2009-01-24: Celtic 3-1 Hibernian, SPL

The bottom line is that Celtic had a decent afternoon of it, all in all. Truth be told they had enough chances to win more comfortably and in Shunsuke Nakamura, Scott Brown, Aiden McGeady and Scott McDonald they had the best players on the park. The four of them were excellent. Equally, though, they had enough ropey episodes at the back to send their supporters home with plenty to chew on. They gave up a simple goal and their captain, Stephen McManus, was replaced after an hour. A knee injury, apparently. Or perhaps a wounded pride. Despite his goal, McManus is not having a good time of it.

This result was a relief to Strachan after the pummelling at Pittodrie. Making a high-energy start that had Hibs in a spin, Celtic threatened to blast the visitors to kingdom come before they had a chance to draw breath. In nine minutes, the home team scored two goals. Their dominance was so complete, their play so sharp that you sensed a tumultuous victory was in the offing. Didn't quite work out that way but never mind.

Three minutes it took for Celtic to break the resistance of the Hibs defence and another six minutes to do it again. Mixu Paatelainen called it "sloppy defending", which was an understatement. Nakamura was the architect both times. Indeed, the Japanese internationalist sparked palpitations in the Hibs ranks every time he put something into their penalty area. More often than not it was something dangerous.

The first goal came from a Nakamura corner, sent spinning in from the left. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink rose to meet it and thumped a header on goal which Grzegorz Szamotulski did well to keep out. Unfortunately his parry merely fell to the feet of McDonald. A Hibs man guarded the line but still McDonald managed to poke it past him.

A nice start and it looked even nicer when they doubled their lead, once again from a Nakamura corner, once again from the left and once again hopelessly defended by the Hibs men. As goals go, it was a mess, an ugly old thing. Nakamura's ball came in and it rather pinballed its way to McManus, via sclaffed efforts from Gary Caldwell and Brown. It sat up nicely for the centre-half and he rattled it in without a second's thought.

Celtic looked a sight to behold. Nakamaura's eye was in but McGeady was proving a nightmare for his marker, Darren McCormack. The full-back is 20 years old but the poor chap aged in front of our eyes yesterday. Even at that early stage you thought Hibs would be lucky to get out with a semblance of pride intact. They hardly touched the ball in the first 15 minutes by which time they could have had no complaints if they were three goals down. Ludicrously, though, by the 17th minute, they were only one down.

I say ludicrously but perhaps I should say typically because Hibs' goal was a set-piece softie and Celtic have given up a fair few of those in recent times. The natives are beginning to lose patience with their centre-back duo or, to be blunt, are seeing their captain McManus as a weak link in the chain. They have a point. McManus's radar has been shot to pieces lately and, as a pair, himself and Caldwell are looking vulnerable, they're second-guessing each other a bit and there isn't nearly enough authority in there.

We saw a classic case of this when Derek Riordan's free-kick from the left was curled in towards Boruc's goal. There was only one man making a move to get on the end of it and it wasn't McManus or Caldwell. It was big Rob Jones. Now, Jones is a hard man to miss. He must be at least nine foot tall and he's as bald as a billiard ball, so you don't need the eyes of an eagle to see him coming. The fact that Celtic let him run on and nod home unhindered from a few yards out just showed again how confused they are back there right now.

Celtic controlled things for the rest of the half but never managed to get a third. Vennegoor of Hesselink shot wide, Nakamura had a free-kick tipped over and then another free-kick touched out for a corner. Midway through the second half they had a penalty claim that had Strachan skipping up the touchline in frustration after McCormack appeared to take McGeady out of it.

But it was a different game at that stage. McManus had been replaced by Glenn Loovens who, to be fair, was no great rock himself. On top of that, Hibs sensed Celtic's discomfort. It wasn't hard to. Nearly 60,000 concerned fans alerted them to it every time Steven Fletcher, Colin Nish or Riordan got on the ball. The three of them had their moments.

The anxious air wasn't lifted until the 76th minute when two real go-to men settled the outcome, the splendid Brown scampering up the right and pulling a pass back to McDonald, who nailed his shot past Szamotulski. Three valuable points were secured in the moment and a cushion was established at the top. Not a perfect day's work, but plenty good enough.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Aiden McGeady might not have got himself on the scoresheet but he had many dangerous moments. Gordon Strachan sang his praises later, which is saying something.

QUICK FACT

Celtic have now conceded 25 goals in this SPL campaign, just one fewer than they conceded in all of last season's championship.

TALKING POINT

The malaise at the centre of Celtic's defence is a tough one for Strachan to deal with. The manager was a little uncomfortable under questioning about the issue but admitted that much work needed to be done, which is pretty obvious.

Celtic 3-1 Hibernian
By Thomas McGuigan

Celtic captain Stephen McManus celebrates his goal
Celtic captain Stephen McManus scored his side's second

Celtic moved four points clear at the top of the table after a hard-fought win over Hibs at Celtic Park.

Scott McDonald and then captain Stephen McManus found the net from Shunsuke Nakamura corners within 10 minutes.

Rob Jones reduced the deficit seven minutes later with a powerful header from Derek Riordan's superb free-kick.

Hibs went close through Colin Nish and Aiden McGeady had a penalty appeal turned down before McDonald fired home the third late-on to seal victory.

Celtic started brightly as they looked to arrest their recent slump in form and they took the lead within three minutes.

Nakamura sent in a superb corner-kick from the left and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink saw his header palmed away by Grzegorz Szamotulski.

McDonald pounced at the back post to force the ball through Lewis Stevenson's legs and into the net.

Hibs looked unable to cope with Nakamura's set-piece delivery and the hosts doubled their lead in the ninth minute when another corner from the Japanese caused chaos and McManus fired the ball home.

McManus' goal saw Celtic grow in confidence with Scott Brown, McGeady and Andreas Hinkel looking to get forward at every opportunity.

But Hibs reduced the deficit after 17 minutes when Jones evaded the attentions of McManus to head powerfully past Boruc from Riordan's superb free-kick.

Vennegoor of Hesselink spurned a great chance to score Celtic's third six minutes before the break when he collected Hinkel's deep cross in acres of space, but the Dutchman blazed his effort well wide.

MY SPORT: DEBATE
Your reaction to the game at Celtic Park

Szamotulski then brilliantly tipped Nakamura's free-kick over the bar as Celtic chased a third.

Hibs looked sharper in the second half and should have equalised when Nish dithered inside the box and his shot was blocked.

The visitors pressed and saw a number of promising counter attacks peter out in or around the Celtic penalty area.

McGeady looked to have earned his side a penalty when McCormack clipped him inside the box, but the referee waved away Celtic's appeals.

McDonald calmed nerves among the home fans in the 76th minute when he coolly slotted home Scott Brown's low cross.

Substitute Denes Rosa almost capped his Hibs debut with a stunning goal, but his 35-yard strike cannoned back off Artur Boruc's post and bounced to safety.

Celtic saw out the rest of the game to extend their lead at the top of the table as Hibs were left to rue their lack of cutting edge.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan:
"We were playing against a side that have given us problems here before and I thought we were absolutely fantastic in the first half; the variations of play were fantastic.

"To be only 2-1 up at half-time, well, it was a hard team talk in many ways.

"We played alright in the second half without being outstanding.

"We were 2-0 up against Dundee United here recently and I think visions of that went through the fans and players' minds and it's hard to deal with.

"Hopefully now that we've got over that hurdle, when we go two up in home games we can relax a bit."

Hibernian manager Mixu Paatelainen:
"I felt the start of the game was poor, obviously the way we defended set pieces and were two goals down after 10 minutes; we had a mountain to climb.

"If you're not on your toes then you concede.

"After that I felt we passed the ball tremendously well and created problems for them, got a goal back and tried to put them under pressure.

"I was pleased the way we passed and linked up but the third goal was a killer."

Celtic: Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus (Loovens 63), Naylor, Nakamura, Scott Brown, Crosas (Robson 77), McGeady, McDonald, Vennegoor of Hesselink (Samaras 79). Subs Not Used: Mark Brown, O'Dea, McCourt, Sheridan.

Goals: McDonald 3, McManus 9, McDonald 76.

Hibernian: Szamotulski, McCormack, Hogg, Jones, Stevenson, Thicot, Bamba, Rankin, Riordan (Rosa 84), Nish (Johansson 74), Fletcher (Shiels 84). Subs Not Used: McNeil, van Zanten, Chisholm, Keenan.

Booked: Bamba, Johansson.

Goals: Jones 17.

Att: 58,930

Ref: D Somers