SPL - Holders Celtic win at Inverness

Celtic made it a hat-trick of victories over Inverness Caledonian Thistle this season with a 2-0 win in the Scottish Cup fifth round at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

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Georgios Samaras, often the source of much frustration amongst the Celtic faithful, put his side into the lead after 33 minutes before spawning a hat-trick of second-half chances as Celtic looked to close out a difficult fixture.

And it was left to captain Scott Brown to secure the victory from the penalty spot after Gary Hooper had been felled in the box with 22 minutes to go.

Celtic, a point clear at the top of the SPL with a game in hand, went into the game against former Rangers man Terry Butcher’s side in great form, but Inverness were also on a decent run of form that has seen them unbeaten in their last five league outings.

Neil Lennon will have been wary of a side that tend to perform well in cup competitions against Celtic, having caused plenty of upsets in the past, and the Celtic manager made four changes for the trip to the Highlands.

Defenders Adam Matthews and Kelvin Wilson, midfielder Kris Commons and striker Samaras came in for Cha Du-ri, Emilio Izaguirre, James Forrest and Anthony Stokes; while Butcher replaced goalkeeper Ryan Esson with Jonny Tuffey and brought in midfielder Graeme Shinnie for Shane Sutherland.

With both sides adapting to the changes in personnel, the game started in a frenetic fashion and looked to be heading to half-time scoreless until Samaras capitalised on a slip from Ross Tokely to bear down on the goal of Tuffey, albeit at a tight angle, before lashing past the goalkeeper to give Celtic the lead.

Caley responded well to going behind - and, in fact, had the better openings before the goal, with Fraser Forster getting down smartly to push a Nick Ross effort from 18 yards around the post following some good hold-up play from Gregory Tade.

And almost immediately after going behind the home side were almost hauled level through the head of Tokely but his header just edged over following reported Celtic target Jonny Hayes' searching delivery.

Celtic finished the half in relative comfort but without looking willing or capable to add to their lead. However, they began the second-half in boisterous fashion and Samaras could - and should - have added to his - and his sides' - tally.

First he slid in to flash an effort over the bar from no more than six yards out before stabbing Joe Ledley's teasing cross wide from the edge of the six yard box.

He then headed a Charlie Mulgrew cross into the arms of Tuffey before Hooper went down under the challenge of David Proctor in the box. Brown made no mistake from the spot and the cup holders held out despite a spirited effort from the home side.

Butcher cut an increasingly frustrated figure on the touchline as his side failed to fashion a decent chance of note despite considerable effort.

The victory sees Celtic move into the quarter-final draw still in with the chance of a treble.