SPL Sunday October 6th

Celtic 7

Aberdeen 0

1:0 Hartson (26); 2:0 Hartson (35); 3:0 Larsson (43); 4:0 Hartson (51); 5:0 Balde (71); 6:0 Hartson (81); 7:0 Maloney (86)

Att: 58,526

MIB: Pooh Dallas

Celtic: Douglas; Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen (Crainey 71); Sylla, Sutton, Petrov (Maloney 71), Thompson (Fernandez 71), Guppy; Larsson,Hartson

Time was when some people might have had a stronger dislike of Aberdeen than even Rangers. This was borne of a deep frustration fuelled by regular gubbings at the feet of Ferguson's teams - home or away, it didn't seem to make much of a difference to the scoreline in those days. Now, of course, they are more to be pitied than hated, and even by their recent low standards this was bad.

Martin O'Neill dropped/ rested Lambert, Lennon and Agathe, put Hartson up front and Sutton in the midfield. The team looked a lot better for it as well, although it did take a wee while for things to settle. Aberdeen were actually in the game for about 20 minutes and Rab Douglas actually had to make a couple of saves. But it was a false dawn. As soon as Hartson headed Guppy's cross into the net the game was finished and the goal scoring display could begin in earnest.

Hartson got his second after some slapstick defending, and Henrik surprised everyone by finally hitting a decent free-kick. The second half was simply a procession; Hartson could have bagged a double hattrick with a little more care, Maloney crashed in a late fee-kick, and Balde gave us three moments to savour. First he hit a fierce left foot shot which went in off the post, minutes later he launched himself into a spectacular tackle (you can only feel sorry for the attacking player who must have feared for his life), and his final trick was to really rub salt in to the Aberdeen wound by showing us his neat winger tricks at the corner flag. Had to be seen to be believed!