Celtic returned to the top of the Scottish Premier League with a comfortable win against Hibernian.
Anthony Stokes fired the hosts into a fourth minute lead, then Gary Hooper converted from a penalty after Scott Brown was fouled by Hibs’ Martin Scott.
Hooper added his second of the night before the break, then a Liam Miller penalty gave Hibs a lifeline.
Six minutes from time, Hooper sent a penalty wide after Freddie Ljungberg was brought down by Paul Hanlon.
The victory puts Celtic two points ahead of Rangers at the top of the table, with both clubs having played the same number of matches.
Celtic made three changes from the side who lost the Co-operative Insurance Cup final to Rangers with Stokes, Glenn Loovens and James Forrest all starting and Thomas Rogne, Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons all named on the bench.
And assistant manager Johan Mjallby, who believes his players have both the raw football ability and the mental strength to go the distance, insisted that Rangers won’t even cross the minds of the Celtic players until the final Old Firm meeting of the season.
‘When we play them next, that’s the first time we’re going to worry about Rangers,’ said Mjallby.
‘There are some games to go before we play them. We have to make sure that we beat the other teams as well. ‘It’s always nice to be back at the top of the league, that’s what we’re aiming for. Rangers winning yesterday put a wee bit of pressure on us to get the three points – and we did, with a good performance, too.”
Celtic | 3-1 | Hibernian | FT |
(HT 3-0) | |||
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Celtic
- 26 Forster
- 03 Izaguirre
- 12 Wilson (yellow card)
- 21 Mulgrew (yellow card)
- 22 Loovens (Rogne 46)
- 08 Brown
- 16 Ledley
- 33 Baram Kayal (Ljungberg 82)
- 10 Stokes
- 49 Forrest (Commons 78)
- 88 Hooper
Substitutes
- 24 Zaluska,
- 04 Juarez,
- 25 Rogne,
- 07 Ljungberg,
- 18 Ki Sung-Yeung,
- 09 Samaras,
- 15 Commons
Hibernian
- 31 Brown
- 02 Hart
- 20 Hanlon (yellow card)
- 25 Stephens
- 28 Booth
- 24 Wotherspoon
- 33 Miller
- 44 Martin Scott (yellow card) (Stevenson 72)
- 91 Palsson (yellow card)
- 08 Vaz Te (Thornhill 73)
- 10 Riordan (A Sodje 51)
Substitutes
- 41 Divis,
- 06 Murray,
- 16 Stevenson,
- 26 Thornhill,
- 09 Nish,
- 18 A Sodje,
- 19 Duffy
Possession
- Celtic 57%
- Hibernian 43%
Attempts on target
- Celtic 7
- Hibernian 1
Attempts off target
- Celtic 7
- Hibernian 3
Corners
- Celtic 4
- Hibernian 5
Fouls
- Celtic 7
- Hibernian 13