Celtic recover to rout Falkirk 4-1

12/08/2007 01:47

By Kenny MacDonald

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Champions Celtic surged back from a goal down to win 4-1 at Falkirk and secure their first Premier League win of the season on Saturday.

Rangers climbed to the top of the table when strikes from skipper Barry Ferguson and new signing Daniel Cousin gave them a comfortable 2-0 win against St Mirren.

Celtic, held to a 0-0 draw by Kilmarnock in their opening game, fell behind after four minutes when Michael Higdon headed home an inviting cross by Steven Thomson.

But Celtic equalised on the half hour after Italian midfielder Massimo Donati, who had a near post shot parried by Falkirk keeper Tim Krul, squeezed the rebound under him forcing defender Kenny Milne to turn the ball into his own net.

Falkirk faded after the interval, but Celtic squandered several chances before Aiden McGeady hit the post with a spectacular overhead kick on 76 minutes and Kenny Miller rammed home the rebound from eight metres.

Milne’s misery was compounded when he was shown a red card for bringing down Dutch striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink on 79 minutes and gave Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura the chance to curl in a fine free-kick for 3-1.

Celtic completed the scoring shortly after when Miller released Vennegoor of Hesselink who rounded Krul before rolling the ball into an empty net.

Ferguson .....continued below

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opened the scoring for Rangers in the 52nd minute. He latched on to the ball in the box after Lee McCulloch chested down a cross from Allan Hutton and slotted home.

Gabon striker Cousin came on as a substitute and fired the second goal in the 80th minute to take Rangers to the top of the SPL with six points from two games.

Hibernian recovered from two goals down to inflict a 4-2 defeat on newcomers Gretna.

Gretna went ahead with goals from Uruguay striker Fabian Yantorno and Colin McMenamin. But Hibs pulled back to 2-2 in the second half with efforts from Moroccan forward Merouane Zemmama and Steven Fletcher.

Zemmama made it 3-2 and Kevin McCann stroked home the killer fourth in the 90th minute.

Motherwell beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 with a last minute penalty winner from Ross McCormack.

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