Celtic last night once again stared opportunity in the face and turned their backs on it. Given the chance to keep their championship hopes alive after Rangers' slip against St Johnstone the previous day, they were never in the hunt.

Pat McGinlay and Kenny Miller scored Hibs goals and the fact that Mark Viduka equalled the Premier League record of scoring in 10 successive matches will be no consolation to Kenny Dalglish.

There is one good reason to watch Hibs this season, for they have uncovered a genuine new talent in the form of their young striker Kenny Miller.

In the 23rd minute, Celtic failed to defend a long diagonal ball that allowed Dirk Lehmann to head the ball forward in the direction of the Finn, Mixu Paataleinen. He in turn scooped the ball back across the goal for McGinlay to rush it into the net.

The half was fairly calamitous for Celtic. They lost their goalkeeper Dmitri Kharine six minutes later with what looked like a bad injury and Jonathan Gould was forced to come on.

Celtic's problems were compounded in the 63rd minute when Franck Sauzee fired in a 30-yard free kick that broke to Lehmann, whose effort was well saved by Gould. But the ball rebounded to Miller, who struck the shot into the net.

Mjallby redeemed himself in the 73rd minute with a pass to Mark Burchill that was transferred to Viduka to keep his record going.

Hibernian: Colgan, Collins, J. Hughes, McIntosh, Smith, Lovell, Sauzee, McGinlay, Miller (Jean 89), Paatelainen, Lehmann. Subs Not Used: Gottskalksson, Hartley, Brebner, Murray. Booked: McGinlay. Goals: McGinlay 22, Miller 63.

Celtic: Kharine (Gould 31), Mjallby, Stubbs, Boyd, McNamara, Petrov, Berkovic (Burchill 46), Wieghorst, Mahe, Viduka, Moravcik. Subs Not Used: Riseth, Blinker, Rafael. Booked: Mjallby. Goals: Viduka 73.

Referee: Jim McCluskey (Scotland).