Hibernian 1 Celtic 3: Another day, another twist in the rollercoaster saga that is the race for the league title and another drama in the life of the controversial striker Craig Bellamy.
If the Welshman thought he was leaving incident behind him along with Graeme Souness when he left Newcastle United he was mistaken.
After allegations of disrespect from Clyde players last week the on-loan Celtic forward was accused of "degrading" behaviour by the Hibernian defender Gary Caldwell, a former team-mate at St James' Park.
The Easter Road player, tormented throughout by Bellamy, was incensed at the end when the striker refused to shake his hand.
"I went to shake Craig's hand as I would with any opponent whether we had won 5-0 or lost 5-0 and it's very disappointing when a fellow professional won't do that. It was degrading and disappointing, but you'll have to ask him why he didn't."
Bellamy restricted his after-match comments to praising Hibs. "They try and play the game the right way and that's great. It makes for a good game and that's what we got here."
This latest controversy overshadowed an imperious win for Celtic who are now only four points behind their title rivals Rangers with two games in hand.
The defending champions won the game through first-half goals from the Bulgarian Stilian Petrov and John Hartson and a second-half strike from Bellamy.
Only a last-minute effort from Guillaume Beuzelin and an injury to Chris Sutton spoiled their day out in the capital.
Most observers had predicted a tricky fixture for Celtic and that belief persisted for fully five minutes. Once Petrov struck, though, it was men against boys.
Hartson slid in the second after the half-hour following some good work by Sutton who pulled up in the process of supplying the cross and is now facing a lay-off with a hamstring injury.
Bellamy's third in the 69th minute had a suspicion of offside about it, but his sheer pace left Steven Whittaker for dead.
"I thought we were fantastic," said the Celtic manager Martin O'Neill. "It was an absolute class performance and in the second half Bellamy was unplayable.
"Never mind £6million, he'll be priced at £26million if he keeps on like that."
HIBERNIAN: Simon Brown, Whittaker, Caldwell, Smith, Murphy, Orman (Beuzelin 45), Scott Brown, Ian Murray, Shiels, O'Connor (Sproule 81), Riordan (Konte 81). Subs Not Used: Alistair Brown, Fletcher, McDonald, McCluskey. Booked: Caldwell, Ian Murray, Sproule. Goals: Beuzelin 90.
CELTIC: Douglas, McNamara, Balde, Varga, Laursen, Petrov, Lennon, Sutton (McGeady 32), Thompson (Fernandez 81), Hartson (Beattie 74), Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Marshall, Henchoz, Lambert, Wallace. Booked: Lennon, Balde. Goals: Petrov 5, Hartson 31, Bellamy 69.
Referee: K Clark (Scotland).
