Tomas Cvancara helps Celtic leapfrog Rangers with win over Falkirk

Tomas Cvancara headed his first goal for Celtic as the champions moved back above Rangers in the William Hill Premiership with a 2-0 win over Falkirk.

Benjamin Nygren was also on target as Celtic moved above the Light Blues on goals scored and six points behind leaders Hearts.

Falkirk contributed to an entertaining game, registering 14 shots at goal, but Celtic were more clinical.

Loan signing Cvancara marked his home debut with a glancing header from Kieran Tierney’s cross in the 39th minute to open the scoring.

Nygren curled the ball into the top corner in the 62nd minute after exchanging passes with Callum McGregor down the left flank.

All in all it was good day for Celtic, helped by Rangers drawing with Hibernian, but the fans’ unhappiness with the board was never far from the surface.

A huge banner was raised before the match in a sparse standing section depicting directors Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay plus the club’s head of security Mark Hargreaves as contestants from the BBC reality show The Traitors. A sign below read: “Banish the traitors, end the bans.”

The Green Brigade remain under a collective ban over an incident involving stewards and police at a previous match with Falkirk.

The loudest chant of the day was “stand up if you hate the board” and the majority of the home fans appeared to join in, including some supporters in the directors’ box.

Dissent will inevitably grow if Celtic do not add to this month’s loan signings of Cvancara and Julian Araujo on the final day of the transfer window.

Celtic started with Dane Murray in central defence in place of the suspended Auston Trusty.

Falkirk had conceded four goals on each of their previous two trips to Celtic Park this season but were unfortunate not to get at least a point during a 1-0 home defeat to the champions in January.

They set out their intentions to attack and created the first chance of note when Leon McCann crossed for Barney Stewart, whose header drew a diving save from Kasper Schmeichel.

Celtic were making inroads when they got Yang Hyun-jun in behind on the right wing and the South Korean forced a decent stop from Scott Bain before Cvancara opened the scoring.

Falkirk had a big opportunity to equalise before the interval when Liam Henderson headed a corner back into the goalmouth. Schmeichel saved Louie Marsh’s header on the line.

The Bairns continued to threaten after the break. Calvin Miller shot just wide from 25 yards after being given room to run; Schmeichel saved Connor Allan’s header and Celtic soon survived a goalmouth scramble before Marsh shot into the side netting after a one-touch move.

Celtic raised their game. Cvancara shot wide after being played into the left channel and Daizen Maeda was inches away from connecting with a low cross in front of goal.

Nygren soon netted his 15th goal for Celtic and, although Miller fired not far over the bar, the goal effectively killed off the contest.

Martin O’Neill gave a late run-out to Stephen Welsh, who has been the subject of attempts from Motherwell to get him back on loan for the second half of the season.