SPL Wednesday February 11th

Dunfermline 1

Celtic 4

1:0 Hunt 20
1:1 Larsson 23
1:2 Varga 26
1:3 Larsson 43
1:4 Thompson 68

Att: 11,201

MIB John Underhill

Celtic
Douglas
Agathe Varga Kennedy McNamara
Pearson Petrov Lennon Thompson
Sutton Larsson

subs
Valgaeren for Kennedy 28
Maloney for Pearson 73
Lambert for Lennon 76

Celtic took their unbeaten run in the league to 22 games with an emphatic win over Jimmy Calderwood's collection of Tupperware connoisseurs. In scenes amounting to a farce penned by Dunfermline's resident Chuckle Brother, Jim Leishman, the Pars, having let Celtic train on a dry surface, decided to up the fun by watering the Plastic Park. The result was a cross between Bambi on Ice and watching the Thunderbirds playing football.

To begin with, the home side, used to such non-footballing conditions, proceeded to waltz through the Celtic ranks like Brazilians, leaving Agathe and Lennon looking like Pinocchio with his strings cut. The early signs weren't good and bowels were rapidly emptying on the terracing. Within the first five minutes Crawford had put one wide then Rab D had flapped and Hunt headed narrowly past the post.

Celtic tried to rally and a Larsson shot came close to scoring, before the inevitable happened. Kennedy had gone off the park for treatment to a head wound when a second Rab D flap allowed the Pars to easily take the lead in a near identi-kit version of Hunt's earlier headed effort.

Celtic's response speaks volumes for the abilities and resilience of the current squad. Unable to play their usual passing game on the plastic park, they adapted. The result: three set pieces and three goals . Headers - two from Larsson and one from Varga - killed off the home side before half time. No Bobo and no Hartson and we are still killing off these teams early.

The second period was a more cautious affair as players just didn't want injured on an unsafe surface. A Thommo free-kick late in the game made it four for Celtic, who gradually restored a passing game and continued to steamroller their way through the SPL.

The introduction of Valgaeren and Lambert was a welcome sight on the night, as was the performance of Maloney, who might well have had a couple of goals, given the space and positions he found. Unfortunately he wasn't given the ball.