Football: BHOY BAND BELT OUT A HIT RECORD; Partick Thistle 1 Celtic 4 No mercy as Celts hit mark.

Byline: By Hugh Keevins

CELTIC were so determined to create history that Morton never had a hope of going down in the record books as their equal partners.

The Greenock club's achievement of 23 league wins in a row was smashed by the kind of remorseless display that has characterised the title progress of Martin O'Neill's side.

First-half goals from Chris Sutton and Stanislav Varga were followed by a Sutton penalty after the interval.

While everyone waited for the arrival of Jorge Cadete off the subs' bench, Thistle introduced the slightly less well known Andy Gibson and he made a goal for player-manager Gerry Britton.

The lead-up was disputed by Neil Lennon, who fought to keep his temper in check in the face of provocation from the home fans and eventually indiscipline got the better of him when he was booked for a foul on Ian Ross.

Cadete arrived to a mixed reception as well when he got the last 25 minutes in place of John Paul McBride, his former kit boy at Celtic Park.

The Portuguese striker looked improbably sharp for a man who had not played competitively for the past year and a half but he never appeared in danger of scoring to further reduce Celtic's lead.

Even less likely was another former Celt, the spectacularly non-prolific Stephane Bonnes, who arrived in place of Britton 10 minutes before the end just in time to see Varga rise above a static home defence to nodNo.4.

It was a livelier spectacle than could have been anticipated, given the kind of season the clubs have enjoyed and endured.

The element of mis-match was reflected in the make-up of both teams as well as the SPL table.

Fifty-eight points separated the top and bottom outfits at kick-off, an imbalance as great as the difference in size between Celtic's defence and the home side's attack.

Britton, James Grady and Jamie Mitchell were confronted by a back three of John Kennedy, Bobo Balde and Varga that dwarfed them to the extent they almost blocked out the sun that bathed a decent Firhill pitch.

Playing well at Firhill has never been a characteristic of O'Neill's otherwise celebrated team but they started the game determined to blow Thistle off the pitch.

Kenny Arthur was forced to make an outstanding save from Balde, who had deserted his defensive responsibilities to get his headon a Stilian Petrov corner kick after only three minutes.

If it was the keeper's way of drawing attention to himself, the save was better value than his luminous lime green jersey.

It was Henrik Larsson's face that should have been scarlet with embarrassment when he blew another chance to break the deadlock five minutes later.

The pass that picked him out was from Alan Thompson and Larsson ignored claims for offside before lifting the ball over Arthur's head and the bar as well.

And the misses from Celtic grew more extraordinary the longer the game went on.

Larsson delivered a cross on to Sutton's head that looked to be unmissable from close range but the finish was screwed wide.

Celtic were irresistible until they had to convert their superiority into goals, a rare lapse for a side whohad scored 77 before arriving at Firhill. What could have been more surprising than Celtic's carelessness would have been a goal for the home team.

Rab Douglas' role was that of casual bystander, occasionally called upon to clutch a hopeful cross. It was incredible that a game where possession was so unevenly distributed should remain on level terms.

The breakthrough came 10 minutes before the interval when Kenny Milne was rightly pulled up for fouling Petrov and wrongly booked for the offence.

Thompson's free-kick was flicked on by Kennedy who picked out Larsson at the far post. His header across the face of goal found Sutton diving to glance the ball past Arthur.

Celtic liked the method of goal creation so much they did it again four minutes later.

Thompson saw Varga lurking at the back post and his header went across Arthur's body and in off his left-hand post.

When Celtic extended their lead in 51 minutes from the spot, it was no more than they deserved. Milne brought down Kennedy as he augmented his forwards and the award was only disputed by the most fevered home supporter. Sutton was calmness personified as he sent Arthur the wrong way.

Gibson was introduced to stoke the fire in Thistle's belly and he set up Britton's goal.

Douglas did all he could to parry Gibson's close-range shot but the alert Britton swept the rebound low into the net.

But when Varga re-established Celtic's lead another benchmark had been added to a remarkable season for O'Neill's side.

Paul Lambert and Momo Sylla were brought on in place of Sutton and Lennon confirmation the manager knew the job was done and it was time to let his thoughts turn to Thursday's UEFA Cup tie against the next set of underdogs to face Celtic.

MAN OF THE MATCH Stilian Petrov (Celtic)

CAPTION(S):

CHRIS COMES ACROSS: Sutton breaks the deadlock and sends Celtic on the road to another victory as his flying header beats keeper Kenny Arthur; NOD YOUR DAY KENNY: Arthur is beaten again as Varga's header rips into the net and Celtic enter the record books with their 24th league win; ANOTHER ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Varga; celebrates his double with Larsson as Lennon puts the stoppers on old Bhoy Cadete