St Johnstone were relegated from the Scottish Premiership after Ross County scored a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw away to Dundee.
County’s Ronan Hale smashed home from 12 yards following a handball decision against Dundee’s Antonio Portales to condemn Simo Valakari’s side to the drop after they lost 2-1 away at Hearts.
A first-half own goal by Barry Douglas and an Alan Forrest strike at Tynecastle left St Johnstone needing the result at Dens Park to go their way, knowing that should they lose only defeat for County would leave them still fighting on the final day.
Graham Carey gave them hope of putting their fate back into their own hands but by then winger Scott Tiffoney’s goal for Dundee had looked like providing them with a crucial lifeline.
That was until Ryan Astley headed the ball against the arm of his teammate Portales at the death and Hale stepped up to end St Johnstone’s 16-year stay in the top flight.
Elsewhere champions Celtic had five different scorers as they thumped 10-man Aberdeen 5-1 at Pittodrie with Maik Nawrocki, Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan, Johnny Kenny and Adam Idah all netting for Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Aberdeen briefly levelled in the first half through Kevin Nisbet and later had Tottenham loanee Alfie Dorrington sent off for two yellow cards, though Jimmy Thelin’s side’s place in Europe next season is already assured regardless of the result in the Scottish Cup final against Celtic on 24 May.
Cyriel Dessers hit two goals as Rangers came from behind to beat Dundee United 3-1 at Ibrox, with Nicolas Raskin also scoring for Barry Ferguson’s team after Sam Cleall-Harding had earlier given United a first-half lead.
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Hibernian are guaranteed a third-place finish after they drew 2-2 away to St Mirren. The home side hit back to earn a point after being two goals down within 10 minutes, while Motherwell scored three times in the final 13 minutes to beat 10-man Kilmarnock 3-0 at Fir Park.
