Tempers flare as Celtic down Dunfermline

Manager Gordon Strachan played down an angry clash between skipper Neil Lennon and teammate Aiden McGeady, pictured September 2006, at the end of Celtic's 2-1 win over Scottish Premier league bottom side Dunfermline.

Manager Gordon Strachan played down an angry clash between skipper Neil Lennon and teammate Aiden McGeady at the end of Celtic's 2-1 win over Scottish Premier league bottom side Dunfermline.

McGeady and Maciej Zurawski produced Celtic's second half goals before Stephen Simmons' grabbed a consolation for Dunfermline in injury time.

That late strike triggered the confrontation between Lennon and McGeady with Celtic midfielder Evander Sno and Owen Morrison of Dunfermline intervening to split the players.

Strachan however insisted there was nothing in the air but professional pride.

He told Setanta Sports: "It is fear of getting beaten and letting goals in. It is as simple as that.

"You have to have that fear in football not to let anything slip or let goals in and be annoyed every time you concede. "That is all it is."

The result maintained Celtic's 16-point cushion over Rangers, 3-0 winners over Hibernian 24 hours earlier.

Celtic displayed no ill effects after their Champions League defeat to Copenhagen in midweek, with Republic of Ireland international McGeady putting them ahead three minutes into the second half at East End Park after a tightly-contested first 45 minutes.

The midfielder left Pars keeper Dorus De Vries no chance with his curling shot from the edge of the box.

Polish striker Zurawski, who had produced the decisive goal in Celtic's 1-0 win over Aberdeen at the start of the month, doubled the Bhoys' lead in the 68th minute.

His strike after collecting Neil Lennon's pass proved crucial with Dunfermline's Stephen Simmons scoring in the last minute of the game.

Kenny Miller had a fine chance to put Celtic in front after just 10 minutes but he failed to connect with Shunsuke Nakamura's cross into the box.

Miller then scored on the half hour mark but the goal was disallowed for offside. And he was undone again five minutes later when De Vries tipped his effort over the bar.

Shortly after McGeady had settled Celtic's nerves in the opening exchanges after the break Zurawski missed a gilt-edged opportunity himself from eight yards.

But it wasn't long before he made amends with Simmons capitalising on a mistake by Celtic's Bobo Balde for Dunfermline's late consolation.

After the final whistle had blown Lennon and McGeady were involved in an altercation with the teammates having to be broken up.

In Saturday's game Rangers sailed past Hibernian with the goals coming from Spanish striker Nacho Novo, Czech midfielder Libor Sionko and captain Barry Ferguson.

Rangers' boss Paul Le Guen said: "I enjoyed the great fighting spirit that we showed against Hibernian. When we have that team spirit we are very difficult to beat and I want to make our players aware of that.

"It is good as we have shown how well we can play. Our performance against Hibs was good but we lack consistency at the moment and though I was delighted with the way we played on Saturday I am cautious as well.

"We have a young team and it is important that they become aware of how big a job it is to be a Rangers player.

"We need to now carry on this form. It is great to win 3-0 but it is not enough to win one match. It means little if we do not keep this level of performance up so we still have a lot to do."

In the other SPL matches on Saturday Aberdeen stayed level with Rangers on 31 points with a 2-1 win at home to Falkirk.

Hearts won 4-1 at home to Motherwell, Dundee United came from behind to win 3-1 at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Kilmarnock and St Mirren shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Rugby Park.