Celtic and Rangers played out a dour 0-0 draw in their Old Firm derby at Parkhead.
Bhoys remain two points clear of rivals
Celtic and Rangers played out a dour 0-0 draw in their Old Firm derby at Parkhead.
Chances were few and far between as the two arch-rivals cancelled each other out.
Scott McDonald had Celtic's best chance of the game on the quarter hour mark when he headed Willo Flood's cross wide from six yards out.
Rangers were denied twice by Artur Boruc in the second half when he produced a flying save to prevent Stephen McManus scoring an own goal and then keeping out David Weir's towering header.
The stalemate means Celtic remain two points clear of Rangers at the top of the table.
Most of the attention pre-match had been on 17-year-old John Fleck who became the youngest Ibrox debutant in the Glasgow derby since skipper Barry Ferguson's brother, Derek, played in a 1-1 draw at the same venue in 1984.
His first involvement came in the third minute when his cross from the left after taking a Ferguson pass had Boruc stretching to get a hand to it at the back post before Hoops defender Lee Naylor cleared the danger.
Celtic were more confident in the early exchanges but neither keeper was seeing much action in a mainly midfield battle littered with mistakes.
Miss
In the 15th minute, Hoops debutant Flood scuttled past Fleck down the right and crossed to McDonald who failed to get enough on his header six yards out and the ball flew wide of the far post.
It was a glaring miss from the Australia international but it served to inspire Celtic to take a tighter grip of the game.
The increasingly disappointing encounter was characterised when Rangers defender Weir and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink were booked, harshly, for an altercation after Ibrox keeper Allan McGregor had collapsed on the Dutchman after clutching a Naylor cross, and when Paul Hartley flashed a shot from 25 yards high over the bar.
The Ibrox club almost stole in the lead in the 50th minute when defender Madjid Bougherra slipped away from Vennegoor of Hesselink and Nakamura on the right and curled an inviting ball towards the front post.
Save
McManus deflected the cross with his head leaving Boruc to adjust quickly to push the ball behind for a corner which ended when Ferguson drove wide of the target from outside the box.
When slack play from Scott Brown allowed Ibrox midfielder Davis to break quickly, Lafferty took the pass from his fellow Northern Ireland international but his shot from 16 yards was too tame to bother Boruc.
Seconds before Fleck was replaced by Kenny Miller in the 59th minute, Ferguson latched on to a Lafferty header but mis-hit wide from 14 yards.
As the Light Blues took over, Miller missed a good chance after being cleverly set up by Davis, the former Celtic striker slicing wide from just 10 yards out.
In the 74th minute, Steven Naismith replaced Lafferty who failed to battle cramp, and was booked two minutes later for clashing with Brown.
Minutes later, Boruc produced another wonderful reflex save when Weir bulleted in a Pedro Mendes corner.
In the 88th minute, after Naismith had bundled Shunsuke Nakamura to the ground 25 yards from goal, McGregor saved at the near post from the Japan international's curled free-kick.
