Leggy Celtic win ugly at Hibs in a Premiership clash lacking in quality

Celtic continued their Premiership winning run with an away victory over Hibernian on Sunday.

The Hoops quickly fell behind in a rapid start to the game, and it seemed as though the minds of Martin O'Neill's men were still in the dressing room. Hibs took a quick free-kick after just three minutes that caught everyone by surprise and saw Owen Elding get a free shot down the left side of the box, which he took brilliantly.

But within two minutes of the restart, Celtic were level when Jason Kerr headed a corner into his own net while colliding with his keeper.

Just before the break, Celtic got ahead when a Benjamin Nygren through ball ricocheted to Camilo Durán, who took two excellent touches and then curled into the far corner.

There wasn't much to write home about in the second half, or really the whole game aside from the goals, in truth. O'Neill wrung the changes, with Kasper Hogh ducking out after another poor display, while Jota, Haissem Hassan and Shim Mheuka all got a taste of the action.

Hibs rallied late on, and Cameron Carter-Vickers did have to clear one off the line with five minutes to go, bailing out Sam Johnstone, not that he did anything particularly wrong.

Celtic were rather ineffective going forward in the second half, struggling to create any sort of chances, and we can give Hibs some credit for that, especially with them being bottom, but O'Neill will have wanted to see more from his attackers.

The Bhoys will also be disappointed with their struggles to control the game in its late stages, but they held on without putting all hands to the pump. It wasn't as though the Hoops desperately clung to their lead.

Hibs had their big chance with five minutes remaining, and other than a blocked Rabbie Matondo shot, there wasn't anything that worried the Hoops, even with Hibs putting a centre-back up top for the last few minutes - answers on a postcard.

It felt like never really got out of third gear in this game, but they have played a lot of football of late, playing two Thursday night games in the last two weeks. But there is no rest for O'Neill's men, who have more midweek action on Wednesday night, when they face Dundee United in the league.

It's another three points in the bag. It wasn't pretty, but it's another win.