CELTIC stretched their lead at the top of the ScottishPremier League to four points over Rangers with a narrow home win over Dunfermline.

The home side dominated the first 45 minutes but only had a Stephen McManus header from a Shunsuke Nakamura corner to show for their superiority.

The champions controlled the second half with similar ease and although they failed to breach the Fifers' rearguard for a second time, they turned up the pressure on their great rivals who play Hibernian tomorrow.

A minute's applause to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the death of legendary goalkeeper John Thomson came prior to kickoff, and when the game started it was one-way traffic towards the Dunfermline goal.

Celtic set the tone early on and in the fifth minute a Nakamura corner from the left was met by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, but the Dutchman's header was brilliantly clawed off the line by De Vries. The champions were peppering the Dunfermline area with crosses but could find no joy against the resolute Pars defence.

However, on the half-hour mark, when some momentum seemed to have deserted the champions, they eventually got the breakthrough.

A Nakamura corner from the right was met at the near post by McManus and the defender bulleted his header past the helpless De Vries.

There was a lacklustre start to the second half, with Dunfermline only marginally more positive in their outlook and Celtic surprisingly downbeat.

With no real threat to their lead imminent, the home side found it difficult to get fired up and the crowd seemed only to find energy to castigate Telfer for another unforced error when he gave the ball away needlessly moving towards the opposition penalty area.

Celtic continued to press and in the 75th minute McManus might have grabbed his second, only for the Hoops defender to knock the ball over from close range.