CELTIC left it late yesterday but three second-half goals by Stilian Petrov, Shaun Maloney and Maciej Zurawski eventually gave the home side a well-deserved win over Aberdeen to extend their lead at the top of the table to an impressive 16 points over second-placed Hearts.

An outstanding first-half performance by Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield kept the home side at bay until the interval. But in the 65th minute the home side eventually broke the deadlock through Petrov. Roy Keane set up Zurawski wide on the right with a fine pass and when the Polish international's cutback came to the Bulgarian 16 yards from goal, he hammered the ball first time into the roof of the net.

The home side made it 2-0 nine minutes later after some pin-ball in the Aberdeen penalty area. Keane's cross was cleared by Chris Clark only for the ball to hit Diamond and fall to Maloney, who quickly whipped it into the net from close range. In the 89th minute, as Celtic toyed with Aberdeen, Zurawski scored a third after being set up by Petrov.