Chris Sutton marked his return to his favourite striking role with a clinical
first-half double to keep the champions on the tails of leaders Rangers with
victory at Firhill.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has been using the Englishman in midfield to
accommodate John Hartson in attack, a move which attracted recent criticism.
And those claims appeared justified today as Sutton moved forward to replace
the injured Welshman and quickly rediscovered his lethal partnership with Henrik
Larsson.
It was no coincidence either that the Glasgow giants also looked more like
their former selves upon the return of Neil Lennon, who had not played since
suffering a knee injury in December and contributed a calming influence in
midfield.
Celtic did not even miss the absence of Johan Mjallby, who has been ruled out
for a month with a pulled thigh, in defence with Ulrik Laursen standing in.
The champions had calls for a penalty rejected by referee Kenny Clark after
just six minutes when Sutton went down in the box under the challenge of Kevin
McGowne.
But justice was done from the resulting free-kick when Stilian Petrov's corner
was flicked on by Joos Valgaeren before Larsson's shot was blocked.
McNamara, however, was on hand to drill the ball through a crowded goalmouth
and Sutton stretched to divert the ball into the roof of the net from six
yards.
That was the worst possible start for the home side and Celtic threatened to
kill the game off, playing some of their best football for some time.
The home side's best hopes of scoring came from long balls into the box
especially with Hoops goalkeeper Magnus Hedman looking far from convincing when
put under pressure.
But the Sweden international was alert in the 20th minute to save David
Rowson's 25-yard drive low to his right.
Petrov, who was the subject of more speculation over his future today, was
having a quiet game and he blazed a shot over the crossbar moments later after
superbly controlling Lennon's pass.
Alan Archibald then fired just wide before Petrov was booked for a bad
challenge on Martin Hardie after referee Clark had failed to give Celtic a
certain corner.
Partick were adding to their own problems by making mistakes in defence and it
was David Lilley's failure to clear the ball which cost them another goal in the
33rd minute.
The ball came to him in the box after Agathe had ghosted past Archibald and
Milne, but his clearance went straight to Sutton and he coolly curled the ball
into the bottom corner.
Larsson was inches from making it three moments later when he fired a
right-foot free-kick just past the post from 23 yards.
The Swede and his new strike partner continued to hit it off and Larsson was
close to getting on the end of the Englishman's clever flick over the static
Thistle defence.
Celtic took their foot off the pedal when 2-0 up at the break in midweek, but
there was no signs of that this afternoon as they went for the kill.
Sutton was hungry for his hat-trick, but Larsson should have joined him on the
scoresheet in the 52nd minute.
Laursen threaded the ball through to the striker, but with just the goalkeeper
to beat he failed get a good enough connection to find the back of the net.
Sutton should have completed his hat-trick in the 55th minute when Larsson
dummied Lennon's pass for a glorious chance, but he spooned the ball over from
eight yards.
But Milne almost gave the home side some hope two minutes later when he
spotted Hedman off his line, but his audacious lob from over 30 yards landed
just on top of the goal.
Hedman again gave the visitors a scare with a rush of blood to the head
moments later and was lucky not to be humiliated after making a hash of a
clearance well outside his box.
Petrov and Larsson exchanged passes in the 82nd minute, but Archibald made up
the ground to make a vital challenge with the midfielder shaping to shoot.
O'Neill gave want-away Republic of Ireland midfielder Colin Healy four minutes
to make his mark after coming on for Lennon.
There was not enough time for Sutton to secure a deserved treble, but there
was time for Hedman to make another error when handling the ball outside the
area.
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