Celtic ran riot on their Scottish Premiership flag day with a 6-1 thrashing of hapless Dundee United at Parkhead, yesterday.
Jason Denayer, the 19-year-old Belgian defender who arrived on a year-long loan from Manchester City last week, took only four minutes to make his mark by lashing the ball in from close range before goals by Kris Commons and Stefan Johansen had the points tied up by the interval.
In manager Ronny Deila’s first game at Celtic Park since taking over from Neil Lennon, stand-in skipper Charlie Mulgrew claimed a fourth and Jo Inge Berget notched a fifth – his first since arriving on loan from Cardiff City – before Dundee United captain John Rankin pulled a goal back with Berget able to make it six in the last seconds.
While United massively contributed to their own downfall, Celtic’s convincing victory was perhaps apt on the day that Fergus McCann made a rare return to Parkhead.
To huge cheers from the Hoops fans, the 2013-14 Premiership flag was unfurled by the wealthy businessman who had saved the club from bankruptcy in 1994 before implementing plans for the modern-day Celtic including the refurbishment of the stadium.
It was an opportunity to atone for those Hoops fans who had booed McCann, an expatriate Scot living in Canada, when he performed the same duties 16 years ago, some supporters unhappy that he refused to spend big money at the time due to a financial foresight that has long since been vindicated.
Meanwhile, Inverness claimed their second victory in a week from a visit to Lanarkshire, following up their win at Hamilton last Saturday by deservedly defeating a lacklustre Motherwell 2-0 at Fir Park to go top of the standings.
A strike from Greg Tansey before the interval gave Inverness the lead, and Aaron Doran put the seal on the victory late on to give the scoreline a truer reflection of the visitors’ dominance of the match.
Scottish Premiership
Celtic 6 - Dundee Utd 1
Dundee 1 - Partick 1
Hamilton 1 - St Johnstone 0
Motherwel l0 - Inverness 2
Ross County 1 - Kilmarnock 2
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Inverness | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Celtic | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 6 |
| Hamilton | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Dundee Utd | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Partick | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Kilmarnock | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Dundee FC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Aberdeen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Motherwell | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| St Johnstone | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| St Mirren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Ross County | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
Other results
Scottish Championship
Alloa 0 - Raith 1
Dumbarton 0 - Queen of South 4
Livingston 2 - Cowdenbeath 1
Played Friday:
Falkirk 0 - Rangers 2
Playing today:
Hearts vs Hibernian - 13:30
League One
Airdrie 0 - Peterhead 2
Brechin 1 - Stenhousemuir 0
Forfar 2 - Dunfermline 0
Morton 4 - Stranraer 0
Stirling 1 - Ayr United 3
League Two
Annan 0 - Queen’s Park 1
Arbroath 1 - Albion 0
Clyde p - Montrose p
East Fife 2 - Berwick 3
E. Stirling 2 - Elgin 1