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Leigh Griffiths scored twice in the second half for Celtic

Celtic survived a real test against Inverness Caledonian Thistle to move six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The visitors to Celtic Park wasted three excellent chances before Gary Mackay-Steven opened the scoring after half-time.

Leigh Griffiths added the second within the space of five minutes.

Griffiths fired a third late on. It was the Scotland striker's 32nd goal of an increasingly impressive season.

For Celtic, a stressful day ended happily with an important win and the sight of Patrick Roberts, their loan signing from Manchester City, making a bright debut.

Celtic finished the match with a convincing attacking midfield trio of Scott Allan, Ryan Christie and Roberts. The three of them combined to set up Griffiths, who rifled home in typically ruthless fashion.

Gary Mackay-Steven fired Celtic into the lead against Caley Thistle

Caley Thistle have made strides in the last few months, moving from ninth in the Premiership in mid-December to sixth before this game on the back of an impressive run.

In fairness, they took their confidence with them on the road south. The only problem was that they left their finishing power behind.

John Hughes' team played some terrific stuff and caused Celtic an amount of trouble before the champions found themselves,

Their profligacy was terminal and it started as early as the 18th minute, when an Iain Vigurs free-kick on the left was completely missed by Craig Gordon.

Standing alone behind the goalkeeper was Gary Warren, who duly missed the target with a header that could comfortably be described as a sitter.

Celtic huffed and puffed, but the best moments all belonged to Inverness.

Just after the half-hour, they had a breakaway and a four-on-two with the Celtic defence. They butchered the moment through their own indecision and the marvellous work-rate of Griffiths, who made the key intervention in his own penalty area.

There was a restless mood inside the stadium. Celtic's attacking midfield trio of Stuart Armstrong, Stefan Johansen and Mackay-Steven were passive and error-prone and their supporters were not slow in telling them.

Boos rang out at the break and, within three minutes of the restart, Inverness were in again. It was another counter-attack, after Mackay-Steven had been hustled off the ball.

Jordan Roberts went by the one-paced Erik Sviatchenko with a gob-smacking ease, but his effort was weak and Gordon dealt with it.

That was the sliding doors moment for the visitors. Within 11 minutes, Celtic had scored twice and the game was up.

In those moments, Hughes, standing motionless on the touchline, must have pondered football's capacity to inflict pain.

Mackay-Steven scored the first after Inverness took too long to get rid of a loose ball, the midfielder snapping his shot past goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams.

Then it was Griffiths - unsurprisingly - who added a second when he went on a diagonal run across the Inverness penalty area and then fired across Fon Williams and into the corner of his net.

Celtic bossed it from there. Johansen should have made it three but missed, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.

Their top scorer's second, and Celtic's third, was a classic moment of Griffiths efficiency, aided and abetted by three young players who warrant a lot more game time in the coming months.