It was more dramatic than any Celtic fan would have liked but with a nine point lead and one hand on the SPFL trophy it was mission accomplished at Ibrox.
The noisy neighbours had been whipped into a frenzy, so much so that Graeme Murty felt confident enough to reveal that his dressing room had cheered the Scottish Cup draw pairing them with the current holders.
Within five minutes it looked ominous, a slip by Dedryck Boyata let in Josh Windass for the opener but slowly Celtic worked their way back into the game.
At times the defending was scary but Celtic’s superior ability was obvious, with the scores level Brendan Rodgers showed his experience with match winning changes following the red card to Jozo Simunovic.
Odsonne Edouard’s goal was a thing of beauty, as was the defending and the way that Celtic closed down space despite being a man down.
After four minutes of stoppage time Willie Collum blew the final whistle to a great roar and the start of celebrations in the Broomloan Road stand.
Rodgers rushed on to congratulate his players, the unused substitutes were elated after an epic win had killed off a short lived challenge for the title.
As the deluded trooped off home the only noise inside Ibrox came from the away support, this week the home dressing room was silent.
GENERATION GAME
He never lets the side down and is an inspiration to the younger players coming through. Broony!
On the back of his display at Aberdeen legendary status awaited and Sevco player that could cement the Celtic skipper- they never got close.
A perfectly weighted pass as Danny Candeias tried to rake his studs down his calf set up Moussa Dembele for Celtic’s second goal and changed the content of the half time team talk.
Down to 10 men Brown found another gear, his team-mates responded and at the final whistle he managed to find a pair of shades. Up there with his best ever days.
MATCH-WINNER
Two minutes after replacing James Forrest the loan bhoy from France had his own place in Celtic folklore.
Brendan Rodgers’ decision to sign up a third striker has turned out to be a master stroke with the Celtic boss showing all of his experience to make game changing substitutions.
Edouard made a decent case to start at Ibrox in his display against Morton, he never took the huff, terrified James Tavernier and showed that within sight of goal he knows how to finish- spectacularly!
IF CARLSBERG DID DEBUTS
His Celtic career could have faded out quietly, during the week there had been a suggestion that Craig Gordon was poised for a spectacular return to action.
Bain’s first task was to pick the ball out of the net in the third minute, he lost another goal before the interval but showed his minerals in the second half in front of a baying home support.
He held his never and some. Clutching a James Tavernier free kick rather than punching it showed his confidence, he stood tall as Alfredo Morelos shot at goal then refused to panic as he collected the ball after the Columbian hitman had struck the post.
A dream debut.