SPL roundup: Stokes and Sproule on target

ANTHONY Stokes scored his first goal of the season to help Celtic record a comfortable 4-1 win over Kilmarnock and extend their lead at the top of the SPL to 15 points ahead of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who lost 2-1 at St Mirren.

Neil Lennon was delighted with the response of his players, who were widely criticised for their tame display on Sunday when they lost 3-2 to St Mirren in the semi-final of the Scottish Communities League Cup. The Celtic manager also revealed he was confident that Gary Hooper will remain at Celtic when the transfer window closes at midnight this evening.

Hooper was not on the scoresheet last night, andalthough Lennon confirmed Norwich City had made a third bid for the Englishman, he said it fell “well short” of a figure Celtic would accept.

Of the performance, Lennon added: “I’m delighted, we played great. I’m really pleased with the reaction from the players. To be honest, it could have been nine or ten.

“On the back of Sunday, they showed great character. It takes two teams to make a game and I wonder if Kilmarnock will be criticised the way we were?”

In the other SPL matches last night, Hibernian’s decision to offload Ivan Sproule to Ross County in this transfer window backfired spectacularly as the Northern Irishman scored the only goal of the game to give his new side all three points.

John Sutton’s late goal at Tynecastle secured a 1-0 win against Dundee, who are now 14 points adrift at the foot of the table, while St Johnstone recorded an impressive 3-1 victory at McDiarmid Park against Aberdeen.

Goals from Rowan Vine and Dave Mackay settled the issue and moved Saints up to fifth after Gregory Tade and Niall McGinn had exchanged goals in the first half.

“The game was a little bit frantic, the pitch wasn’t conducive to good football,” said St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas, whose team leapfrogged the Dons into fourth spot. “But it was a terrific performance. There’s a lot of positives tonight.