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Celtic win dedicated to Johnstone

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Celtic's players celebrate their League Cup win on an emotional afternoon

GLASGOW, Scotland -- Celtic have won the Scottish League Cup for a 13th time, beating Dunfermline 3-0 at Hampden Park in a fitting tribute to the late Jimmy Johnstone.

The Celtic great was buried on Friday after losing his battle against illness and manager Gordon Strachan said they would try to win the trophy, his first as manager, in his honor.

Goals from Polish striker Maciej Zurawski, Shaun Maloney and Dion Dublin made sure an emotional week for the Glasgow club ended on a happy note.

"There was a big build up to this game and we had to win it. It has been a difficult week," said Strachan.

"But you cannot have a game of football that befits him (Johnstone)...you cannot do that. So what we tried to do was play with imagination.

"Jimmy Johnstone won first then entertained through that. So there were bits of the game that Jimmy would love and he would have loved it at the end."

Celtic started strongly and Zurawski headed against the crossbar in the seventh minute from a free kick by Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.

Former Manchester United skipper Roy Keane was denied by a superb save from Allan McGregor.

However, McGregor was guilty of a defensive mix-up with Aaron Labonte two minutes before the interval which allowed Zurawski to put Celtic in front.

McGregor ran out to gather a high chipped ball from Maloney only to collide with Labonte and the ball spilled into Zurawski's path giving him an easy chance.

Keane limped off on the hour with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Dublin who then had an astonishing miss from three meters after 64 minutes.

Maloney doubled Celtic's lead with a magnificent free kick after 77 minutes and Dublin made ammends for his earlier miss, turning in Paul Telfer's low cross in stoppage time.

Strachan, who replaced Martin O'Neill last May, was relieved to have claimed his first silverware. "You have to remember we had to beat four Premiership teams including Rangers to win this," he said.

"There's clubs I have been at before where 90 percent was not to get beaten -- now it's 100 percent you must win.

"It's nice to win something and fantastic to see people enjoying themselves in the dressing room and celebrating."

Dunfermline manager Jim Leishman said Johnstone's death had given Celtic some extra motivation.

"It was always going to be difficult against Celtic before, but after we heard the sad news about Jimmy Johnstone they were galvanised and it made it more significant for everybody at Celtic Park to win," he said.

"It was hurting us that people were talking that a 7-0 win (for Celtic) would be a great tribute," he added.

Johnstone died, aged 61, last Monday after battling motor neurone disease and was buried with over 20,000 people lining the Glasgow streets to pay their respects.

Celtic's players switched into No.7 tops with Johnstone's name on the back to receive their medals.

Rangers and Hearts stalemate

Meanwhile, Rangers missed the chance to close the gap on second-placed Hearts in the chase for a Champions League slot after a 1-1 draw at Tynecastle in the Scottish Premier League.

Hearts took the lead after 10 minutes of the Scottish Premier League clash when Lithuanian Edgaras Jankauskas rammed in a six-meter shot after Paul Hartley sped into the area on the right and cut the ball across the face of goal.

Rangers levelled through Belgian Thomas Buffel midway through the second half. He latched on to a low cross from Chris Burke to force the ball in off keeper Craig Gordon at the near post.

Champions Rangers remain third in the standings with 53 points from 30 matches while Hearts are second on 59 from 30. Leaders Celtic have 73 points from 29 games. The top two in the table qualify for the Champions League.

Manager Alex McLeish praised Rangers for coming back from a goal down.

"The resilience we showed and the fightback and spirit was very good from everyone," he said. "But I am disappointed we didn't finish one more of the chances we had in the second half.

"The game had everything, tackles flying in, yellow cards and a couple of goals and a lot of missed chances. It was exciting stuff."

Hearts manager Graham Rix said: "We are six points ahead and it is another game out of the way. We are disappointed not to get all three points but even before the game I would have settled for a point."

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