Celtic reeling in the leaders

Dunfermline Athletic 1 Celtic 4

Rangers can now feel the hot breath of Celtic on their necks as their rivals ominously whittled down the lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to just two points with vigour and style at East End Park yesterday.

The leaders must negotiate a potentially perilous trip to Dundee today in a dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup final, but Celtic's polished progress over the last week suggests they have a double of their own in mind. The Uefa Cup final in Seville may be only 17 days away, but Martin O'Neill's players have no intention of conserving their energy. Last Sunday they went to Ibrox and beat Rangers to throw themselves a lifeline and now it looks as if they are slowly reeling their rivals in.

A week ago, the gap between the two was eight points. Now Celtic could overhaul Alex McLeish side's when they go to Motherwell on Wednesday.

Three goals in 11 first-half minutes ensured that the champions can a still nurse ambitions of a third successive triumph, yet they had to survive intense scrutiny from Dunfermline early on. Jimmy Calderwood's side have lost their way since the winter break, collecting only three wins, but they were more like their old selves and it took two fine saves from Javier Broto to deny them the lead.

The Spaniard, in for the injured Robert Douglas, got down to beat out Gary Dempsey's venomous shot before embellishing his record with a stylish punch to beat away Lee Bullen's net-bound header.

But Larsson is rarely denied. The prolific Swede struck in the 21st minute with his usual ruthless efficiency. Stilian Petrov's aggression won the ball in midfield and he supplied Paul Lambert, who then released Didier Agathé. The winger whipped in a cross that was met at the back post by Larsson's waist-high volley for his 41st goal of the season.

Petrov then killed the contest with two goals in three minutes. His first, in the 29th minute, was delightfully set up by Larsson, who controlled a knock-down from Bobo Balde after Lambert's deep free-kick and laid it into the path of Petrov. The Bulgarian international steered his left-foot shot past Marco Ruitenbeek. Petrov then struck with an angled header past the goalkeeper to finish off a sweeping move that had seen Larsson, Shaun Maloney and Agathé carve Dunfermline apart.

Celtic refused to stop there. Their industry saw every pass greeted with cheers from their fans, before Alan Thompson made it 4-0 in the 59th minute, beating Ruitenbeek by reprising the crisp left-foot penalty that proved so ruthless against Rangers the week before.

Dunfermline, however, were game and the teenager Scott McNicol, who had come on as a substitute, struck an impressive goal on his debut by displaying fine control before thrashing a fierce shot off the underside of the bar 10 minutes from time.

Dunfermline Athletic 1
McNicol 80

Celtic 4
Larsson 21, Petrov 29, 32, Thompson pen 59

Half-time: 0-3 Attendance: 8,923