League champions Celtic handed out a thrashing to Inverness Caley Thistle as they strolled to a 6-0 win at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon. 

Irish striker Anthony Stokes bagged himself a hat-trick before Leigh Griffiths, Efe Ambrose and Teemu Pukki all got in on the act. 

Caley Thistle’s Aaron Doran had a penalty saved in the second-half by Fraser Forster, after Virgil van Dijk was adjudged to have fouled Billy MacKay in the box.

With three games remaining Celtic are still on course to break through the 100-point barrier, which manager Neil Lennon is so desperate to breach, and are 27 points ahead of second-placed Aberdeen. 

It was also the biggest win and heaviest defeat in the Scottish Premiership this season.

In yesterday’s only other game, two first-half goals from Calum Paterson were enough to give relegated Hearts a 2-1 win over city rivals Hibs in the last Edinburgh derby of the season.

The defeat drags Hibs further into the relegation mire with Terry Butcher’s side just one point of 11th-placed Kilmarnock in the relegation play-off spot. Jordan Forster scored the consolation goal for the Easter Road side.

Partick Thistle and St. Mirren cancelled one another out in a 1-1 draw on Friday night. Thistle opened the scoring through a Kris Doolan header but against the run of play, Kenny McLean equalised after converting from the penalty spot.

Saturday’s fixtures saw Dundee United demolish Motherwell 5-1 at Tannadice, Nadir Ciftci continued to impress by bagging himself a brace and goals from Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Dow and Brian Graham gave Jackie McNamara’s side all three points. 

Lionel Ainsworth scored a late consolation for the visitors, with the defeat denting their hopes of finishing second in the league behind Champions Celtic.

Ross County secured all three points with a 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Kilmarnock. Filip Kiss gave County a first-half lead. 

In the second half County skipper Richard Brittain despatched a 77th minute penalty before Killie striker Kris Boyd scored a late consolation goal. 

The win for County sees them leadp frog Kilmarnock, who dropped into the relegation play-off spot with three games remaining.

It was a repeat of the Scottish Cup semi-final as Aberdeen played host to St. Johnstone and neither side could be separated, having to settle for a 1-1 draw. 

St. Johnstone striker Stevie May latched onto a Robertson pass back to give the visitors the lead, before Adam Rooney was gifted an equaliser by Chris Millar to see both sides share a point apiece.

Andy Muirhead is a freelance football writer and is currently the editor of the Scottish football website Scotzine www.scotzine.com