Samaras' hat trick helps Celtic rout Kilmarnock

Published January 13, 2015

Georgios Samaras bagged a hat trick on Saturday as Celtic eased past Kilmarnock by a 5-2 count at Rugby Park.

The defending Scottish champions opened the scoring 20 minutes into the match through Kris Commons and Samaras scored his first of the day four minutes later to give the Hoops a quick two-goal lead.

Three minutes after that Samaras scored his second to make it 3-0 before Kilmarnock answered with goals from Sammy Clingan and Sean Clohessy as Celtic went into the break with a one-goal margin.

In the second half, Samaras completed his hat trick two minutes from time and Amido Balde added another goal in stoppage time to complete the victory for Celtic, who pull level with Inverness at the top of the table with 19 points.

Elsewhere in Scotland on Saturday, William McKay netted a brace to lead Inverness to a 3-0 win over Hibernian, while John Sutton's double helped Motherwell claim a 3-1 result over Ross County.

Kris Doohlan and Steven MacLean traded strikes as St Johnstone and Partick Thistle played to a 1-1 draw, while Hearts and Dundee United battled to a scoreless stalemate.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/samaras-hat-trick-helps-celtic-rout-kilmarnock