02.08.2015 18:58 h

Aberdeen take derby honours

Aberdeen shook off the fatigue of a long trip to Kazakhstan by starting their Scottish Premiership season with a 1-0 win at Dundee United on Sunday.

A hard-fought New Firm derby at Tannadice could have gone either way, but Liverpool loanee Danny Ward rescued the Dons with crucial saves from Mario Bilate and Mark Durnan either side of half-time.

And Aberdeen took advantage to grab the winner eight minutes from time when Kenny McLean's looping header beat United 'keeper Luis Zwick.

McLean also scored when Derek McInnes's side lost 2-1 to Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan in their Europa League third qualifying round first leg on Thursday, the goal keeping their hopes alive ahead of this week's return.

Elsewhere on Sunday, newly-promoted Hearts marked their return to the Premiership with a 4-3 win over St Johnstone at Tynecastle.

Sam Nicholson got the winner for the Jambos after St Johnstone had come from 3-1 down to draw level through John Sutton and Graham Cummins.

Earlier, debutant Juanma Delgado opened the scoring for Hearts and Jamie Walker doubled their lead before Simon Lappin got one back and Callum Paterson notched the hosts' third.

Champions Celtic began their quest for a fifth straight title by defeating Ross County 2-0 on Saturday thanks to first-half goals by Leigh Griffiths and Stefan Johansen.

Dundee were the biggest winners on the opening day, however, hammering Kilmarnock 4-0 at Rugby Park with Greg Stewart and Rory Loy both scoring twice.

Motherwell won 1-0 at Inverness Caledonian Thistle while Hamilton Academical played out a goalless draw with Partick Thistle.