Larsson puts Celtic back on top - briefly

Henrik Larsson fired Martin O'Neill's men briefly back to the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League at Easter Road - but their hopes of being there in May suffered a setback when Bobo Balde was stupidly sent off, almost certainly ruling him out of the Old Firm showdown on October 4.

The Swedish striker had just completed their impressive fightback against a side flying from their 9-0 midweek demolition of Montrose in the CIS Insurance Cup after Alan Thompson had hit form from the spot again to cancel out Mathias Kouo-Doumbe's opener. But with Celtic in no apparent danger the influential defender was dismissed for needlessly kicking out at Hibernian substitute Scott Brown.

That took the gloss off a perfect day for last season's UEFA Cup finalists, who face Lyon in a crucial Champions League clash on Tuesday. The watching scout from the French club would have been impressed with Celtic's response under pressure, but not so with their shaky start in the capital.

Celtic took some time to get motoring, but they were guilty of missing two glorious opportunities in the space of a minute. First, Alan Thompson curled a dangerous free-kick to the back post where Balde was unmarked, but he somehow headed over. Moments later and Larsson beat the offside trap and was found alone in the box by Maloney, but with just Anderson to beat he pulled his header wide of the post.

The Glasgow side went behind in the 38th minute. Stephen Dobbie's ball was headed back into the danger area by Colin Murdock and Kouo-Doumbe could not believe his luck as he prodded the ball over the line from a yard.

But Hibernian could not hold on to that lead for more than a minute as Freeland awarded Celtic a penalty. Petrov was sent sprawling by the clumsy challenge of Wiss and Thompson made up for his recent spot-kick miss to drill the ball past Daniel Andersson. Celtic were now awake.

As so often happens, Larsson came through with the winner as he coolly steered the ball home from close range after a great flowing move from Varga and Maloney. But, just as the visitors threatened to kill the game, they were dealt a blow when Balde was sent off for stupidly lashing out at substitute Scott Brown in the 70th minute.

The 10 men of Celtic desperately held on for the points to reclaim their place at the top of the SPL. However, they were soon back in second place as a late Rangers victory against Dundee saw the top spot change hands once again.

Dundee's Spanish striker Nacho Novo looked to have put his side on course for a share of the points when he equalised 13 minutes from the end. But Paolo Vanoli restored Rangers lead in the 86th minute and Shota Arveladze, who had put Rangers ahead on the hour mark, added a second a minute from time to give the scoreline a flattering look.

Filed by Barry J Whyte