Hibs 0-2 Celtic

Mar 2 2008 Mark Guidi At Easter Road

Nine In A Row Keeps Them At Gers' Heels

CELTIC made it nine league wins in a row to stay on track for a third successive championship thanks to second-half strikes from Lee Naylor and Georgios Samaras.

Gordon Strachan's side kept up the pressure on league leaders Rangers as they got Mad March off to a perfect start.

The Hoops have now conceded just two goals since drawing 1-1 at home to Hibs on December 22 - the last time they dropped points in the SPL.

But they had to work hard to defeat Mixu Paatelainen's men who were unlucky not to be ahead at the break.

Hibs started well and should have gone in front after eight minutes when John Rankin was put through by Steven Fletcher.

The former Inverness midfielder raced in on Artur Boruc and looked a cert to score but the Polish keeper spread himself well and managed to block the weak shot.

That sparked some intense pressure from the home side and Celtic had to hang on.

Skipper Stephen McManus headed off the line and Naylor also stopped a certain goal when he denied Abderraouf Zarabi.

Hibs had the ball in the net after 10 minutes when Colin Nish headed home a Rankin free-kick but the striker's effort was ruled out for offside.

Celts couldn't find any sort of rhythm in the opening half hour. Hibs played the attractive football and their passing and movement was a pleasure to watch. Too often, though, their final ball was poor.

Strachan's side did threaten when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink - back in for Samaras after injury - headed into the side-netting from six yards. But that was the only time Hibs were worried in the first half.

Celtic did improve as the game wore on in a great, end-to-end contest.

Aiden McGeady was pleasing on the eye again for the Hoops while Fletcher produced some lovely stuff for the Hibees.

The s3million-rated forward posed problems for the Celtic defence with Gary Caldwell looking particularly uncomfortable.

Rankin also had a good game and took advantage of the freedom he was given in the first half.

The champions got a grip of the match after the interval though and almost scored in 48 minutes.

Good work from Vennegoor of Hesselink and McGeady set up a chance for former Hibs hero Scott Brown. But he couldn't get enough power in his close-range shot and it was blocked by Martin Canning.

Nish then let rip with a great shot from the angle of the penalty area that had Boruc scrambling.

With both teams attacking, a goal was on the cards and it came through Naylor after 63 minutes.

The full-back picked the ball up and burst down the left as the Hibs players ran towards McGeady, expecting a pass to the winger.

When the ball eventually came it was blocked but the rebound sat up beautifully and the Englishman made no mistake from 15 yards.

Naylor's cool right-foot finish was his first goal for the Hoops and boss Strachan was delighted.

He smiled: 'Three Hibs players ran towards McGeady when Naylor had the ball. The Celtic fans went for a pie and Bovril and I started to take down some notes.

"That's what you do when Nails has possession in that area."

Skipper McManus added: 'Lee has been receiving some stick as Andreas Hinkel has scored and he has only played a few games. You could see with the celebrations we're delighted for him.'

Andy McNeil then parried a fierce left-foot drive from the impressive Brown who controlled the tempo of the second half.

But the Hibs keeper was helpless in 75 minutes when Celtic doubled their advantage. For the umpteenth time this season McGeady had an assist as his inviting ball was headed home by substitute Samaras.

Boruc was booked for "waving" to the Hibs fans at time-up but didn't deserve the caution as the punters had verbally abused him, Caldwell and Paul Hartley for the whole game.

Rules are rules though. Why can't we rid the game of the silly ones or have our refs just ignore them?

MATCH STATS

SHOTS ON 2

SHOTS OFF 5

OFFSIDE 1

FOULS 15

CORNERS 6

BOOKINGS 3

SHOTS ON 10

SHOTS OFF 5

OFFSIDE 1

FOULS 7

CORNERS 4

BOOKINGS 1

REF WATCH

IAIN BRINES had an off day. Didn't make any major blunders but got decision after decision wrong. I'd prefer to praise refs but after a display like this there's no option but to criticise. Rating: 4/10.