Festive season begins early for Celtic

Celtic moved to within a point of Rangers following a 2-1 home win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League.

Georgios Samaras scored both goals either side of the break and whilst Killie pulled one back late-on this failed to dampen boss Neil Lennon's Christmas Eve, particularly with Rangers going down at St Mirren.

"The day couldn't have gone better for us," he said.

"A good performance, a good three points and we have closed the gap right up.

"But there is a lot of football to go and regardless of who were playing on Wednesday that would be the most important game.

"Samaras didn't start the game great but got better as the game went on.

"The first goal pleased me the most, I have been looking for him to score more headers because he has that good physical attribute in the air and the second goal was good finishing.

"And we should have won the game comfortably.

"I thought we were in complete control in the second-half without being brilliant, although Ki Sung-yueng missed a couple of chances that would have put the game out of sight."