Another victory and clean sheet but injury woes mount for Celtic

● Izaguirre stretchered off late on after bad foul by Johnson ● Hibs tidy in possession but need direction from a new boss

threaten for the home side when his shot was blocked by namesake Darren.

Scott Brown and Christie combined to forge a decent opening for Scott Sinclair but the winger’s shot was deflected narrowly wide of Ofir Marciano’s left-hand post.

With Timothy Weah, Christie and Sinclair forming the advanced midfield trio behind central striker Burke, Celtic’s control of the contest steadily increased.

Christie was unfortunate to see a sweetly struck effort from 20 yards fly just wide, then Marciano was off his line sharply to block a close-range shot from Weah, who had been played in by Mcgregor’s fine through ball.

When Sinclair cut in from the left to curl a shot narrowly beyond Marciano’s left-hand post, there was a growing composure and slashed his shot well wide of Bain’s righthand post.

Celtic skipper Brown appeared fortunate to escape a booking for a crunching foul on Vykintas Slivka in the 29th minute, a decision which Hibs found all the more contentious when referee Craig Thomson flourished his yellow card soon afterwards at Milligan for a similar challenge on Christie.

Dedryck Boyata, back at the heart of the Celtic defence after an injury absence, ensured his side went into the break ahead when he made a brilliantly timed penalty area interception to deny Shaw, who had latched onto Sean Mackie’s fine through ball.

Hibs were forced into a change at the start of the second half, Mark Mcnulty replacing the injured Shaw. They found themselves under increasing pressure as Celtic resumed with intensity and purpose as they looked to make the game safe.

May made a second change, sending on Stevie Mallan for Gauld, who had faded badly after his relatively promising start. Celtic remained firmly on the front foot and Marciano made a stunning save to keep out Boyata’s thumping close range header from a Christie free-kick.

The relentless pursuit of a second goal by Rodgers’ men was finally rewarded in the 64th minute. Christie was the architect with a sumptuous through ball which set Burke free on the right-hand side of the Hibs penalty area. The onloan West Brom man’s rightfoot shot took a deflection off Darren Mcgregor and looped in over the helpless Marciano.

Mcnulty had a chance to open his Hibs account and drag them back into contention when he burst through the middle of the Celtic defence but the on-loan Reading forward screwed his shot wastefully wide.

There was a sour note to the evening for Celtic when Izaguirre sustained his injury due to a foul from Darnell Johnson, which might easily have earned the Hibs substitute more than the booking he received. It was an incident which also denied Vakoun Bayo his debut for Celtic, the Ivory Coast striker having been ready to come on before being called back as Jonny Hayes instead replaced Izaguirre at left-back for the closing stages.

0 New Hibs signing Darnell Johnson fouls Emilio Izaguirre.