Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership remains five points after they edged out Ross County 1-0 on Saturday despite Luis Palma missing two penalties.

Earlier, Rangers kept up the pressure on Brendan Rodgers' men with a 1-0 win at St. Mirren.

Celtic got off to a flying start against second-bottom County as full-back Alistair Johnston's deflected shot opened the scoring inside the first minute.

But what should have been a cruise for Celtic against a side battling relegation turned into a slog after Palma twice failed to score from the penalty spot.

The Honduran was handed a reprieve when his first spot-kick was saved by George Wickens for encroachment by the County defence.

Palma, though, failed to take his second chance as Wickens saved once more.

Will Nightingale headed against the crossbar as Palma's profligacy nearly came back to haunt Celtic, but they held on to maintain a slender advantage in the title race.

Rangers have a game in hand to cut their deficit at the top of the table down to two points and Phillipe Clement was content with his side's display in a battling win at St. Mirren.

Cyriel Dessers scored the only goal after only 12 minutes to continue his goalscoring form since the Scottish winter break.

Rangers failed to build on that bright start and nearly paid a price when Luke Bolton headed off the woodwork for a corner late on.

"With a team that can only play in one way or certain circumstances, they will never win trophies. You need resilience, mentality, desire, hunger and focus," said Clement, who has lost only one game since taking charge of Rangers in October.

"We're only busy with one thing, that's winning games and showing we can do it in this way. The most important thing is the three points."

Hearts stretched their lead in third with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen.

Fourth-placed Kilmarnock blew a two-goal lead as Hibernian fought back for a 2-2 draw at Rugby Park.

Livingston remain six points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table after being thrashed 4-1 at home by 10-man Dundee.

St. Johnstone and Motherwell edged three points clear of the relegation playoff place as they shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.