Celtic 2 - 1 Hibernian: No respite for Hughes as former Hibs hero leads Celtic to victory

• Brown sends home Celtic's first goal Photograph: Robert Perry

A BIZARRE game, this. An oddity. Neil Lennon punched the air at the end and let out the yelp of a relieved man, but, by rights, Celtic shouldn't have had any anxious moments here, shouldn't have found themselves in the position whereby they could still, in theory, have been suckered by a Hibs equaliser at the death. It never came and, to be fair, hardly anybody could have expected it.

John Hughes will not be sorry to see the back of last week, what with the loss at Kilmarnock, the supposed dressing-room flare-up afterwards and the heat that's been put on him by the fans and the media. Hibs, from memory, had one shot on target in the entire afternoon yesterday, which happened to be a delicious goal from Derek Riordan, who in that moment gave a masterclass in the art of lobbing a lighthouse goalkeeper like Fraser Forster from distance.

"Criminal," said Lennon of the defending (by Scott Brown) that afforded Riordan the opportunity in the first place.

"Magnificent," trumpeted John Hughes of the deft chip. It was a beauty, no question, and it made it 2-1 with much of the second half to come. But it wasn't enough.

Celtic played in fits and starts, were flat for large portions, didn't create a great deal and showed little of the ram-raiding qualities they displayed the last time a team from the capital fetched up here. Efrain Juarez headed one on to the crossbar late on and Georgios Samaras appeared as a substitute and could have scored in the dying stages. The win might have been hard-earned, but it was deserved.

It's their 14th victory in a row in the SPL and their sixth on the bounce since the beginning of the current league campaign, a run of wins that is beginning to take on an O'Neill-esque hue. For Lennon's counterpart, the beleaguered Yogi, there was a modicum of encouragement in that his team never folded when it looked like they might having fallen two goals behind.

They rallied, Riordan delivered his peach and they battled on gamely to the end. When you're overseeing such a terrible start to your season then you'll dine heartily on such crumbs.

Wonder of wonders, Brown scored yesterday. He went through all of last season and only got a single goal, away back in March, but in flashes here we saw something of his old self. "He was brilliant," remarked Lennon later. "He's been a big player for me. He has his detractors, but he was absolutely fantastic."

True enough, Brown had plenty of verve about him and he took his goal quite wonderfully after just five minutes. The Celtic manager has many options when it comes to putting the ball in the back of an opponent's net, Anthony Stokes - booked for diving - and Gary Hooper starting ahead of Daryl Murphy and Samaras in this one. But when the likes of Brown start weighing-in as well, then you know you're going places.

It was Juarez, chastened but unbowed by the disgrace unfolding around his ears in his native Mexico, who started things off by finding Brown in midfield. The captain then took off for goal like the dynamic player he once was, played a one-two with Stokes and when the ball came back to him on the edge of the Hibs box, he smashed it sweet and true past Mark Brown. It was the finish of a seasoned goalscorer, not a bloke whose antics in front of goal all last season resembled Mr Magoo feeling his way around in a darkened room. Brown is not a finisher, but he seized this chance with huge aplomb.

Brown's opener took the sting out of things. Thereafter, until things picked up in the second half, we were served up a fairly tedious game. Celtic weren't sharp enough in their passing to cut their way through a heavily-packed Hibs defence and, for their part, Hibs weren't anywhere near good enough to break out and threaten Forster's goal. They didn't have a shot anywhere in the vicinity of the big man until Riordan tricked him later on.

Having conceded early in the first half, Hibs were done for again at the start of the second, Glenn Loovens nutting in from a Shaun Maloney corner, the ball being adjudged to have crossed the line before John Rankin hoofed it away. All of this had the bold Yogi in a rage on the sideline. "Two goals at the start of each half," he bemoaned. "We gave them two goals. Brown's just got through the middle there and we should have sniffed it out and the second one, from a set-piece, killed us. It gave us a mountain to climb."

Hibs looked in serious trouble when Loovens scored. Capitulation could not be ruled out at that point, not the way they've been going recently, not with their confidence levels at such a low ebb. Football, eh? A few short moments after Loovens scored, Riordan delivered, delicately lobbing Forster from his position on the right-hand side of the Celtic box. Given that Forster supposedly measures up at 6ft 7in, he takes a fair amount of lobbing. It was exquisite. "I feel for Derek," said his manager. "To have scored a goal of that quality and to finish on the losing side was tough on him."

Hughes shuffled things about in the pursuit of an equaliser, going with three strikers and a little less caution at the back, but it never really looked like working.

"It was important that we put the onus back on Rangers," said Lennon in the aftermath.

For Hughes, the circus carries on. "We're in there battling," he said. "The spirit is good. It'll turn. If we just stick together, the results will come." It's the new mantra of Easter Road.

CELTIC

F Forster

Cha Du-Ri

D Majstorovic

G Loovens

C Mulgrew (46)

E Juarez

S Brown

J Ledley

S Maloney

A Stokes

G Hooper (70)

Subs used

Ki Sung-Yeung (46)

Samaras (70)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Derek Riordan (Hibs)

For the quality of his goal, it's Riordan ahead of Scott Brown.

TALKING POINT

Brown's goal. We never thought we'd live to see the day.

Referee: C Murray. Attendance: 48,625

HIBERNIAN

M Brown

M Hart (80)

F Dickoh

P Hanlon

J Grounds

E de Graaf (80)

K McBride

L Miller

D Wotherspoon

J Rankin (86)

D Riordan

Subs used

Stephens (80)

Galbraith (80)

Trakys (86)