CELTIC have reached the halfway stage in the SPL marathon four points clear of Rangers, and seemingly enjoying their second wind, given the way they embraced the elements at Falkirk to win 3-0.

Not even another batch of absentee players could blow them off course. Instead, it merely afforded the opportunity for peripheral players to harness the wind of change and promote their claims for further inclusion.

ONE BY ONE By Thomas Jordan BORUC Quiet Will be pleased to have kept a rare clean sheet away from home. Wasn't called into action that often but, when he was beaten by substitute Mark Stewart's shot, the post came to his rescue. HINKEL Attacking Enjoyed a lot of success in the first half as he bombed forward constantly and provided his team with an extra attacking option. Continuing to show why he has an impressive number of caps for Germany. NAYLOR Reasonable Wasn't properly tested from a defensive point of view, but he didn't get forward and contribute to his side's attacking play the same way Hinkel did down opposite flank. LOOVENS Decent The Dutchman has a burst of pace that makes up for lapses in concentration. Not tested by the Falkirk frontline and had a decent enough game as he deputised for the injured Stephen McManus. O'DEA Solid Handed a rare start and made a vital goal-line clearance during the first half to deny Falkirk the lead. Solid enough and certainly emerged with pass marks. NAKAMURA Impressive Was outshone by countryman Koki Mizuno but Celtic's most creative midfield player cruised through the 90 minutes. BROWN Committed Worked hard and threw himself into tackles in the middle of the park. Wasn't overly influential, but never hides. CALDWELL Okay Was once again pushed forward from his usual defensive role to the middle and performed well enough. MIZUNO Excellent Given a chance to come in and show what he could do in Aiden McGeady's absence and the little Japanese winger caught the eye. Scored a last- minute goal to make sure of the three points and injected a bit of pace that has been missing from Celtic's midfield. McDONALD Clinical It's been a frustrating time for the striker as his hard work hasn't been rewarded with as many goals as last season, but he found the back of the net in added on time to make it 3-0. SAMARAS Wasteful The Greek international might have netted, but he blew countless other opportunities in front of goal. Still trying to find form after injury but knows he can do more. SHERIDAN Replaced Samaras in injury time. Not on long enough to make any sort of impact. STRACHAN The Celtic manager was without several key players and needed a result after suspending star player Aiden McGeady, but his side were always in control, scored three goals and created plenty chances.

Considering the fact Gordon Strachan had witnessed his side take just one point from their previous two games, and suffer the threat of implosion had Aiden McGeady's self-combustion not been efficiently contained, the ingredients were all there for a trip to Falkirk on a blustery day to be something of a pre-Christmas turkey.

However, rather than following the star in the East as some other Wise Men were once encouraged to do, Strachan turned to this own stars from that part of the world, and invited Koki Mizuno to share centre-stage with his countrymen Shunsuke Nakamura.

It was a gamble which could have left Strachan stuffed, the pro-McGeady brigade only too ready and willing to ram it down his throat if Celtic had presented any more gifts to Rangers in the run up to this weekend's Old Firm game.

Courtesy of the result, and Mizuno's entertaining contribution, Strachan - who, as he headed to Falkirk, received word that close pal Gary McAllister had become the latest victim of the snipers in the stands - can consider himself winning this civil war.

The real battle will be staged at Ibrox on Saturday where, if Celtic can extend their four-point lead, Strachan's decision to fight on without the current Player of the Year will be vindicated, even in the eyes of the manager's sternest critics.

Not that Strachan is going to lose any sleep worrying about personality contests. Winning trophies for Celtic is all he has on his wish-list, at this time of year or any other.

Which is why of much more concern to the manager is the re-occurrence of the Hallowe'en nightmare which saw him suffer the worst injury crisis in his time as a boss.

That left him without an entire team of players at one particular low point. On the run-up to the second Old Firm game of the season, the ghost of injury-crisis past threatens to revisit Parkhead.

Captain Stephen McManus and midfield anchor man Paul Hartley - two certain starters at Ibrox - are the latest to join the list of absentees.

Hartley spluttered his way through Saturday night at the team's pre-match hotel and was immediately sent home yesterday morning to avoid his chest virus spreading, though listening to Scott McDonald cough his way through his post-match interviews last night, it might already be taking a grip.

McManus will today undergo a scan on the knee injury which forced him out of training on Friday and which threatens to rule him out of Saturday's big game.

With Barry Robson struggling to recover from the thigh injury which has kept him sidelined for two weeks, Shaun Maloney out for the next month with his hamstring tear, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink only now stepping up training after suffering an adductor muscle injury in October, Massimo Donati and Chris Killen waiting for broken bones to heal in, respectively, a foot and a knee, the news that Marc Crosas will step up his push for a first-team return with another 90 minutes with the reserves against Kilmarnock today provides just a little relief for the manager.

Add the missing McGeady to that list, and it's nine out. Little wonder, therefore, Strachan was so pleased with the victory earned by his patched-up side at Falkirk. He said: "I think it is clear that if we're going to do it again in the championship this season, we are going to have to do it the hard way. The one little bit of luck we had last week was that we did not have midweek game, so on Friday we were able to work on a lot of things you saw yesterday.

"We had to do it in the wind and the rain at Lennoxtown, but the concentration of the players throughout that was fantastic, and it definitely helped them when it came to playing at Falkirk."

As did the return to the goal standard of Georgios Samaras and Scott McDonald, plus the new entry on the hit parade, Mizuno.

Strachan concedes the ratio of chances created to converted had dropped in recent weeks, and this was reflected in results.

But, as good as the goals were yesterday - the first coming 12 minutes after the break, the others on 90 minutes and in injury-time - the celebrations by everyone in the team (even Artur Boruc came up to join in after Koki's corker) provided proof that reports the team spirit had transcended the McGeady row were not merely manager rhetoric.

Now the Miracle of Christmas week will be to emerge without any more injury or illness casualties. If McGeady can find a little bit of humility and contrition in his stocking, who knows, there might yet goodwill to all men - even managers.

NEED TO KNOW

Was it a good game? Any match which is at the mercy of the wind always leaves you feeling cheated. And, at the open Falkirk Stadium, it's a major problem. However, full marks to both sides for trying to keep the ball down and continuing to pass it rather than lump it. At times the Bairns did this too much and got tied up in knots. But Celtic eventually countered the conditions and were rewarded with three good goals and three important points.

Was McGeady missed? It's debatable if the errant Bhoy would have stuck to the game plan as diligently as his team-mates did. And by full time it was the name of the hard-working Koki Mizuno which was being sung. Said it all.

Who was Celtic's best player? Darren O'Dea stepped into the breach when McManus called off injured and just pipped Naka to the award, though several others deserve honourable mentions, including Glenn Loovens, Scott McDonald, Andreas Hinkel, Lee Naylor and Scott Brown. Artur Boruc also made an important save from McCann when the score was still blank.

And Falkirk's best performer? Scott Arfield was marginally the best of a disappointing home contingent.

What about the ref? Eddie Smith did okay as he tried to make allowances for the conditions. Riled the home support with some of his decisions, but at least that provoked some reaction from the quietest fans in the country.

Who's up next? It's the post-Christmas cracker at Ibrox on Saturday.