Sunday Herald, The: Fight to the finish; Focus back on Rangers as Celtic keep up the

A WEEK has passed since the Old Firm shared the pitch at Ibrox but Rangers can still feel Celtic's breath on the back of their necks.

The league leaders and the defending champions are in each others' pockets at the top of the table. Rangers ought to avoid any reports of Celtic's ominously impressive 4-1 victory at Dunfermline yesterday if they intend to maintain a relaxed mood ahead of their own match at Dundee this afternoon. There were some colourful distractions at East End Park - sombreros, Spanish flags, countless songs about Seville and the Uefa Cup final - but underpinning it all was another persuasive domestic performance from Celtic.

The resurgence of the defending champions' self-belief in the past 10 days has been unmistakable. Even with a clutch of injury worries having been accumulated ahead of Wednesday night's trip to Motherwell, manager Martin O'Neill's mood has been unshakeably buoyant since the moment the club made it through to face Porto for the Uefa Cup.

Seville dominates Celtic's every waking moment these days, but the team are proving admirably resilient and dogged in their defence of the championship.

Two goals from Stilian Petrov, between others from Henrik Larsson, his 41st of the season, and Alan Thompson eased them to victory at East End Park. Only two points separate the Old Firm this morning, and yesterday's result halved Rangers' advantage in goal difference. Rangers might be able to afford two dropped points in the run-in, but Celtic cannot. Joos Valgaeren, who came off after nine minutes yesterday with a back injury, is expected to miss the Motherwell match along with Rab Douglas (thigh), John Hartson (back) and Johan Mjallby (thigh), although Chris Sutton should return after a problem with his groin.

"It's just the wrong time to be getting these injuries," said O'Neill last night. "I have to say, all of them are a worry at the moment." It was hard for him to find problems yesterday, however.

His only other disappointment of the day was conceding a late Dunfermline goal which nibbled away at the ground recovered in terms of goal difference when the score stood at 4-0.

Celtic sensed easy prey here. Within 31 minutes they were 3-0 ahead and their emphasis had switched from merely winning the game to clawing back some of Rangers' advantage in goal difference, which stood at six goals before kick-off but was down to three by full time.

O'Neill would have been pulled by conflicting instincts after the early goals. Maintaining a high tempo might have led to a massacre and redress the goal difference issue, but coasting through the remainder of the afternoon would conserve energy and be less demanding on weary limbs.

Manchester United and Arsenal are masters of winning football matches this way; scoring goals early to put the contest beyond doubt then dropping down through the gears to ensure the side are playing within themselves for the rest of the game. Celtic did so at East End Park, but only marginally. Their entire performance was characterised by a focus and industry which ensured they would never be vulnerable to Dunfermline.

The whole afternoon was without difficulty for the defending champ- ions. Even the two early chances created by the hosts seemed designed to reassure supporters of Javier Sanchez Broto's abilities rather than actually threaten O'Neill's team. Broto saved a low Gary Dempsey shot and a Scott Walker header, prompting a flutter of Spanish flags among the chirpy, beachball-wielding Celtic support.

An 11-minute contribution from Larsson and Petrov extinguished Dunfermline. The move for Celtic's opener began when David Grondin was slack with a pass into midfield.

"He has to learn he's not playing with Patrick Vieira any more," manager Jimmy Calderwood said of his former Arsenal left-back.

Petrov pounced to exchange passes with Paul Lambert before firing in a cross from the right which Larsson met with a flashing contact high inside the back post.

The roles were reversed when Larsson then collected a Bobo Balde flick-on and, with his back to goal, took the ball one way and then the other before teeing up Petrov for a perfunctory drive past Marco Ruitenbeek.

Larsson's appetite for involvement in an apparently mundane fixture was symbolic of the array of qualities which make him such a priceless asset for Celtic. His control and intelligent use of the ball consistently menaced Dunfermline, even if it was to be a day when he was to be as influential as a creator as he was as an assassin.

Petrov offered the most persuasive alternative as man of the match and when he scored a second goal within 180 seconds of his first Celtic were three ahead.

Larsson and then Shaun Maloney, capitalising on Sutton and Hartson's absence to impress in a rare start, ferried the ball invitingly for Didier Agathe to hammer over a cross into the penalty area. Petrov's finish was brave and intelligent.

Under pressure from Scott Walker he cushioned a deft header back across goal into the net when a less subtle connection would have sent the ball into Ruitenbeek's body.

The second half was no less enjoyable for Celtic despite containing only two goals, shared between the two sides. When Larsson drove into the box in 57 minutes he almost seemed to drag Barry Nicholson with him and dictate when the Dunfermline midfielder would foul him. He did, inside the box, and Thompson buried the penalty low in the corner.

Scott McNicol, a 20-year-old Australian making his debut as a substitute, rewarded a spell of spirited Dunfermline play by controlling a Sean Kilgannon cross with his right foot before lashing in a shot with his left which smacked in off the underside of the bar 11 minutes from time.

Celtic remain the only club from which Calderwood has not managed to take a single league point since becoming Dunfermline's manager. His record against the Old Firm is becoming a source of prolonged embarrassment, but Celtic's professionalism made it impossible for him to make a breakthrough yesterday.

In this league race the Old Firm are playing a version of Russian roulette, each waiting for the other to have a fatal round. At Dens Park this afternoon the revolver passes back to Rangers.

o Stan's the man, page six