Celtic extended their lead in the Scottish Premier League to 16 points yesterday with a 1-0 win against Falkirk while Rangers moved up to second with a 2-1 victory at Aberdeen.

A hotly-disputed first half goal from Thomas Gravesen secured the points for Celtic who had Neil Lennon sent off a couple of minutes from time after a violent clash with Falkirk's Kenny Milne.

Gravesen rattled a 28th minute shot into the top corner with Falkirk furiously protesting the Dane had handled the ball. Kenny Miller hit the post with a late penalty for Celtic.

Celtic top the standings on 51 points from 20 matches while Rangers advanced to 35 from 20 games and Aberdeen 34 from 20.

Goals from Nacho Novo and Libor Sionko secured Rangers a 2-1 win at Aberdeen.

Novo and Sionko struck in quick succession midway through the first half to put Rangers in the driving seat, but a late strike from Steve Lovell on 86 minutes set up a frantic finish.

"We had to show a great team-spirit and managed to get a very good result," manager Paul Le Guen said.

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