Anderson put the ball into his own net in the early stages of the second half.

Dundee took the lead after 14 minutes when El Bakhtaoui steered in a cross from Marcus Haber after Brian Easton failed to block the delivery at the near post.

Saints responded well to the setback and Blair Alston crashed an effort off the crossbar from 25 yards before Murray Davidson sent a diving header over the target.

But the visitors fell further behind when Paul McGowan (41) fizzed a free-kick into the penalty area and Gadzhalov blasted the ball over the line at the back post.

The Dark Blues completed their victory when Tom Hateley tried to pick out Haber with a drilled cross and Anderson bundled the ball into his own goal.

Ten-man Motherwell rescued a point against Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton thanks to a late goal from Louis Moult at New Douglas Park.

The visitors had Lee Lucas dismissed after 26 minutes and trailed by an Alejandro D'Acol goal before levelling three minutes into stoppage-time for a 1-1 draw.

Motherwell came close to opening the scoring on 24 minutes when Lucas found Moult with a cross and his net-bound header was cleared off the line by Michael Devlin.

Lucas was involved again 90 seconds later when he was dismissed for a late challenge on Massimo Donati. Ali Crawford sent the resulting free-kick just wide of the far post.

Crawford again came close, this time five minutes before the interval, when his snap-shot from just outside the box flew narrowly wide.

And Crawford was again at the heart of the action when he delivered a corner for D'Acol to net with a diving header on 54 minutes.

Motherwell remained a threat though and Accies goalkeeper Gary Woods produce a good stop from a powerful Moult header.

Hamilton seemed to have claimed the spoils when Moult again provided an aerial threat to head home a cross from Carl McHugh in the final seconds.

Ross County climbed into the top half and ensured Highland rivals Inverness would reach the winter break in bottom spot with a 3-2 win in Dingwall.

County made a flying start when Liam Boyce got on the end of a Kenny van der Weg cross to guide a shot past Owain Fon Williams off the underside of the bar.

Inverness levelled the scores on 28 minutes from a set-piece with Gary Warren making a nuisance of himself in the box and Carl Tremarco diving to head home the equaliser.

Boyce, who scored a hat-trick against Caley earlier this season, made it 2-1 with 10 minutes to play in the first-half, although it came with a slice of fortune from an apparent cross that took a vital deflection of Josh Meekings.

The home side extended their lead just after the hour when Martin Woods got in behind the Inverness defence and slid the ball past Fon Williams.

But County had some nervy moments in the closing stages after Caley cut the deficit back to one when Alex Fisher (81) scored on a rebound after County 'keeper Scott Fox had parried the ball in his direction.

Partick Thistle were held to a 0-0 draw by Kilmarnock at Firhill.

Thistle started brightly and Kilmarnock 'keeper Jamie MacDonald made a great save to deny Chris Erskine, and although Kris Doolan netted the rebound, the assistant referee has already raised his flag.

The visitors responded when Dean Hawshaw forced two saves from Tomas Cerny, and Souleymane Coulibaly lobbed his effort just over the bar.

Partick again had a good chance after Steven Lawless played in Callum Booth who had his shot blocked by MacDonald before the rebound from Chris Lawless was deflected just wide of the post.