Scottish Premier League/ Dunfermline 1 Celtic 8: Celtic demolished Dunfermline yesterday in a record victory for the Premier League leaders, their Polish striker Maciej Zurawski capitalising on some shambolic defending to claim four goals. For Dunfermline it does not augur well for the League Cup final against Celtic next month.
The scale of the win took the heat out of a potential row after manager Gordon Strachan had received news before the match that his Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc had criticised team members and the club's goalkeeping coach Jim Blyth at a supporters' forum in his homeland.
Strachan dismissed Boruc's comments as "hilarious" but club captain Neil Lennon said the former Legia Warsaw player had apologised to team-mates, which is just as well as he was at fault for Dunfermline's goal.
"I think Dunfermline were unfortunate," said Strachan. "Because they got us on a day when our great players were great. Everything we hit went into the back of the net."
Strachan had resisted the temptation to recall Shunsuke Nakamura to the starting line-up and retained the veteran pairing of Lennon and Roy Keane in the centre of midfield. Keane regularly burst forward to aid his strikers in the early stages of the second half before leaving the field to a standing ovation after 66 minutes.
Lennon enjoyed similar freedom and scored his first goal for more than four years in the closing stages. "Martin O'Neill said when I scored the last one he had one pencilled in for 2006," said the Ulsterman. "My aim for the rest of the season is just to cross the half-way line again."
Though Keane and Lennon lack pace, they display intelligence and discipline in abundance, virtues that should facilitate a smooth passage to the Scottish championship and no similar capitulation to last season, when Celtic lost the title on the final day of the league campaign.
The visitors began here in a manner that suggested they were keen to atone for a 1-0 defeat by Dunfermline at Parkhead in November and Stilian Petrov opened the scoring after only three minutes following fine build-up play by Mark Wilson. Yet Dunfermline responded almost immediately and Boruc was blatantly out of position when Andy Tod headed Andy Campbell's speculative lob into an unguarded net.
Petrov has reverted to a wide position since Keane's arrival and the Bulgarian turned provider as Zurawski's shot was blocked and John Hartson was on hand to smash the rebound to the roof of Bryn Halliwell's net. When Zurawski scored Celtic's third, an angled drive from 18 yards, it seemed highly improbable the home side would mount a similar recovery to the one that saw them salvage a 3-3 draw with Rangers on St Stephen's Day, but defensive chaos that followed was impossible to predict.
The Polish striker scored his team's fourth when sent clean through on the stranded Halliwell by Stephen McManus's long free-kick shortly before the interval, before Zurawski completed his hat-trick from Hartson's perfect square pass.
Shaun Maloney scored the goal of the afternoon with a superb 18-yard volley then Lennon raised the biggest cheer of the day with a low drive that slipped under Halliwell. McManus supplied Zurawski in the dying stages for the 29-year-old's 10th goal in eight games.
"I've never experienced anything like this in my career," said Dunfermline's shell-shocked manager Jim Leishman. "It hurts. But we can't change anything now."
DUNFERMLINE: Halliwell, McCunnie, Scott Wilson, Tod, Zambernardi, Darren Young, Mason, Simmons, Craig Wilson (Daquin 66), Burchill, Andy Campbell (Tarachulski 57). Subs not used: McGregor, Donnelly, Labonte, Ross, Phinn. Booked: Mason, Simmons. Goal: Tod 14.
CELTIC: Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Wilson, Petrov (Nakamura 80), Lennon, Keane (Thompson 67), Maloney, Hartson (Dublin 63), Zurawski. Subs not used: Marshall, Pearson, Lawson, Ferry. Goals: Petrov 3, Hartson 24, Zurawski 32, 40, 56, Maloney 74, Lennon 82, Zurawski 88.
Referee: Dougie McDonald (Scotland).
