It was all rather straightforward as Celtic pressed
from the first whistle and after some rather lame attempts, Sheridan
fashioned the lead with a goal that belied his 19 years.
The gangly Irishman worked a fine one-two with McDonald
and galloped through the heart of the Killie defence after taking the
return before sliding the ball past Combe from inside the box.
The
procession towards Combe grew in momentum and there were claims for a
penalty when Killie midfielder James Fowler appeared to push Donati in the
box but referee Mike Tumilty was unimpressed.
Seconds later, Nakamura's free-kick from 25 yards had
Combe scrambling low to his left to gather before Shaun Maloney had an
attempt from a similar range, which went yards wide.
On the half-hour mark, Rugby Park defender Gavin
Skelton was booked for a foul on Nakamura which enraged the home support
given the Japan international had been out since he was crocked against
Killie a fortnight ago.
In a 33rd minute wake-up call for the Hoops, Mehdi
Taouil nipped in as the home defence snoozed to send a drive from the edge
of the penalty area inches past the post.
Three minutes after the break, McDonald raced away from
the Killie defence and onto a searching Gary Caldwell pass before firing
in a low drive from 16 yards which Combe turned away for a corner at his
near post.
Killie survived Nakamura's whipped-in delivery but
another period of backs-to-the-wall defending was under way.
In the 53rd minute, Nakamura became the next Celtic
player to try his luck after taking an Andreas Hinkel pass. The Japanese
midfielder, however, drove wide from the edge of the box.
But there was a flatness rather than an excitement
about the home side's superiority with the Celtic fans, whose numbers
combined with their Killie counterparts fell far below the official crowd
of 55,347, occasionally venting their agitation at their side's inability
to kill the game off.
In the 67th minute, after Manuel Pascali was booked for
a foul on Sheridan 30 yards from goal, Nakamura blazed over the bar.
While Kilmarnock's strategy was clearly
damage-limitation, at only one goal down there was always the outside
chance of an equaliser.
However, that remote possibility was quashed in the
75th minute when Combe spilled Donati's long-range drive allowing
Sheridan, first to the rebound, to scoop the ball in to the roof of the
net.
Georgios Samaras was given a huge cheer when he
replaced McDonald and Koki Mizuno came on for Maloney with seven minutes
remaining but it was Nakamura who notched the third in the 84th minute
when he took a Scott Brown pass before driving high past Combe,
leaving their Ayrshire opponents, who are still looking for their
first win at Parkhead since 1955.
