Three days after gaining a place in the UEFA Cup final, Celtic trimmed Rangers lead to five points in the Scottish Premier League race yesterday by beating its Glasgow rival 2-1 at Ibrox.

　　Because Martin O'Neill's team also has a game in hand, the result means that the title race is wide open again.

　　Celtic, which meets FC Porto in the May 21 UEFA Cup final in Seville, Spain, went 2-0 up by halftime through an Alan Thompson penalty and John Hartson's strike just before the break.

　　Dutch midfielder Ronald de Boer replied for Rangers in the 57th but Celtic held on and now has a chance of winning the title for the third season in a row.O'Neill's team has 82 points from 33 games and Rangers 87 from 34. Celtic has five games still to play and Rangers four.

　　Rangers should have been two goals ahead in the first five minutes but found themselves 0-2 down by halftime.

　　Argentina World Cup star Claudio Caniggia lobbed the ball past advancing 'keeper Robert Douglas from the edge of the area only for it to drift wide of an empty net.

　　Then Lorenzo Amoruso climbed unchallenged to head a corner over the top of the Celtic goal.

　　After Celtic was forced to take off the injured Douglas in the ninth minute and replace him with Javier Sanchez Broto, De Boer shot tamely wide.

　　In Saturday's games, Hearts strengthened its hold on third place by winning 1-0 at fifth place Dunfermline; Hibernian won 2-1 at Dundee United; Partick Thistle outplayed last place Motherwell 3-0; and Aberdeen edged past Livingston 1-0.