There was a shock Boxing Day victory for St Mirren who defeated Rangers 2-1 in the Scottish Premiership thanks to goals from Northern Ireland duo Oisin Smyth and Caolan Boyd-Munce.
The Buddies, who had not recorded a league victory over Rangers in 13 years, opened the scoring on the half-hour mark after Smyth had coolly slotted home a penalty, then Boyd-Munce came off the substitutes' bench to clinch the winner in added time.
“That’s a massive result for us,” Smyth told Premier Sports after the game. “I tried not to think about the penalty too much. I just tried to distract myself with whatever was going through my head and by that stage I had picked my side and thankfully I sent the keeper the wrong way.”
Boyd-Munce (pictured), who has had limited game time over the past few months, admitted he found it hard to get to grips with the pace of the game after he had come off the bench against Philippe Clement’s side.
“The first five minutes after I came on I couldn’t breathe and I thought I’m snookered here, but once you feel your way into the game and other players are ushering you through it, and telling you where to go, it makes it so much easier.”
Elsewhere in the Scottish Premiership Kyle Vassell was on target for the first time in eight games as Kilmarnock put four past Aberdeen without reply and Makenzie Kirk made it four goals in his last six outings for St Johnstone who lost 2-1 at home to Dundee United.
In the Championship in England Ciaron Brown powered home a header and also popped up with an assist in Oxford’s United 3-2 home success against his former club Cardiff City, while midfielder Shea Charles weighed in with two assists as Sheffield Wednesday fought back from three goals down to force an unlikely 3-3 draw at Middlesbrough.
Loanee star Charles has started all 20 of the Owls' league games this season though manager Danny Rohl is still unsure whether the former Manchester City trainee will be at Hillsborough come January or whether he will be returning to parent club Southampton.
“I don’t know,” Röhl admitted to The Star when speaking at the Riverside. “I am very happy with him. It is a good rumour we have that we can really improve young players in our group. He is a key player who can play six, eight and centre-back and he really understands the game.
“Maybe we should not speak too much about Shea now,” he joked. “But the development of him is good to see.”
Finally, striker Shayne Lavery looks set for another spell on the sidelines after missing Cambridge United’s 2-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic with a hamstring injury.
“Shayne pulled his hamstring in training and it doesn’t look good,” said United boss Gary Monk. “I think it’s going to be another 10-week type of one. It’s a huge blow for Shayne and a huge blow for us.”