Celtic win another Anglo-Scot derby

Fulham 1 Celtic 2

Early goals from Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson earned UEFA Cup finalists Celtic victory in a competitive friendly with Fulham at Loftus Road tonight.

The Celtic pair both struck in the opening quarter of an hour as the Scottish side edged out their Premiership hosts.

Chris Coleman’s side responded through Facundo Sava and Barry Hayles twice went close to equalising late on but Celtic held on.

The Bhoys started brightly when former Blackburn and Chelsea striker Chris Sutton volleyed over from a Larsson cross.

And the visitors did not have to wait long to get on the scoresheet as Petrov controlled brilliantly on the edge of the area and lashed a low shot past Edwin van der Sar after eight minutes.

The game was surprisingly competitive early on and Magnus Hedman needed to be quick to deny Louis Saha a shot at goal.

It was Celtic who looked the most threatening however and they claimed their second after 14 minutes when Bobby Petta breezed through the Fulham defence and laid on a chance that Larsson finished coolly from close range.

Celtic dominated possession and limited Fulham to long-range efforts from Luis Boa Morte and Junichi Inamoto. The home side’s best chance came when Hedman kept out a powerful Sean Davis strike just before the interval.

With both sides making a handful of substitutions at half-time, the game lost some of its tempo but Fulham managed to pull one back on the hour through Sava.

The Argentinian was on hand to poke home after Celtic made a mess of a clearance.

Hayles almost levelled the scores when he powered a header against the bar and when he forced a good save from substitute keeper with Rob Douglas a fierce shot.

The worst news for Celtic boss Martin O’Neill was an injury to Stanislav Varga, who was stretchered off injured after 18 minutes.