Champions Celtic went top of the Scottish Premiership as they strolled to a 4-0 win over Motherwell thanks to a second-half brace from Mikel Lustig on Wednesday.
Celtic struggled to break down a packed Motherwell defence before Virgil van Dijk headed home the opener in the 26th minute and Leigh Griffiths nodded in a second two minutes before the break.
Stefan Johansen and Emilio Izaguirre both saw chances hit the woodwork before Lustig, on his return from two months sidelined with injury, added a third in the 76th minute.
The Swede grabbed his second five minutes later with a diving header before coming close to a hat-trick with a late shot that hit the bar as Celtic moved a point ahead of Aberdeen, with a game in hand over the Dons.
Celtic manager Ronny Deila was very pleased with the professional performance from his side.
"It was very hard to beat a team that defended so deep and it took a bit of time to open them," Deila said.
"It was another clean sheet and hard working performance. I'm happy for the defenders as well as they scored three goals."
Motherwell boss Ian Baraclough felt his side only had themselves to blame for the defeat.
"Coming here was always going to the difficult as we were playing against a team full of confidence and full of good individuals," Baraclough said.
"But we gave the ball away too cheaply and we contributed to our own downfall in that regard."
Celtic made just one change from the weekend win over Hamilton as Liam Henderson dropped out of the squad altogether with Anthony Stokes partnering Griffiths up front.
Despite speculation linking him with a move away from the club, Kris Commons retained his place in the Celtic starting 11 to start his third successive game for the first time since August.
The breakthrough eventually came as Van Dijk, another whose future at the club is uncertain, grabbed his seventh goal of the season.
Stokes' corner was headed back to him by a Motherwell defender and he took advantage as he swung a ball to the back post where the Dutch defender duly despatched a powerful header beyond Dan Twardzik.
Stokes was the architect again as Griffiths made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute.
The Irish international raced down the left and sent a delivery into the box for Griffiths to flick a header past the stranded keeper.
Dominic Thomas replaced Lionel Ainsworth at the break and within three minutes was presented with Motherwell's best chance of the match as Craig Reid set him up in the box but he fired his shot wide.
Celtic came close to increasing their lead in the 59th minute when Stefan Johansen sent a cushioned header off the post after connecting with Emilio Izaguirre's cross.
The Norwegian then jinxed into the box and laid the ball off for Commons who was thwarted by Twardzik who made a great save to block his low shot from close range.
Lustig, who came on at half-time for Adam Matthews, finally made it 3-0 when he turned in a cross from James Forrest.
The Swede didn't have to wait long to double his tally as he got on the end of a Griffiths delivery to send a powerful diving header past Twarzik.
Elsewhere, Dundee United missed the chance to move third as they were held to a 1-1 draw away to lowly St Mirren, Kris Doolan scored four as Partick Thistle defeated Hamilton 5-0 and Dundee defeated Kilmarnock 1-0.
Source: AFP
