Bobo Balde had joined up with African Nations outsiders Guinea and Alan Thompson, Johan Mjallby were still on the sidelines. Stan Varga and Joos Valgaeren were struggling to be fit on Friday although Varga started at the back and Joos made it to the bench. So Martin named his team with only the one change from Tynecastle with young Kennedy partnering Varga at centre-half, retaining the 4-4-2 formation that has been working so well of late. 

We needed have had any worries though as Aberdeen are not a good side and easy to see why they are second bottom of the league. Aberdeen’s low confidence and general lack of passing ability led to a slow, lacklustre game even though there were 4 goals to enjoy. The first 20 minutes laid these foundations with sporadic patches of decent attacking football, where John Kennedy had a header well saved and Larsson had a clearance rebound off him to unluckily bounce off the crossbar. This made it clear celtic goals were coming - it was just gonna be a matter of time. That time was 30 minutes when Larsson laid a Hartson header back into the path of the tireless Petrov on the edge of the box and he angled it in off the inside of the near post for his second goal in two games. A great ball from Jackie Mc Namara and a classy finish from the Khing of Khings made it 2 just before the break and it was hard to see the result in doubt from this moment on. 

After the break, it remaining slow going, with Celtic stepping it up a gear when they felt like it. One of these occasions led to the third of the afternoon and effectively game over. An excellent flowing move led to another Larsson goal bound effort which skewed off a defender leaving a tap in for new signing Stephen Pearson to open his Celtic account with the easiest of goals. He didn’t play great again today, but this goal can only boost his confidence and help him settle into the Celtic way. 
Unfortunately Celtic switched off soon off after this goal, and Tosh prodded in the scrappiest of goals to rob Douglas of a clean sheet. To be honest, he didn’t deserve one with a few dodgy moments throughout the game and can’t install much confidence to his back four. We need a keeper before the transfer window closes or the UEFA run this year could end prematurely. How likely though?!
Young Brian Prunty came on as a sub late on but couldn’t improve Aberdeen’s attacking options, although they did provide a little bit of pressure on the celtic goal as the match drew to a close. 

Petrov was excellent in midfield, Lennon let nothing much past him and Mc Namara was solid at left back, but the man of the match has to go to Henrik Larsson. Henke was sharp as ever up front and made endless runs all afternoon with a super finish for his 220st goal in the hoops. He’s now just 11 behind Stevie Chalmers in 4th place (or ahead by one according to where you heard it!) in the all time Celtic goal scorers chart. I think he’d need to sign for another few seasons though before he could get close to Mc Grory though!!

Overall, a reasonably comfortable win extending the gap at the top to 14 unassailable points over the poorest Rangers team I have seen in a long long time.

HAPPY DAYS