Leaders Celtic win five-goal thriller

Celtic fought back from two goals down to beat Aberdeen 3-2 thanks to a Craig Bellamy winner at Parkhead yesterday.

The victory puts them five points clear in the title race with Celtic on 83 points from 33 games while second-placed Rangers, who visit Dunferm-line today, have 78 from 32.

"It was sensational," manager Martin O'Neill said of Celtic's comeback. "To be 2-0 down is a long way back. I would like to say it was phenomenal character out there today to come back and win the game."

Zander Diamond opened the scoring for Aberdeen after 10 minutes and Darren Mackie made it 2-0 four minutes later to stun the crowd of 59,998 and leave Celtic facing a second successive home defeat.

But Stanislav Varga's header got Celtic back in the match in the 26th minute and John Hartson made it 2-2 after the break before on-loan Newcastle striker Bellamy scored his first home goal for the club to clinch the points after 57 minutes.

It was a good afternoon for the strugglers. Bottom side Livingston stunned third-place Hibernian with a 3-0 away victory while Grant Brebner hit a stoppage time winner for Dundee United at home to Hearts, their 2-1 win taking them above Dunfermline into tenth place.