Paisley, Scotland (My Sportsbook) - Goals from Patrick McCourt and Shaun Maloney allowed Celtic to claim a comfortable 2-0 win at St Mirren on Saturday, extending Celtic's lead to four points at the top of the Scottish Premier League table.

McCourt's goal arrived after 27 minutes and was the result of a great individual effort, while Maloney secured the points with a goal 12 minutes from time.

Defending champions Rangers were held to a 0-0 draw by Aberdeen on Saturday, leaving them four points back of the Hoops, while Hibernian is also four points behind after beating Motherwell, 3-1.

The opening 25 minutes of the match were very slow, but after Scott Brown stole the ball from St Mirren's Stephen McGinn in midfield, McCourt picked it up and weaved his way past five defenders before smashing a shot past goalkeeper Paul Gallacher from the top of the box.

Gallacher came up with a good save on Andreas Hinkel's long-range effort to keep his team within a goal, but St Mirren was unable to make Hoops goalkeeper Artur Boruc have to work, and with 12 minutes to play, they found themselves down two goals.

Maloney forced Gallacher to make a save, and less than one minute later, he was on the receiving end of a cross from Brown at the back post. Maloney then curled a shot towards goal that appeared to take a slight deflection off of teammate Scott McDonald. However, Maloney was credited with the goal and Celtic left town with three points.

Also on Saturday, Falkirk remained winless as they finished 0-0 with Kilmarnock, Hearts held off Hamilton 2-1, and Dundee United slipped past St Johnstone, 3-2, as David Goodwillie scored the winner in the 77th minute.