 Shaun Maloney fired Celtic in front after a superb pass from Nakamura
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Shaun Maloney fired the only goal of a tense game as Celtic overcame a stubborn Inverness side to move seven points clear at the top of the SPL.
Celtic struggled to break down a well-organised Inverness defence - much to the dismay of the home supporters.
Maloney broke the deadlock after 29 minutes when he collected a superb pass from Shunsuke Nakamura to fire home past Inverness goalkeeper Ryan Esson.
Doug Imrie went close with an audacious chip, but Celtic held on for victory.
The hosts seemed to struggle following their midweek exit and the fluency of their early season form was absent.
Inverness were content to sit deep and attempt to hit Celtic on the break.
Andreas Hinkel and Nakamura appeared the most likely players to carve out an opportunity.
And it was Nakamura who set up what proved to be the only goal of the game.
The Japanese international's clever diagonal found Maloney. and his low effort evaded the despairing grasp of Esson and found the corner of the net.
Scott McDonald blazed high over the bar late on as Celtic failed to double their lead.
Celtic: Boruc, Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Robson, Nakamura, Hartley, Scott Brown, Maloney, Samaras, McDonald. Subs: Mark Brown, Loovens, Naylor, Sheridan, Mizuno, Caddis, Millar.
Inverness CT: Esson, Tokely, Munro, Proctor, Duncan, Imrie, Cowie, Vigurs, Hastings, Black, Wood. Subs: Fraser, McBain, Wilson, Rooney, Barrowman, Sutherland, Duff.
Referee: D Somers
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