Celtic 7-0 St Mirren

A Shunsuke Nakamura hat-trick and a Scott Brown double against 10-man St Mirren helped send rampant Celtic to within just four goals of Rangers at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Buddies defender Jack Ross was sent off in the first half at 1-0 for a penalty-box foul on Scott McDonald with St Mirren keeper Chris Smith saving Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's spot-kick, but that failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the champions, who put in their most productive 90 minutes of the season.

Nakamura's first-half double had given Celtic a comfortable lead but they ran riot after the break, scoring five, with Spanish midfielder Marc Crosas grabbing his first goal and Saints' John Potter scoring an own goal to complete a nightmare afternoon for the visitors.

Celtic join Rangers on 60 points and are closing in on their Ibrox rivals, who could only scrape past Hamilton 1-0 earlier in the day.

Gordon Strachan's side should have improved their goal tally quite significantly in the first half alone, but were denied by a combination of poor finishing, bad luck and Saints goalkeeper Smith.

Surprisingly, it was Smith who handed Celtic a goal after only 16 minutes.

Nakamura took a pass from Hoops skipper Stephen McManus, but his shot from 20 yards, as he was challenged by Gary Mason, looked to be easily saveable, but Smith somehow let the ball slip through his gloves and bounce over the line.

The goal deflated Saints, and thereafter they simply set themselves up to limit the damage.

In the 22nd minute, Celtic youngster Darren O'Dea replaced left-back Lee Naylor, who trudged off, presumably with an injury, but it failed to disrupt the home side's momentum.

McDonald should have doubled Celtic's lead minutes later, but headed an Andreas Hinkel cross wide of the target from the middle of the goal.

However, there was more misery for Saints in the 28th minute, when Ross was sent off by referee Crawford Allan for bringing down McDonald as he set himself to pull the trigger 10 yards from goal after taking a Gary Caldwell pass.

Smith, however, made up for his earlier blunder when he blocked Vennegoor of Hesselink's spot-kick which was driven low down the middle.

It was typical of the big Dutchman's season, having only notched twice since the start of the campaign.

But Celtic were not to be denied, and 10 minutes from the interval Nakamura made it 2-0 when he accepted a Hinkel pass at the edge of the box before slotting past Smith.

A minute from the break Smith produced a fine save from Vennegoor of Hesselink's overhead kick, touching the ball on to the post before McManus's header from Nakamura's corner crashed off the bar.

The contest looked over by the time Allan blew his whistle to end the first half and it most certainly was in the 51st minute when Crosas scored his first goal for the Parkhead club.

When the Spanish midfielder, signed from Barcelona in the summer, picked up the ball 30 yards from goal there looked little danger but he sent in a tremendous half-volley which sped past the helpless Smith.

It became a matter of how many goals Celtic would rack up, and Aiden McGeady tested Smith with two efforts in a minute, the Saints goalkeeper pushing both efforts past the post.

But Brown made it 4-0 in the 55th minute when he played a one-two with Caldwell before swiftly despatching a drive under the body of Smith.

Two minutes later, as the visitors threatened to combust totally, Nakamura completed his hat-trick when he slammed in a trademark free-kick from 30 yards, the ball evading the wall and the scrambling Smith.

In the 68th minute Brown made it 6-0 when he latched on to a Crosas pass and slammed the ball past Smith.

It was shooting practice for Celtic as they went all out to further decrease Rangers' superior goal difference, which had stood at 11 before the game.

St Mirren defender Potter helped that quest along in the 75th minute when he farcically headed Hinkel's searching cross past his own goalkeeper.

The champions pushed for an eighth, and from 25 yards Brown drove inches wide with a left-footed effort but the Celtic support were happy enough to settle for seven.

RTE