Another thrilling season in the Scottish Premier League ended on Thursday night with Celtic beating Rangers by three points to win a third consecutive championship.

The Old Firm rivals went into the final round of games level on points and here BBC Sport looks at the key moments throughout the campaign that shaped the destiny of the keenly-contested title.

Having cantered to the previous two championships, Celtic started the campaign as favourites, although Gers boss Walter Smith had overhauled his squad.

Carlos Cuellar, Lee McCulloch, Jean-Claude Darcheville, Daniel Cousin, DaMarcus Beasley, Steven Naismith, Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Whittaker were among those drafted in.

Celtic recruited midfielders Masimo Donati and Scott Brown for a total of £7.4m but striker Scott McDonald, who cost £700,000, was to prove a more significant purchase.

Rangers romped to four victories, thumping Falkirk 7-2 along the way, while managing to qualify for the Champions League group stage with wins over Zeta and Red Star Belgrade.

Gordon Strachan's side slipped up on day one, with Kilmarnock holding out for a 0-0 at Celtic Park.

However, Celtic bounced back with convincing wins at Falkirk and Aberdeen and a 5-0 thrashing of Hearts, as well as securing a place in the Champions League group phase with a thrilling penalty shoot-out win against Spartak Moscow.

Rangers continued their winning ways by trouncing Gretna but slumped to a 4-2 defeat at Tynecastle as they started without skipper Barry Ferguson and striker Darcheville ahead of Champions League action.

Aberdeen were soundly beaten at Ibrox but more points were dropped after a 1-1 draw at Fir Park.

LEAGUE POSITIONS ON 29 SEPTEMBER 1 CELTIC Pld 8 Pts 19 GD +21 2 RANGERS Pld 8 Pts 19 GD +16 3 HIBERNIAN Pld 8 Pts 18 GD +8

Celtic continued to bang in the goals, putting five past both St Mirren and Inverness Caley Thistle before two blunders from goalkeeper Artur Boruc helped Hibs secure a 3-2 win at Easter Road.

The month ended with a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Dundee United.

Unbeaten Hibernian climbed into first place with a David Murphy header winning them three points at Ibrox but Celtic reclaimed top spot the next day as goals in the last five minutes from Chris Killen and McDonald earned a dramatic 2-1 win over lowly Gretna.

Celtic were brought crashing back down to earth the following weekend when Rangers triumphed 3-0 in the first Old Firm derby of the season. A comprehensive win was settled by a Nacho Novo double and a smart finish from Ferguson.

Novo was on target twice as Rangers swept Celtic aside

"The determination and attitude of everyone on the park was second to none and we deserved to win," said Ferguson.

"The better team won," was Strachan's response. "We did make chances but didn't take them."

The topsy-turvy trend continued as Rangers lost at Tannadice, while Celtic thumped Motherwell, only to crash out of the CIS Cup at home to Hearts.

The challenge from Hibs began to fade as the Easter Road side lost consecutive matches to Motherwell and St Mirren.

With the Old Firm matches cancelled on the weekend prior to Scotland's heartbreaking final European Championship qualifier with Italy, both sides featured just twice in the SPL.

Celtic won at Kilmarnock and beat Aberdeen in Glasgow, while Rangers picked up maximum points against Inverness and Falkirk.

A busy month saw Rangers dumped out of the Champions League, beaten 3-0 at Ibrox by Lyon when a draw would have been enough for Smith's side.

They were given permission to cancel an away fixture with Gretna to prepare for the French team and their five other league matches yielded a healthy return of 13 points - a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie when McCulloch was sent off in the first half was the only blemish.

Despite defeat in their final group tie at the San Siro, Celtic progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League with the nine points they had amassed at home.

However, Strachan's side suffer a major domestic wobble, drawing games with Hearts, St Mirren and Hibernian and losing 3-2 at Inverness after two headers from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had given them a healthy cushion.

LEAGUE POSITIONS ON 29 DECEMBER 1 CELTIC P 20 Pts 43 GD +34 2 RANGERS P 18 Pts 41 GD +27 3 MOT'WELL P 20 Pts 35 GD +5

Falkirk, Dundee United and Gretna were beaten to keep Celtic on top but the defending champions had now played two games more than their rivals.

Beginning in mid-November, a run of five straight wins propelled Motherwell up the table and they ended the year with a thumping 5-3 victory against Dundee United to consolidate their grip on third place.

Tragically, the game was overshadowed by the death of club skipper Phil O'Donnell. The 35-year-old collapsed on the field of play and was pronounced dead due to heart failure a short time later.

The 2 January Old Firm derby was postponed as a mark of respect to O'Donnell, as was Celtic's planned trip to Fir Park three days later.

Strachan's side laboured to 1-0 wins against Kilmarnock and Falkirk, while Rangers took maximum points from their four matches to suddenly open up a seven point lead.

Celtic strengthened with the capture of Barry Robson from Dundee United and German full-back Andreas Hinkel, while borrowing striker Georgios Samaras from Manchester City.

Rangers could not resist the £9m on offer from Spurs for Alan Hutton and used some of the funds to sign Scotland veteran Christian Dailly, goalkeeper Neil Alexander and take Steven Davis on loan from Fulham.

Rangers continued to churn out the wins and carried on their 100% run, scoring 12 and conceding two in four SPL outings.

Revenge was had at Tynecastle, with Darcheville and Novo each claiming a brace in a convincing 4-0 triumph.

But the Ibrox side could not shake off Celtic, who turned in their best performance of the season to win 5-1 at Pittodrie and followed that with victories over Hearts, St Mirren and Inverness.

LEAGUE POSITIONS ON 27 FEBRUARY 1 RANGERS P 26 Pts 65 GD +45 2 CELTIC P 26 Pts 61 GD +45 3 MOT'WELL P 26 Pts 45 GD +7

The win at Love Street was secured by a wonderful free-kick from Shunsuke Nakamura in the dying minutes, which led to complaints about the award from Buddies boss Gus MacPherson.

The games came thick and fast for Smith's side in the Uefa Cup and Scottish Cup, while the CIS Insurance Cup was won after a penalty shoot-out with Dundee United at Hampden.

However, concentration did not waver in the league and three wins from three were secured, the last of which was a second home triumph over Celtic.

Celtic were held to a frustrating 0-0 at home to Dundee Utd

Kevin Thomson slipped in the only goal of the game after a strong first half from Celtic and the Ibrox side stretched their lead to six points, having played a game less.

"We have to hope somebody else does something for us to become champions," said Strachan after the defeat.

"It's a horrible position to be in, and nobody does you any favours whatsoever in this game, trust me."

Prior to the loss, Celtic had been held to a 0-0 draw at home to Dundee United and been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Aberdeen, also at Celtic Park.

The title race looked all but over when Celtic's frustrating time in front of goal continued and Motherwell left Parkhead with a 1-0 victory, thanks to Simon Lappin's first-half strike.

But Rangers could not take full advantage after a stirring 3-3 draw at Tannadice, which saw them come from behind on three occasions.

Celtic made the most of the reprieve and won their rescheduled match at Fir Park 4-1 before the first of two Old Firm clashes at Celtic Park.

McDonald scored twice in the second of Celtic's Old Firm wins

A dramatic game was settled by an injury-time header from Vennegoor of Hesselink. A Nakamura screamer had shot Celtic ahead only for Novo to equalise.

Carlos Cuellar was sent off for handling a net-bound strike from Nakamura but McDonald saw his penalty saved by Allan McGregor.

The drama did not stop at the final whistle and David Weir and Gary Caldwell were shown red cards for brawling on the pitch.

"For us it is a difficult one to take losing it so late in the game," said Smith.

Celtic rode their luck with a 1-0 win at home to Aberdeen, when Zander Diamond found the net in time added on, only for referee Iain Brines to disallow it. The whistler later confessed he had blundered.

Rangers' next league game was a return to the home of their rivals and again they were to lose out in a thrilling contest.

LEAGUE POSITIONS ON 27 APRIL 1 CELTIC P 35 Pts 80 GD +54 2 RANGERS P 32 Pts 75 GD +47 3 MOT'WELL P 33 Pts 53 GD +3

Headers from Weir and Cousin came either side of strikes from Celtic's top-scorer McDonald and Robson held his nerve to drill home the decisive penalty.

Celtic were back on top and Rangers were building up their games in hand.

"I think Celtic will go on and win the championship now on the basis of turning things around over the two Old Firm matches and with the suspensions and injuries Rangers have," said BBC pundit Murdo MacLeod.

Rangers' hectic schedule meant they would face nine matches in the final month of the season, compared to just three for Celtic.

A nerve-shredding penalty shoot-out in Florence saw Smith's men progress to the Uefa Cup final and the SPL announced a four-day extension to the campaign.

A tired Rangers side were held 0-0 at Easter Road but rallied to beat Motherwell and Dundee United, although the latter success owed much to some terrible decisions from the match officials.

Like Brines in the previous month, referee Mike McCurry admitted he was wrong not to award a penalty and to disallow a goal for United in their 3-1 defeat.

Celtic came from behind to edge out Motherwell and ground out a home win against Hibs to heap on the pressure.

Strachan celebrates a third title with his players at Tannadice

Zenit St Petersburg were too slick for Rangers in Manchester and the disappointment of losing out in a European final was followed three days later by a 1-1 draw at Fir Park.

The last of their games in hand was won at Love Street on Monday to leave the rivals sitting on the same points but with Celtic enjoying a superior goal difference of four.

However, the goals tally was to prove irrelevant as Rangers crashed to defeat at Pittodrie, while Vennegoor of Hesselink's second half header got the Celtic party started at Tannadice.

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