Crawford treble is so pointed

Scottish Review

Steve Crawford used his omission by Scotland as the motivation for a performance yesterday that propelled Dunfermline into second place in the Scottish Premier League.

The striker gave a timely reminder of his ability after being left out by Berti Vogts from the squad for this Wednesday's friendly with Denmark, netting a hat-trick in the 4-2 defeat of Dundee at East End Park.

Crawford was Vogts' very first choice as Scotland's frontman when he played against France in Paris last March, and underlined why with three clinical finishes as Dunfermline twice came from behind after Nacho Novo had nudged the visitors in front.

Crawford's first, in 33 minutes, was a glancing header from Gary Dempsey's cross. Craig Brewster supplied another equaliser on 70 minutes, before Crawford struck twice in the last 10 minutes and Novo was foolishly sent off.

With Rangers not playing at Hibernian until today, there had been an opportunity for Kilmarnock to supplant Alex McLeish's side, but they blew up in spectacular fashion as they finished with only eight men in a 3-0 home defeat by Motherwell.

The dismissals of Gary Locke and Andy McLaren in quick succession before the hour presented the visitors with the chance to break the deadlock, which Dougie Ramsay's 66th-minute volley duly did. Stephen Pearson added another for Terry Butcher's team before Jesus Sanjaun earned Kilmarnock's third red card in the last minute for felling Keith Lasley – which James McFadden punished by curling in his free-kick.

In Glasgow, Partick Thistle held on to their dogged unbeaten record since returning to the SPL. Two goals from Jamie Mitchell secured a third successive draw for the newly promoted side in an entertaining 2-2 encounter with Livingston at Firhill.

Mitchell had equalised with a 32nd-minute header to cancel out Oscar Rubio's header two minutes earlier. He then put Partick ahead with a 67th-minute penalty, after Rubio brought down Alex Burns, but the Spaniard atoned with another header – his fourth goal in three games – to earn Livingston the point.