Celtic cruise to win over Kilmarnock

Celtic 4 Kilmarnock 1

Celtic shrugged off their poor pre-season form to begin the defence of their Bank of Scotland Premier League crown with a routine victory over Kilmarnock at Parkhead.

Gordon Strachan’s side have endured a miserable run in their friendly matches leading up to the new season, culminating in a dispiriting defeat against a second-string Manchester United outfit on Wednesday.

But, following the unfurling of the championship flag by chairman Brian Quinn, the Hoops produced a clinical performance to get their campaign off to a winning start.

Maciej Zurawski notched the first goal of the new SPL season in the 25th minute after strike partner Kenny Miller had robbed Kilmarnock defender David Lilley and set up the Poland striker with an astute cross.

Jiri Jarosik then netted his first goal for the Hoops with a 38th-minute header following good work from Miller and Mark Wilson before Shunsuke Nakamura netted a wonderful second-half free-kick.

Steven Naismith grabbed an 87th-minute consolation for Kilmarnock but Zurawski put the seal on the match from close range in the closing seconds.

The home side were missing suspended captain Neil Lennon – Stephen McManus was handed the armband for the day – but began brightly and with a purpose to their play.

In the fifth minute a deep cross from left-back Mo Camara found Nakamura in acres of space at the back post only for the Japan midfielder to slice wide.

In the eighth minute Celtic squandered an almost identical chance when Aiden McGeady’s deflected shot fell into the path of Miller, but the Scotland forward scuffed his effort wide.

Strachan’s men continued to press for an early goal and Zurawski almost provided it in the 15th minute with a cultured side-footed effort from 12 yards which Frazer Wright – partnering Lilley in the Killie defence as a result of Simon Ford’s injury – did tremendously well to block.

Two minutes later and it was the visitors who came close to scoing when Gary Caldwell overran the ball and was robbed by Naismith, who raced into the box unchallenged but was denied twice by Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

In the 25th minute the champions took the lead when Miller picked the pocket of Lilley down the left and crossed intelligently for Zurawski to notch the first goal of the new SPL season with a cool finish past Graeme Smith, who was deputising for Alan Combe.

The goal released some of the tension that might have existed in the stands following Celtic’s poor pre-season campaign, but the champions failed to immediately build on the World Cup forward’s strike.

Indeed in the 10 minutes following Zurawski’s goal it was Jim Jefferies’ men who were the more progressive and they caused alarm bells to ring in the home defence from a scrambled corner in the 35th minute.

However, three minutes later the Hoops strung together a terrific move to double their lead over the Ayrshire side.

Miller’s fine close control sucked in two defenders to allow Wilson time and space to pick out Jarosik with an accurate cross and the former Chelsea midfielder headed efficiently past Smith for his first goal for the club.

Zurawski could have wrapped up the points just seconds into the half when he latched onto a clearance down the right and cut into the box but poked his shot just wide of Smith’s right-hand post.

Miller was clearly desperate to get off the mark for his new club but was frustrated twice in a matter of minutes at the start of the second period.

First, Stilian Petrov shot from a tight angle under pressure when he could have squared it to Miller and then the unmarked former Wolves striker was denied by Smith as the Killie goalkeeper dashed from his goal to get to a through-ball first.

Celtic kept pressing for the third and Caldwell almost matched Jarosik with a debut goal, but his firm header was cleared off the line by Garry Hay.

Jefferies made his first switch after 63 minutes when Colin Nish was replaced by Gary Wales and five minutes later Peter Leven came on for Paul di Giacomo.

With the game petering out as a contest, Nakamura livened up proceedings with a marvellous 75th-minute free-kick which arrowed past Smith and into the left-hand corner of his net.

Strachan made his first substitution when Jarosik was replaced by another new signing, Evander Sno, with five minutes remaining.

The game ended with a flurry of activity with Boruc claiming he was fouled twice in the same Kilmarnock attack which ended up with Naismith hooking in an 87th-minute consolation for the visitors.

Miller was then replaced by another man making his competitive debut, Derek Riordan, and the former Hibernian forward was involved in Zurawski’s second goal in the final minute.