By Hibernian FC

Hibs gave as good as they got during an even first period only to trail to goals from Callum McGregor and Albian Ajeti at the interval.

However, the Easter Road men could not get a foothold back in the match in the second half and had Ofir Marciano to thank following a string of super saves that thwarted the dominant hosts.

Celtic did eventually grab a third goal through Mohammed Elyounoussi and condemned Hibs to only their second defeat of the campaign.

Jack Ross unsurprisingly kept faith with the same starting XI that drew 2-2 with league leaders Rangers last weekend. Jamie Murphy returned to the squad after missing out against his parent club and took the place of Stephen McGinn on the Hibs bench.

In the opening minutes of the game a corner kick routine wasn’t executed as planned and allowed Celtic to break and eventually win a free-kick on the edge of the Hibs box. Ryan Christie’s set-piece struck the defensive wall, but it was an early warning sign for the visitors.

At the other end Kevin Nisbet’s lovely diagonal pass found Martin Boyle ghosting in behind Celtic on the left. The winger’s cross was dropped by Vasilios Barkas, although the goalkeeper recovered sufficiently to gather before Alex Gogic could pounce.

The deadlock was broken in the sixth minute when the Hibs defence were slow to close down McGregor, who had time to collect a square pass from Christie before finding the far corner of the net from 25 yards.

After a sluggish start Hibs began to assert themselves and certainly took the game to their hosts with Nisbet continuing to prove a very influential figure in attack. He was heavily involved as the Easter Road men carved out a host of opportunities.

In the 11th minute the striker dragged a shot on the turn just wide of the Celtic goal before moments later racing in behind Shane Duffy and picking out Christian Doidge with a low cross. Doidge instinctively spun and shot for goal only for his effort to brush the outside of the post and go behind.

The battle between Nisbet and Duffy was proving to be an engrossing contest and in the 22nd minute the Hibs striker held off the Celtic defender to reach a clever through-ball from Joe Newell. On the angle, Nisbet attempted to find the far corner of the net but could not quite get the curl needed on his shot to score.

Hibs were enjoying their best period of play in the game and were knocking on the door for an equaliser yet, against the run of play, they fell further behind.

Christie and Jeremie Frimpong worked the ball in from the flanks before finding Elyounoussi, he stabbed the ball towards goal and although Marciano saved, Ajeti swept in the rebound from close range.

With half time approaching Gogic drove forward and slipped the ball into the path of Boyle, the winger had one thought in his mind however his shot was off target.

Hibs had performed well despite the score line, however Celtic were clinical and Neil Lennon’s men went on to finish the half strongly.

First, Duffy sent a looping header onto the roof of the net from Scott Brown’s cross before Greg Taylor’s delivery picked out Frimpong at the back post, but with the goal at his mercy, the defender fired wide.

Both teams made changes during the interval with Lewis Stevenson replacing Josh Doig for Hibs whilst David Turnbull was introduced for Celtic.

After the break Celtic pressed hard for a third goal and at times Hibs struggled to get out. Marciano needed to be at his international best and pulled off a string of fantastic saves to deny the hosts time and again.

The Israeli goalkeeper was down smartly to push away a fierce shot from countryman Nir Bitton on 49 minutes.

Moments later he produced an instinctive stop to deny Brown before getting to his feet quickly to push a Turnbull shot over the crossbar.

With 20 minutes remaining McGregor was the latest to be denied by a fine save from Marciano as Celtic keeping pushing for a killer third goal.

Celtic’s dominance was such that Hibs had rarely been an attacking force in the second half. The Easter Road men had a couple of half chances through Newell although neither worried goalkeeper Barkas.

Hibs’ best chance fell to Nisbet, who ran onto a Doidge knockdown but found his shot bravely blocked at close range by Duffy who put his body on the line to deny the forward.

With 12 minutes remaining Celtic made sure the points would be staying in the east end of Glasgow when Elyounoussi ran onto a through ball and calmly dispatched it beyond Marciano.

The final opportunity of the afternoon fell to Celtic with Marciano diving full length to keep out Edouard’s shot.

Disappointment in the end for Hibs as their perfect away record comes to an end. Hibs will be looking to bounce back on Friday night when Hamilton Academical come to Easter Road.

Celtic: Barkas, Bitton, Duffy, Ajer, Frimpong, Brown (Ntcham 82), McGregor (Soro 86), Christie (Turnbull 46), Taylor, Elyounoussi (Klimala 82), Ajeti (Edouard 37). Unused substitutes: Bain, Griffiths, Rogic, Elhamed.

Hibernian: Marciano, McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Doig (Stevenson 46), Boyle, Gogic, Newell, Wright (Murphy 53), Doidge (Mallan 83), Nisbet. Unused substitutes: Barnes, Gray, McGregor, Hallberg, Shanley, Gullan.

Referee: Steven McLean.

Image: Alan Rennie.