A peach of a finish from Stan Petrov earns Celtic all 3 points in a hard fought encounter at Rugby Park. Celtic brought in Maloney for Alan Thonpson on the left, with Celtic going with the now expected 4-4-2. Nakamura frustratingly played wide right yet again. We now have started with the same back 4 for 11 games as WGS is getting some solid consistency there, the continued impressive performances and presence of Artur Boruc has a lot to do with this.

BBJ pulled a back muscle lifting weights in the week and didn't train on Friday so had to settle for a place on the bench. Chick young reported pre-match that Birmingham City would be making a £5million move for BBJ in the transfer window. When asked about this in his prematch interview WGS said every player at every club in the world has their price.

The game started with some hefty challenges on Nakamura and Maloney in the centre of midfield as both players drifted across the pitch. Maloney made the first of 2 fantastic saving tackles in the match on 11 mintutes when Gary McDonald dilly dallied on the ball inside the area. Boruc also showed his skills with some great handling and early release of the ball from the back.

After a tight opening spell Petrov, playing his 45th consecutive match, burst on to a Sutton knockdown, to power his way through 3 ayrshire huns before lifting a lovely right foot effort over Smith in goals. Another world class finish from the Bulgarian captain. Conditions didn't help either side this afternoon and Celtic went in 1-0 up at halftime with not much else to report apart from some poor refereeing from Ian Brines. Brines continued where he left off in the second half, when on 50 mins he denied Sutton a stonewall penalty when Lilley held him back in the box.

Nakamura, who had been anonymous so far, came to life and created 2 chances for Beattie, the first of which saw his 12yd header come back off the post to safety. Maloney then had a left foot shot tipped over as Celtic were enjoying their best spell of the match. Maloney produced a terrific block to McDonald's shot to show again what he has added to his defensive game

The hoops faithful responded immediately to this to show their recognition on Maloney's superb start to the season. Another man having a good season, Beattie, outpaced the defence to make a chance out of a hopeful punt forward from Camara, Smith was off his line quickly to nick it off his foot as he tried to round the keeper. Beattie hit the side netting after anticipating a knockdown from the hardworking Sutton, before being replaced on 71mins by BBJ.

BBJ is just 2 shy of the ton for Celtic in 174 games, having bagged 8 already this season, stats like this show why it would take a huge bid of £5million to prise him away.

Killie went 4-3-3 for the remainder to try and get something from the game. Celtic responded  with AT coming on for SM on 82 mins, he had a few half chances but failed to hit the net. Brines added on an amazing 5 mins injury time, during which McGeady came on for Nakamura. Strachan was less than happy with the team's performance but the three points are in the bag.
BSCSC MOTM Boruc

Teams: Kilmarnock Smith, Fowler, Greer, Lilley, Hay, Johnston, Locke, McDonald (Wales 77), Invincibile, Boyd, Naismith (Nish 77), Nish (Dodds 82). Subs Not Used: Bell, Wright, Campbell, Flannigan. Booked: Locke.

Celtic Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Camara, Nakamura (McGeady 90), Lennon, Petrov, Maloney (Thompson 82), Sutton, Beattie (Hartson 71). Subs Not Used: Marshall, Virgo, Wallace, Pearson. Booked: Balde. Goals: Petrov 24.
Att: 10,544