Celtic win, Rangers draw on opening day

Celtic 2, Dunfermline 1 (result)

Celtic opened the defence of their Scottish Premier League title with a narrow 2-1 win against Dunfermline at Parkhead.

Henrik Larsson opened the scoring five minutes before the break and doubled the Hoops’ advantage midway through the second half.

Dunfermline substitute Gary Dempsey pulled a goal back for the Pars after just a minute after coming on park but it wasn’t enough to prevent Martin O’Neill’s side taking all three points.

Pars boss Jimmy Calderwood opted to replace Sean Kilgannon with Gary Dempsey after 73 minutes and the substitution proved to be an inspired decision.

Dempsey had been on the park for only a minute when he pulled a goal back for Dunfermline. He spotted that Douglas was well off his line and took advantage by lobbing the ball high over the Celtic goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Dair became the second Dunfermline player to be booked after 76 minutes when he clashed with Larsson. The striker required treatment but was soon able to continue.

Shortly after, Larsson was replaced by former Livingston striker David Fernandez, who was given his chance to make his competitive debut for the club.

With just three minutes remaining, Dunfermline were unlucky not to take a share of the points when Douglas was forced into a superb save to deny a thunderbolt effort from Nicholson.

Scottish Premier League results:

Glasgow Celtic 2

Henrik Larsson 41, 66

Dunfermline 0

Dundee 1

Caballero 65

Hearts 1

Gary Wales 33

Hibernian 1

Francisco Luna 31

Aberdeen 2

Mackie 64

Clark 90

Kilmarnock 1

McLaren 80

Rangers 1

Shota Arveladze 30

Livingston 3

Oscar Rubio 8

Rolando Zarate 34, 47

Motherwell 2

Leitch 50

Lehmann 64

Partick Thistle 0

Dundee United 0