Sutton penalty seals Celtic win

FT Celtic 2 Livingston 1

Chris Sutton’s second-half penalty killed off Richard Gough’s gutsy Livingston and sent Celtic three points clear of Rangers at the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League.

They looked like they were getting back to their best following their impressive win at Hearts as John Hartson, who is set to sign a new contract within the coming week, headed his 18th goal of the season to give his team-mates an early lead.

But the SPL strugglers grabbed a goal completely against the run of play from Jim Hamilton before the break and some stunning saves from Colin Meldrum threatened to frustrate them.

Sutton though did beat him from the spot after Hamilton was penalised for handball and the points were secured to pile the pressure on Rangers, who dropped points at Dundee United.

O’Neill gave frustrated Brazilian Juninho eight minutes to shine when he replaced McGeady but the manager was just hoping to keep hold of the three points.

Despite Douglas’ late point-blank save from Bahoken they did just that to complete a good start to 2005.