Lacklustre Celtic missed their prolific strikers at the Caledonian Stadium but still beat Inverness 2-1.
Battling Caley make it hard for Celts
Lacklustre Celtic missed their prolific strikers at the Caledonian Stadium but still beat Inverness 2-1.
With Georgios Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink missing, Celtic put in a below-par performance but eventually overcame battling Inverness through second-half goals from Scott Brown and Glenn Loovens.
Without his big guns Gordon Strachan elected to play Scott McDonald alone up front and he struggled to make any impact although Celtic dominated the early exchanges.
Sensing the Hoops were not at their best Caley Thistle, who beat the champions here last season, gradually appeared to gain confidence and began to take the game to their more illustrious opponents.
However there was a distinct lack of chances as Inverness packed midfield and closed Celtic down quickly. Artur Boruc produced an excellent flying save from a dipping Dougie Imrie free-kick which seemed to give Caley impetus to push forward.
Celtic had their big shot-stopper to thank again when Garry Wood should have scored after a one-two left him with a clear sight of goal but the Polish keeper put his midweek World Cup woes behind him and kept the scores level at half-time.
Strachan obviously got into his side during the interval and after a higher tempo start Brown got on the end of Lee Naylor's great whipped cross for his first SPL goal of 2008 three minutes in.
Thistle's second half then quickly got worse when Phil McGuire was stretchered off after 53 minutes with what looked like a badly twisted ankle.
An improved Celtic were now looking for the second goal to kill their opponents off and make Wood rue missing his golden chance.
No chance
The goal duly arrived from a towering Loovens header into the corner of the net from a pinpoint Barry Robson cross on 65 minutes, as the big Dutchman gave Caley keeper Michael Fraser no chance.
Robson should have added another from Aiden McGeady's cross two minutes later as Celtic began to cut through a tired looking Caley at will.
There looked little prospect of Caley turning around a two-goal deficit as they did here last year until Wood poached a goal after the Celtic defence fell asleep on a long cross from the right wing on 70 minutes.
As Caley looked to get back into it Imrie was booked on 73 minutes for a rash challenge.
However clear-cut opportunities were in short supply as battling Caley tried to deny the champions an undeserved third goal and the Hoops continued to be hampered by any kind of a cutting edge.
Although they will be grateful for the three points Strachan will be further concerned ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League tie at Old Trafford by another injury, this one to influential Spanish midfielder Marc Crosas who limped off in the last minute.
