Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 Celtic 3: Champions triumph despite Stokes storm

Celtic got back to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership thanks to a 3-1 triumph away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Callum McGregor’s strike put the leaders ahead before Miles Storey levelled just before the break, but Leigh Griffiths fired home from close range in the 59th minute before a late Danny Devine own goal secured the three points.

Striker Anthony Stokes caused a stir before the game as he took to Twitter to vent his anger at being left out of the matchday squad by Ronny Deila, but Celtic proved clinical enough to put their draw with Kilmarnock behind them and restore their seven-point lead at the top.

Snow in northern Scotland led to a pitch inspection prior to kick-off but the game went ahead as planned, with Celtic taking control early on.

McGregor opened the scoring in the 13th minute as Inverness allowed the midfielder to stride towards the penalty area unchallenged, before he picked out the bottom corner from 18 yards with his left foot.

Inverness responded well and were rewarded with an equaliser on 39 minutes. Storey powered through the Celtic defence and, though Jozo Simunovic’s challenge knocked the ball goalwards and forced Gordon into a smart stop, Storey kept his composure to slot home the rebound.

Nir Bitton shot inches wide from distance but the scores remained level until just before the hour mark, when Griffiths steered Kieran Tierney’s low cross from the left high into the net at the near post after some good work by Scott Allan.

Substitute Carlton Cole wasted a glorious chance for a debut goal as he headed McGregor’s cross down into the ground when unmarked at the back post, allowing Owain Fon Williams to claw the ball away from the top corner.

But the former West Ham striker eventually forced a third for Celtic, failing to control the ball after a Fon Williams save, the ball rebounded off Cole’s hand while he was challenged to ground and onto the shin of Devine before nestling in the bottom corner.