Livingston 0 - 2 Celtic

Celtic moved within one victory of the SPL title after beating basement club Livingston 2-0 this afternoon at Almondvale.

Goals from on-form Shaun Maloney and Polish international Maciej Zurawski in the second half means a Celtic win a week on Wednesday against Hearts will see the trophy return to Celtic Park.

Both sides looked lively in the first half with Zurawski heading off the crossbar from closerange and Richie Britain forcing Celtic keeper Arthur Boruc into a great save using his legs.

Stephen McManus was lucky to stay on the park after he lunged into a two-footed tackle with Allan Walker but referee Kenny Clark only produced a yellow card.

Livi continued to fight and Sam Morrow's header found the underside of the crossbar although the linesman's flag was up to deem him offside anway.

The teams went into the second half at 0-0 - a fair reflection of a closely contested first half half battle.

But it took the champions elect just two minutes to make it 1-0.

Maloney's cross was touched on by Shunsuke Nakamura and Zurawski slotted home past Roddy McKenzie.

And it was 2-0 moments later after Dion Dublin was fouled in the penalty box and Maloney's penalty sent McKenzie the wrong way.

There were more chances for Celtic to extend their lead later in the game after McKenzie lost posession of the ball at the edge of the 18-yard-box but Stilian Petrov's shot on an empty goal went wide of the post.

But Maloney's penalty took the sting out of the game and Celtic looked in control from the onwards.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan was happy with how the Hoops went about their win today. He said:

"For 15 minutes we were really hot, so it's been a good week for us, with the League Cup win last week and the win over Inverness on Wednesday.

"I'm happy with the points. Livingston were excellent in the first half. They should be pleased with their display."

But Livingston gaffer John Robertson felt his side were hard done by. Robbo said:

"We were terrific in the first half. We got about Celtic well and could and should have been ahead.

"Celtic were maybe fortunate to keep McManus on the park and it's wee things like that you need to go your way.

"At the start of the second half, Celtic finished us with a quick goal and a soft penalty - Dion Dublin went down very easily.

It's now a matter of time until the SPL trophy returns to the green half of Glasgow and Celtic fans will be hoping they can do it with a win against second placed Hearts in ten days time.

Livingston: McKenzie, Mackay, Strong, Dorado, Tierney, McNamee (Healy 57), Adams (Dorrans 61), Brittain, Hoolahan, Morrow, Walker.

Subs Not Used: Snodgrass, Roy, Hislop, Miller, Whelan.

Booked: Walker, Strong.

Celtic: Boruc, Telfer (Wallace 45), McManus, Balde, Wilson (Varga 64), Nakamura, Petrov, Lennon, Maloney, Dublin (Hartson 80), Zurawski.

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Thompson, Pearson, Lawson.

Booked: McManus.

Goals: Zurawski 47, Maloney 52 pen.

Att: 7,486

Ref: K Clark