Larsson scored his 20th goal of the season: SNS

Aberdeen were back in action after a flu bug wiped out their squad and forced the postponement of their CIS Insurance Cup match with Motherwell in midweek.

The visitors made two changes from the side which lost to Hibernian with Scott Michie being handed his first start and he came in with goalkeeper David Preece.

Celtic started brightly and Chris Sutton, playing behind strikers Larsson and Hartson went close from from 25 yards before Sylla hit the outside of the upright from a tight angle.

The home side hit the woodwork twice more in the first half through Sutton again and Alan Thompson.

However, Celtic keeper Robert Douglas had to look lively to deny Derek Young from point-blank range and later to thwart a strong run from Michie.

With 26 minutes gone Hartson scored his first when he met an inviting cross from Guppy to head home.

Steve Guppy had a good day for Celtic: SNS

Nine minutes he was on target again when Larsson sprung the off-side trap to run onto Guppy's pass and then set Hartson up for a simple tap in.

Larsson made it 3-0 just two minutes before the break as he curled a right-foot free-kick up and over the wall and past Preece.

The Hartson hat-trick was complete after 51 minutes when Thompson picked out the striker at the back post and he showed great composure to steer his effort over the keeper and into the net.

Defender Balde got on the scoresheet when he unleashed a low right-foot shot from wide of the box into the bottom corner.

Hartson, who saw two headers flash inches wide of goal and shot straight at Preece after more good work by Guppy - added his fourth with another close range finish after 80 minutes.

Young Maloney ended the scoring and did his best to grab the headlines by cracking a brilliant long-range free-kick into the top corner with just five minutes left.