Bank of Scotland Premier League champions Celtic increased their lead over Rangers to six points by comfortably defeating Terry Butcher's young Motherwell side two-nil at Parkhead.
Celtic boss Martin O'Neill has admitted his squad is weaker than that of Rangers manager Alex McLeish but two of his most influential men – Stilian Petrov and Chris Sutton - again delivered the goods with goals in either half.
O'Neill brought back Alan Thompson and Stanislav Varga at the expense of frustrated Brazilian Juninho and youngster Stephen McManus. The home side never really got warmed up on a bitterly cold day in Glasgow but they put their opponents under pressure in the fifth minute.
Sutton flicked on Jackie McNamara's cross and Aiden McGeady pounced inside the box to get a shot away but David Partridge saved his side with an important deflection wide. Motherwell midfielder Kevin McBride returned to Parkhead for the first time since making his loan move move permanent.
The youngster looked eager to impress and he picked out Scott McDonald in acres of space in the 11th minute but he drove his right-foot shot just wide from 20 yards.
It took 21 minutes for the home side to test former Celtic goalkeeper Gordon Marshall but he veteran was equal to their best effort. John Hartson flicked the ball on and the ball broke kindly off Stephen Craigan into the path of Sutton, whose powerful shot from eight yards was pushed away.
McGeady showed why he had relegated Juninho back to the bench with a bit of trickery to get away from Steven Hammell but his cross-cum-shot was saved by Marshall. But the champions took the lead with by their best move of the in the 32nd minute.
Hartson played the ball up to Sutton and his first time pass sent Petrov away through the middle.
The Bulgarian cut inside and even though Marshall got a hand to his strike he could not prevent the ball from finishing in the back of the net. The home supporters were screaming for a penalty soon after when McGeady's cross struck Partridge but referee Ian Fyfe waved the appeals away.
Celtic were far from their best but still looked the more likely side to score at the start of the second half.
Motherwell did not offer much in attack and it was careless play in midfield by McDonald which was exploited by the champions in the 57th minute. Sutton timed his run perfectly and Thompson played him through to coolly steer the ball around Marshall and into the bottom corner of the net.
Hartson came within inches of extending Celtic's lead with Marshall touching his effort just past the upright in the 73rd minute.
O'Neill introduced frustrated duo Juninho and Henri Camara late on but his last two signings failed to supply any inspiration, highlighting the need for some new faces at Parkhead.
