CELTIC STAYED TOP of the Scottish Premier League as they cruised to a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday to cap off an excellent week for the club.
After booking their place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday, the Hoops showed no signs of a European hangover when skipper Scott Brown converted an Adam Matthews cutback in the 27th minute.
Cillian Sheridan and Liam Kelly came close to equalising before Lassad Nouioui had the ball in the net for Celtic only to see his strike ruled out for offside.
Paul Heffernan should have had Kilmarnock level seconds after the break but Charlie Mulgrew blocked his close-range effort before Joe Ledley added a second in the 65th minute when he tapped in a Scott Brown cross.
Substitute Georgios Samaras then made it 3-0 in the 74th minute when he headed home an inviting cross from Matthews before Sheridan grabbed a consolation goal in stoppage time.
The win puts an end to Celtic’s poor run of form in the SPL in games immediately following European ties and gained them some revenge for Killie’s win at Parkhead in October.
“I thought we were brilliant today from start to finish. The third goal epitomised the way we played and I think everyone in the outfield touched the ball in the build up,” Celtic manager Neil Lennon said.
“We were fantastic in terms of our application, concentration and the way we moved the ball around. To come here and win as well as we did on the back of Wednesday is terrific.”
His Killie counterpart rued his side’s missed chances.
“It’s difficult facing Celtic in December and January when they’re firing on all cylinders. They’ve got the best players but we really felt if we stayed in the game and got level we could have got some momentum,” Kenny Shiels said.“That almost happened and should have happened a couple of times. Paul Heffernan had a great chance to go 1-1 and we missed that and then we end up 2-0 down.”
Celtic, who had made four changes to the side that defeated Spartak Moscow, enjoyed the bulk of the early possession and in a menacing attack Gary Hooper cut the bal back for Brown who completely missed his shot and the danger was cleared.
Kilmarnock’s first real chance of the match came in the 18th minute when Sheridan dinked the ball across the six-yard box but Heffernan could only fire into the side netting from a tight angle.
The Hoops finally made the breakthrough in the 27th minute through skipper Brown. Matthews broke down the right and cut the ball back for the midfielder who fired a first time shot from 12 yards in off Cammy Bell.
Former Celtic player Sheridan nearly caught out Fraser Forster with a super strike from 25 yards but his rising shot was inches over the bar.
Killie had another chance moments later when Kelly’s cross evaded everyone in the box and Forster was relieved to see it bounce just wide.
Celtic had the ball in the net again just before the break when Lassad fired past Bell but the flag was up for offside.
Heffernan should have had Killie level within seconds of the restart when Fowler picked him out in space in the box but he took a touch before firing in a shot that Mulgrew managed to block.
Celtic then went straight up the other end and Hooper saw his fierce strike turned round the post by Bell as the second half started in an explosive fashion.Ledley made it 2-0 in the 65th minute. Wanyama picked out Brown in the box and the skipper slid the bal across goal to the Welsh midfielder who had a simple task of tapping the ball home from four yards.
Samaras replaced Lassad in the 70th minute and grabbed a goal four minutes later when he finished a fine flowing move from Celtic by getting on the end of Matthews’ teasing cross to send a header in off the underside of the bar.
Sheridan netted against his old club in the first minute of injury time when Tesselar picked him out unmarked in the box and he sent a volley through the legs of Forster.
