Celtic fans looking for another three points to wipe out the memory of Sunday were left disappointed and frustrated as a scrappy tie at Easter Road ended in a goalless stalemate.

The Hoops were left to pay the price for another shocking refereeing blunder from Stuart Dougal who chopped off a 10th minute Celtic goal due to a foul on Hibs keeper Nick Colgan, but TV evidence later proved that no foul was committed.

Martin O'Neill's men remain seven points clear at the summit of the SPL, but the result was a terrible blow, coming so quickly on the heels of the Old Firm debacle.

Chris Sutton and Johan Mjallby both played despite carrying niggling injuries. Mjallby seemed to cope without any major problems, but Sutton's lack of fitness was apparent, particularly in the later stages of the match.

Mixu Paatelinen was lucky to escape a booking in the opening minutes after a lunging tackle on Stilian Petrov, who had to leave the field to seek some attention.

Henrik Larsson sneaked through the Hibs defence in the 9^th minute, but his shot took a deflection and fell out for a corner.

From Petta’s kick a goalmouth scramble ended with Johan Mjallby putting the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed because of a dubious foul on Colgan.

From the same incident Larsson was forced to go off the field for treatment, but to everyone’s relief his absence lasted only a few minutes before he returned.

Larsson came close again in the 17^th minute when Didier Agathe’s cross was headed on by Sutton towards the Swede, but his header was agonisingly wide of the target.

Five minutes later Colin Healy found himself on the edge of the box, but his attempt was came closer to hitting the corner flag than it did his intended target.

At the other end only a superb tackle from Tom Boyd prevented David Zitelli from making further headway after the forward had hared his way down the right-flank.

Shortly before the half hour mark Rab Douglas did well to hold a Paatelinen attempt after John O’Neil had slipped the ball through to the striker deep inside the box.

Paatelinen had another opportunity just two minutes later, but after sneaking in beyond Mjallby he hit his shot wide of the mark.

Stephane Mahe was introduced ten minutes before the break after Bobby Petta picked up a gash on his shin and was forced to retire early.

His absence must have been a blow to Martin O’Neill as the Dutchman had been causing problems for Hibs down the left-flank.

Minutes before the interval O’Neill came racing out of the dugout to point out that the linesman had flagged for offside and not a penalty after Agathe had brought O’Neil down in the box.

His sprint wasn’t necessary however as the referee realised the offence and awarded the kick in Celtic’s favour.

At the opposite end of the field Franck Sauzee can consider himself lucky not to have conceded a penalty after a scything tackle on Larsson seconds before the interval.

Celtic started the second period looking slightly more composed than the opening half, but although Larsson had a half chance two minutes after the restart, genuine openings were difficult to come across.

Both Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish were spoken to by the pedantic fourth official after the respective managers got a little too involved in the action for his liking.

The game became increasingly sloppy as time wore on, with the swirling wind making life difficult.

Youngster Michael Franks was forced to take over from Nick Colgan in the Hibs goal after the Irish internationalist sustained an injury.

Celtic tested the youngster almost immediately with a Petrov free-kick that Sutton connected with, but he held the ball well.

Celtic brought on Lubo Moravcik for Colin Healy with 15 minutes remaining in the hope that the midfielder would inspire them to find the goal they so desperately required.

Larsson had two fleeting chances minutes later, but didn’t come close to finding the net with either of them.

Moravcik carved himself dome space on the edge of the box before unleashing a long-range drive but his attempt sailed high over the bar.

In the final five minutes Celtic frantically tried to find the elusive goal, with Larsson connecting with Mahe’s cutback, and then Moravcik trying to weave his way through the Hibs defence, only to be thwarted at the final hurdle.