Celtic went to Inverness looking for its 15th win on the trot in Scottish competitions, while Inverness wanted to create an upset, another negative deja vu for the Celtic fans by stunning them at the Tulloch Stadium. Celtic introduced four changes by resting Stokes, Izaguirre, Cha and Forrest, with Samaras, Kelvin Wilson, Matthews and Commons being given the nod ahead of them (the first start of the England born Scottish international since November), by the way ICT introduced Jonny Tuffey and Graeme Shinnie ahead of Ryan Esson and Shane Sutherland.

The match started wit the two team testing themselves against each other; defenses were stronger than attacks but, and there weren’t any important chances, Celtic had the bulk of possession but they were unable to find any space through the Inverness defense, the Caley Jags were defending well and they based their attacking options in counterattacking, long-ball football. It wasn’t a fast, free flowing football match to be honest; neither keeper had been forced into action after the first minutes.

Inverness picked the first chance of the game after Nick Ross’ shot on goal from 18 yards required Fraser Forster’s best form to send the ball away, Ross low shot was really close for ICT. That was a severe warning for Celtic, whom game plan had not worked until that moment.

Celtic could have put them ahead when Kris Commons failed to finish from 10 yards a glorious chance after good footwork by Hooper. The Englishman later delivered the firs Hoops shot of the match after receiving a headed ball from Commons, that wasn’t a great test for Northern Irishman international keeper Jonny Tuffey, who saved comfortably.

We were at the 30^th minute and either team could have put ahead themselves in the scoring. Celtic finally made their mark on the game when in the 32^nd minute, Georgios Samaras galloped down the wing after a precious pass from Commons, entered the area and riffled a fierce shot past Tuffey. There were two massive mistakes from the hosts, as Tokely failed to refuse Commons pass, while Tuffey could have done better to save the Greek’s shot. Celtic had failed to impress during long spells of the match, but they were now in front thanks to their firepower up front. Celtic went on to maintain their possession during the closing stages trying to maintain possession, while Inverness looked shocked after Samaras’ hit. The first half ended with Celtic in the driving seat, after having some nervous during the first 45 minutes, but the match was far away from being closed.

Celtic looked determined to kill off the game after coming from the tunnel, they had a cracking chance after some lovely play involving Brown, Commons and Hooper, the Essex-born striker handed the ball on a plate to Georgios Samaras, but the Greek shoot the ball high on the Highlands sky, rather than in Tuffey’s goal. This was only a glimpse of what Celtic could offer, but they couldn’t continue with that trend as Inverness pressed more as the minutes passed, with Tade looking the Caley Jags more dangerous man up front. They forced lots of corners and the windy weather was a factor that could give Butcher’s man a hand to achieve the draw. Caley’s major problem today was their absolute failure to test Fraser Forster, and this would be a real blow for their hopes. As Caley looked stronger, Butcher took Sutherland on looking for more strength and height up front, as Tade made way in a surprising substitution (he had created Celtic's defense some problems), his Celtic counterpart took on Forrest in place of Kris Commons, who, despite his “assist” (with Tokely’s key help) didn’t have the brightest of the games. At the 67^th minute, Celtic’s Gary Hooper was fouled inside the area by David Proctor and Ewan Murray signaled the penalty spot. Scott Brown scored sending Tuffey the wrong way to convert his third goal in as many  weeks to make the double gap between the two teams, an unachievable difference if we took a look to Caley Thistle’s previous poor efforts. The rest of the game offered little in terms of chances, Forrest played a superb run but his assist to Hooper didn’t end in goal as the striker failed to connect from the far post. Inverness tried hard, but they could only shot way over the bar repeatedly until the final of the game.

This was a close game between Caley and Celtic, but the defensive frailties in key moments from the hosts, and the firepower up front along with their solidity in defense from the visitors were decisive. Celtic have now amassed 15 wins on the trot in Scottish competitions, an impressive run from Neil Lennon’s men who, in midway through February, are still able of doing the Treble (along with Kilmarnock!), something that hasn’t been achieved since Martin O’Neill’s days.