Celtic 3 - 2 Hibs: Celtic roll back the years to snatch victory and peg back Rangers

THERE was something undeniably retro about Celtic's delaying of the inevitable yesterday.

•Neil Lennon (left) hails Celtic matchwinner Morten Rasmussen (right)

At 2-1 down with ten minutes to go, they looked on course to screw up the last vestiges of a title challenge – and any lingering hopes of Neil Lennon becoming permanent manager – in a fashion similar to how they have self-destructed all season. Then something happened that belonged in the realms of two seasons ago. The 20,000-ish crowd roared them on in a more voluble manner than three times that number have this season, the home players started chasing around as if their very lives depended on it, and a sorry Hibernian crumbled.

At the heart of a thrilling turnaround that allowed Celtic to put more distance between last week's Scottish Cup calamity and notch up a fourth consecutive league win for the first time in 17 months was that oddity Morten Rasmussen. An ugly duckling of a player, his introduction in 73 minutes for Niall McGinn, which pushed Marc-Antoine Fortune out wide, changed an encounter that seemed drifting away from Celtic from the moment Anthony Stokes slotted in a penalty earlier in the second period.

The Danish striker, a 1.8 million buy in January, careered around, got himself on the end of things, forced a fine save and had anticipation bubbling up from the stands with an effort that whistled wide, before he got a crucial touch in the build-up to an 80th-minute equaliser. This allowed Aiden McGeady to get on the ball and deliver a cross that Robbie Keane rammed against Graham Stack, the ball looping up for Fortune to bundle in. The Frenchman then was pivotal in Celtic's coup de grace seven minutes later, burrowing down the right and sending over a low cross that Rasmussen pounced on at the front post for a third goal in Celtic colours.

Only the second time this season Celtic have scored in the last five minutes to dig out a win, the three points means that even if Rangers beat Hearts this afternoon, the defending champions will require to wait at least another week to bring up two-in-a-row. With the gap between the top two now eight points, for the first time in months Celtic are within single figures of Rangers.

They achieved that in an enjoyable manner with the match full of adventurous, open play. In part, though, this was for reasons that pointed precisely to why both teams have hit the buffers recently. No team more so than John Hughes' men, indeed. Both have suffered from having hologram defences that give the illusion of being there but which forwards pass straight through. That ensured an explosive opening and thereafter chances came along at regular intervals.

Keane – who else? – was clinical with the first that came his way after only four minutes, an opener that was artfully engineered and executed. McGeady was responsible for the former, breezing past Darren McCormack on the left before sending over a low cross that Fortune dummied and the Irishman then stroked beyond Stack.

Even at that early stage you feared for Hughes' side, who had won only two of their previous 13 games. As with Celtic, they have enterprise, ingenuity and good movement in forward areas. And, as with Hibs, the Parkhead side appear unable to cope with teams that come at them. Witness the debacle of Ross County at Hampden. It would, however, do an injustice to the quality of Derek Riordan's sweet strike to blame it on the home side's inadequacies. But these certainly explained how Sol Bamba and then Stokes were able to plough forward in the lead-up to Riordan burying a 20-yard first-time effort into the corner. His first goal against Celtic since he was punted back to Hibs in 2008, his gleeful celebration was warranted.

There then followed a to-ing and fro-ing that inexplicably did not change the scoreline before the interval. Stokes delayed when the goal opened up for him before setting up Colin Nish, who took a fresh-air swipe from close range, then Niall McGinn side-footed wide after Keane slipped him through on Stack. And so the pattern continued with one 30-second passage minutes before the interval typical. Fortune contrived to get under a header and loop it over after having the ball dropped right on his bonce courtesy of terrific McGeady trickery but from that Hibs broke immediately and only a fine block from Artur Boruc denied Stokes.

Fortune, as usual, looked a decent performer but an unreliable finisher and his afternoon was summed up when he wriggled free of a posse of opponents only to then hit the outside of the post. Moments later, on the 52nd minute, that close call appeared to mushroom in importance as Hibs were awarded a penalty. Curiously, it was for a high boot by Josh Thompson on Stokes that referee Stephen Finnie awarded it – the same offence that resulted in the striker being penalised after an incident with McGeady in Leith a fortnight ago and so allowed Celtic to walk off with the win then. When it comes to a plummeting Hughes side, it seems to be what most opponents do these days.