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Partick Thistle 1 Celtic 4
As record-breaking events go, this one was pretty routine. For this Celtic side however, 'routine' is more often than not the effortless obliteration of passing opponents that surely provokes considerable envy on the part of domestic competitors. Having seemingly gotten over the near-thing of dropped points at home to Dundee United last weekend, there was about as much uncertainty surrounding the outcome of this match as there was fuss about the Celtic performance. That is, minimal.
Celtic were rarely troubled in this pedestrian win with goals coming from Chris Sutton (2) and Stanislav Varga (2). The opener by Sutton followed 35 minutes of intense pressure on the beleaguered hosts but just when the Jags eyed half-time with some hope, Thompson's free kick was headed back across goal by Larsson for Sutton to head in. It was another Thompson free kick that double the score three minutes later with Stanislav Varga taking advantage of poor Jags marking to head into the roof of the net. Sutton made sure from the spot on the 52nd minute, while Britton grabbed a consolation goal for Partick and Varga wrapped up the scoring with another fine header 9 minutes from time.
"I'm delighted to have broken the record and I'm sure it will stand for a few years because it's a big achievement by the team," O'Neill told reporters after surpassing Morton's 40-year-old record of 23 straight wins set in 1963-64. "The record was a focus but it's gone now and we might as well try to continue on and we will do exactly the same next week." Man of the Match winner Alan Thompson also expressed satisfaction over establishing a new, incredible, record but emphasised that the team's focus was on the league: "Records are nice when they come along but they are not what you set out to achieve - you set out to win leagues. That was our aim at the start of the season and what we are striving for now. I think the full squad deserves credit. People have come in and done jobs and we have thoroughly deserved our lead. Hopefully we can keep that now."
