Chris Sutton grabbed his sixth goal of his Celtic career as the holders crushed their First Division opponents to progress comfortably into the fourth round of the CIS Insurance Cup. The £6million striker lifted a poor cup tie and made sure they avoided a repeat of last season's humiliating exit at the hands of Inverness Caledonian Thistle by firing home to open the floodgates at Parkhead. Striker Tommy Johnson fired a reminder to manager Martin O'Neill and to the first-choice strike force of Sutton and Henrik Larsson that they must keep the goals flowing to make it two from the spot just before the break.

However, Raith's misery was compounded just after the break when Alex Burns was red-carded before Johnson grabbed his second of the night and £2.75million Alan Thompson scored to make it a memorable debut for Celtic.

However, the home side were on a high after seven consecutive victories and a 6-2 victory over Rangers in their last game and they are determined to hang on to the trophy that they won last season which gave them their only success of a disastrous season.

But Raith came with high hopes after making an impressive start to the new campaign and produced the first real opening in the fifth minute when Paul Tosh found Burns on the edge of the box and he blazed a right-footed effort just over the bar.

That fired the home side into life and a minute later Johnson crossed from the right for the unmarked Mark Burchill, who failed to connect properly with a right footed volley. Celtic again pushed forward and in the 12th minute almost took the lead when Stephane Mahe cut the ball back to Jackie McNamara at the back post but the Scotland international headed into the side netting.

But Raith looked dangerous on the counter-attack and were causing the home defence a whole host of problems, but their over-exuberance was threatening to cost them dear.
Burns went into the referee's book after squaring up to Mahe and less than five minutes later Ray McKinnon also saw yellow for a bad tackle on Burchill.

Nevertheless, they were giving as good as they were getting and in the 36th minute Celtic's reserve keeper Stewart Kerr had to save low to his right from Tosh. However, despite Raith's best efforts the home side drew first blood in the 39th minute rather fortunately on the balance of play and it was former Chelsea man Sutton who they had to thank again.

McNamara won a corner off Kenny Black and Thompson swung the ball into the right and Joos Valgaeren headed against the bar and Sutton popped up at the far post to bundle the ball home from close range.

That stunned the visitors and just three minutes later Celtic doubled their advantage when Black was adjudged to have fouled Johnson from behind, just inside the box and the striker sent Guido Van De Kamp the wrong way from the spot.

Sutton's night was complete at the break as he was replaced by Eyal Berkovic but the visitors were left stunned a minute into the second period when Burns was dismissed for remonstrating with the linesman over a decision.

It was now a matter of how many goals Celtic could score, and there was nothing Van De Kamp could do with Celtic's third as Johnson blasted home a swerving, long-range effort.

The home side's celebrations were somewhat tempered in the 58th minute when Olivier Tebily was carried from the field on a stretcher after an innocuous looking challenge in the box.

Young Scotland striker Burchill caught the eye and was looking to bag his fourth goal of the campaign when he hit a powerful first-time effort inside the box that Van De Kamp did well to push away. But the final word belonged to Thompson and in the 69th minute he ensured that he would remember his Celtic debut when Johnson's effort fell to him in the box and he cheekily backheeled into the Raith goal for Celtic's fourth.