It may have taken over an hour but Celtic finally burst Kilmarnock's dam with four goals in the final 20 minutes to strengthen their position at the top of the SPL.
Kilmarnock set out their stall to try to frustrate Celtic with five and often six defenders. It took the Bhoys 20 minutes to find a way through the rugged rearguard but it led to the opening goal.
Who else but Henrik Larsson could find the way through as his back-heel found the onrushing Stilian Petrov who went to ground dramatically after a nudge from Gary McDonald.
Referee Hugh Dallas was convinced enough to award the penalty and Chris Sutton stepped up to beat Francois Dubourdeau low to the keeper's right.
The league leaders looked to have gone two ahead five minutes later but Liam Miller, who shone in the opening half-hour was denied by Gordon Greer's superb goal-line clearance.
Killie's only sight of goal in the first half ended with Greg Shields scrambling a shot wide of the target.
Larsson was denied by the woodwork on the stroke of half-time after Sutton's pass set him free but his shot cannoned off the inside of the far post.
Kilmarnock substitute Colin Nish almost made an immediate impact when he touched the ball to McDonald whose 20-yard shot looked set to level the match until Magnus Hedman produced a brilliant one-handed save.
The Celtic fans' nerves were settled in the 70th minute with the goal which opened the floodgates as John Hartson rose to power Michael Gray's cross home after a clever free-kick move.
Six minutes later it was three when Hartson sent Larsson to the byline and his driven cross was tapped home by Sutton.
Number four came in the 84th minute when substitutes Ross Wallace and Shaun Maloney combined for Maloney to fire home under Dubourdeau.
Celtic were awarded their second penalty in the final minute when Larsson was upended by Freddie Dindeleux and Sutton again made no mistake to complete his hat-trick.