Bellamy the hero as Celtic go top

Dundee United 2 Celtic 3

Craig Bellamy fired Celtic back to the top of the Bank of Scotland Premier League with a terrific hat-trick at Tannadice this lunchtime.

Any hopes Dundee United interim-manager Gordon Chisholm had of a debut result following the sacking of Ian McCall were shot down in flames by Celtic Park’s new hero.

The Wales striker produced three red-hot finishes and, although the home side twice equalised through Jim McIntyre and Barry Robson, Bellamy fired the champions two points clear of Rangers going into the international break.

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill made one change with Stanislav Varga recovering from a mystery illness to replace Stephane Henchoz in the only change to the starting XI which won at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Wednesday.

Chris Sutton was handed a place on the bench after a hamstring problem.

But the Glasgow giants were bracing themselves for a backlash from the bottom club after the sacking of McCall on Monday.

Interim-boss Chisholm made two changes from the team which crashed to Kilmarnock last weekend. Derek McInnes and James Grady were relegated to the bench with recalls for Mark Kerr and Barry Robson.

The home side were given a warning of what was to come in the fifth minute when the in-form Bellamy was inches away from pulling down Varga’s free-kick in the area.

But United were severely punished for leaving the Welshman alone just seconds later as Celtic made the dream start.

The on-loan striker made a run out to the right, was found by Jackie McNamara and then he steadied himself on the corner of the penalty area before letting fly with an unstoppable right-footed drive which flew past the hand of Tony Bullock and into the top corner.