HAPPY POWER

Slick Celts recharge after Ibrox outage

- MICHAEL GANNON

THERE was a slight moment of confusion and a mild hint of panic when Parkhead was plunged into darkness.

But seconds later the lights came back on and it was business as usual.

Likewise, Celtic put their shock power outage at Ibrox behind them to capitalise on another Rangers blown fuse to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership.

All that fuss in Govan over nothing. It turns out maybe folk just got their wires crossed.

Thursday's Old Firm already looked like the mini blackout early in the second half against St Mirren. It was like Celts were unplugged at Ibrox after being at full power for months.

But as the IT boffins say, sometimes all you need to do is turn something off and turn it back on to get up and running again. A flick of the switch and Brendan Rodgers' men were back to regular programming.

The electric blip may have been down to a power cut in Glasgow's east end but with a 13-point advantage, it really is lights out over Ibrox now.

Celtic didn't look themselves in the derby but it was St Mirren who didn't look themselves here.

Usually the Saints make life hard for opponents. Instead they handed out gifts to a team that didn't really need them.

And it was stuff that will give Stephen Robinson nightmares, like failing to stick to a man at a corner kick and new keeper Zach Hemming chucking in another on his debut. Robinson would have preferred the lights to stay off but Celts were a lot brighter than a few days earlier.