Celtic made it back to back wins under the returning Martin O’Neill with a narrow 1-0 win away to Falkirk, becoming only the third away side to return home from The Falkirk Stadium with all three points this season.

The result means the Glasgow side leapfrog their neighbours Rangers into second place on goal difference, but remain six points behind Hearts who defeated St. Mirren in tonight’s other fixture.

The only goal of the game came on the stroke of half-time, with Celtic’s top goalscorer Benjamin Nygren scoring what would be the winner a minute before the whistle as he nodded an Arne Engels corner home.

The home side had it much their own way in the first half, with Barney Stewart sending an early warning signal to the Celtic backline when he got in behind and fired straight at former Falkirk loanee Kasper Schmeichel seven minutes in.

John McGlynn’s men maintained the pressure and came even closer fifteen minutes later, when a curled Calvin Miller set-piece from the left wing seemed to stop dead inside the Celtic six-yard box, eventually being cleared by left-back Kieran Tierney.

And the biggest chance of the half would come just two minutes after. Kyrell Wilson done extremely well to beat Tierney to a ball over the top and drove in from the right, rounding Schmeichel with a smart side step, before losing balance and firing his shot high and wide.

It remained one way traffic at the Falkirk Stadium and just before the half hour mark the hosts came close again. A slack pass from Daizen Maeda to his defence was pounced upon by striker Barney Stewart, who once again seen his effort swallowed by Schmeichel as the Hoops survived yet another scare.

Seemingly against the run of play and with a mere minute before the half time whistle was blown, an Arne Engels in-swinging corner met the head of Benjamin Nygren. The Swede found the bottom corner and netted his tenth goal in the league this season, to give his side a perhaps undeserving lead at the break.

A real collector’s item at half-time as the referee team made the only change. John Beatton swapped with his fourth official Sean Murdoch due to injury as he officiated his first game, or half if you will, of Premiership action.

Celtic had the ball in the net again nine minutes into the second period courtesy of Daizen Maeda, but the Japanese forward was clearly offside and the scoreline remained 1-0.

The defending champion’s first real sight on goal after the disallowed effort came around ten minutes from time. Reo Hatate was played in the box with space, and his low cross was met by Johnny Kenny. The Irishman’s attempt was blocked and bounced back off of him for a goal kick.

Falkirk immediately went up the other end and produced a chance arguably bigger than any of those created in the first half. Liam Scales failed to clear a bouncing ball which landed at sub Ethan Williams’, but his strike was met by the extended leg of Kasper Schmeichel to deny his former side.

The Bairns remain in the top six, five points clear of seventh placed Dundee United but will come away from this feeling aggrieved they haven’t taken anything out of the match. They travel to the capital on Saturday evening, to face Hearts in Scottish Cup action.

As for Celtic, it is another win for Martin O’Neill who has won nine of hasten matches in charge over two spells as interim manager. The display did not complement the result and the Northern Irishman will no doubt be eager for reinforcements. Celtic travel to Rugby Park on Sunday to face non-league Auchinleck Talbot in the cup.

FALKIRK: Bain 6, McCann 5, Henderson 6, Spencer 5, Yeats 4 (Parkinson 63’ 2), Stewart 2 (Marsh 63’ 3), Allan 6, Tait 5 (Cartwright 74’ 1), Wilson 5 (Ross 78’ 1), Lissah 7, Miller 7 (Williams 78’ 1)

CELTIC: Schmeichel 7, Scales 5, Trusty 5, Nygren 7, Yang 5 (McCowan 66’ 3), Araujo 5, Tounekti 4 (Hatate 66’ 2), Engels 5 (Kenny 79’ 1), Maeda 5, McGregor 6, Tierney 6