Georgios Samaras bagged a brace as Celtic beat Rangers 2-0 to blow the title race wide open.
Greek striker clinches victory with first league goals of the season
Georgios Samaras bagged a brace as Celtic won 2-0 at Old Firm rivals Rangers to blow the title race wide open.
Although the Hoops headed into the traditional New Year's derby with a one-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League, their bitter rivals have two games in hand.
But two second-half strikes from Samaras - the second from the penalty spot - saw Celtic extend their advantage to four points.
Both sides were forced into changes with Rangers youngster Jamie Ness handed a first start after Steven Naismith (hamstring) failed to recover in time, and new Celtic signing Freddie Ljungberg was ruled out after picking up a virus so Beram Kayal, Charlie Mulgrew and Samaras all came into Neil Lennon's team.
Early scare
The visitors survived an early scare when Lee McCulloch headed a Vladimir Weiss corner goalwards. Celtic left-back Emilio Izaguirre was on the far post and managed to get his head to the ball, turning it against the crossbar and out to safety.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between in a scrappy opening spell, but Celtic threatened when Paddy McCourt slipped a lovely pass to James Forrest in front of goal only for McCulloch to make a timely intervention before he could unleash a shot.
Mulgrew and home defender Madjid Bougherra clashed in the 27th minute, which saw each player booked by referee Craig Thomson, before Rangers spurned a chance to snatch the opener at the end of a disappointing first half.
Steven Whittaker collected a flighted cross from Weiss but miskicked under pressure from Mark Wilson and the opportunity was lost.
Celtic came out brighter after the break and could have grabbed the advantage shortly after the restart when McCourt pounced on a Samaras flick-on only to fire across the face of goal.
The game was badly in need of a goal and Steven Davis lofted over several Celtic players into the path of Kenny Miller but goalkeeper Fraser Forster raced off his line to clear.
Deadlock broken
But the match eventually sparked into life in the 62nd minute when Samaras opened the scoring for Celtic.
Richard Foster lost possession to Joe Ledley, who punted the ball over the top for Samaras. The Greece international had escaped his markers and kept his composure to round onrushing keeper Allan McGregor before coolly slotting home from a wide angle.
And victory looked secure eight minutes later when Samaras cut in from the right and was tripped by Bougherra just inside the penalty area before sidefooting firmly inside McGregor's left-hand post, just beyond the reach of the Rangers keeper.
The hosts faced the daunting task of hauling themselves back into the game but could have given themselves a lifeline had Bougherra's volley been on target following good work from Sasa Papac.
With time fast running out for the Scottish champions, substitute Kyle Lafferty smashed a 25-yard free-kick straight into the Celtic wall, and only a fine fingertip save from McGregor denied Samaras a hat-trick in stoppage time.
That could not detract from a fine individual performance, though, as Samaras finally claimed his first league goals of the campaign to seal a precious win.
