Neil Lennon pleased with the attitude and application of his players

Celtic have looked particularly strong at home this season and should have won more comfortably than 2-1 against the struggling visitors. Skipper Scott Brown, back after injury at the expense of Ki Sung-Yueng, scored his first goal for six months to give the home side a fifth-minute lead and they cruised through the first half in total control.

A Glenn Loovens header after the break sealed the victory, although Derek Riordan's quick reply for the Easter Road men ensured the home fans could not relax until the final whistle.

The victory kept the Parkhead side behind Rangers at the top of the SPL only on goals scored, after the Ibrox outfit came back from two down at Aberdeen yesterday to win 3-2.

"It's six out of six, so we are finding a bit of consistency," Celtic manager Lennon said. "I am very pleased. I can't ask any more of them. They have been fantastic at home so far but they are not going to play brilliantly every home game. There are going to be games when they will have to dig out a result, although I wouldn't say we dug it out against Hibs. We should have won more comfortably.

"Ki and Georgios Samaras were left out but they accept it. They know they are part of the squad and they knew they would feature at some stage in the game. But the attitude and application from all the players has been fantastic. We can't ask any more."

Despite former Celtic striker Riordan reducing the deficit soon after Loovens scored from Shaun Maloney's corner, a comeback never looked likely. However, Daniel Majstorovic played down talk that it is all too easy for Celtic in the SPL.

"It is similar situation to when I played in Switzerland with Basel but it is not so easy," the Celtic defender said. "You always have to be focused and perform well because the pressure is on you. But we are doing very well at the moment which is very good. We are not perfect but we are on the way and that is important."