PERHAPS they knew something we didn't.

Or perhaps it was just equal parts irony and wishful thinking. As half-time approached at Parkhead yesterday, with Celtic locked in another of those home stalemates with SPL sides which has characterised their season, the chant of 'Bring on the Juve' reverberated around the East End of Glasgow.

Little did anyone suspect then that four quickfire goals within 25 minutes of the restart would make such a claim feel rather less like empty bravado. Whether any watching Italian scouts were quaking in their designer shoes or not, they certainly would have been impressed with Gary Hooper's instincts in front of the goal, as the Englishman headed in his 50th and 51st goals for the club in only his 76th appearance.

But judging by newspaper reports they are already admirers of the player's ability.

Amid torrential rain swirling around Parkhead, it was Scott Brown's consolidation of his recent return to scoring form within seconds of the restart which opened the floodgates, and perhaps the most pleasing moment of the day came when James Forrest marked his top-team return from the bench after almost two months out injured with a typical charge from the left and clever finish. No wonder his manager almost had a coronary when the 21-year-old required treatment soon afterwards for an injured gluteus muscle.

"He felt his glute late on and if we lost him for another stretch of time it would be devastating because of the kind of talent he is," said Lennon. "We are going to monitor him very carefully and make sure he is ready for the games."

There should have been more for Celtic besides; Hooper was denied a hat-trick first by the crossbar following a sweet move involving substitute and debutant John Herron and then by goalkeeper Mark Brown following a backheel, but the striker was clearly a talking point afterwards.

To date, the club have had one "tentative phone call which went away" for the player's services, and despite communication difficulties with his agent Simon Dent, Lennon is still hopeful of getting him tied up on an improved deal. "I haven't managed to track down his agent yet, but as soon as we have anything for you we will be able to let you know one way or another," said Lennon. "The soundbites I am getting from Gary are that he is delighted with things and happy to stay here. This is the best he has ever looked this week in training, lean and hungry."

The comfort Celtic would experience in this game's dying moments seemed far away indeed in the opening stages. Although Lassad and Hooper both had headers saved from identical Emilio Izaguirre crosses, Celtic were struggling to get behind the County defence and two of the clearer chances arrived at the other end. Alex Cooper, Neale's son, formerly of Liverpool, showed great vision to feed in Rocco Quinn, but the former Celtic man's finish was weak and straight at Forster, then the two County wide men exchanged places only for Cooper's finish to hit the body of Forster when he was clean through.

"In the first half we had a number of good opportunities to take the lead, but we didn't take them and didn't defend well enough straight after half time," said Derek Adams, after his club's winless run extended to nine matches. "You don't get many opportunities when you come to a venue like this."

Such missed chances predictably came back to haunt the Highland side within seconds of the restart. All that half-time chat about keeping things tight came to nothing when Hooper laid a ball into the path of Brown and the captain earning himself another £20 of his manager's money by angling in his second goal in three weeks.

Lassad embellished a decent all-round display by laying on an instant second, Mark Brown unable to keep out Hooper's close range header from the Tunisians's pinpoint cross from the left. That same forehead then made it three, after Victor Wanyama had kept a Charlie Mulgrew corner alive.

Parkhead seemed less full than the official attendance of 49,428 which was given, but substitute Forrest nonetheless almost brought the house down when he scurried down the right, cut past Marc Fitzpatrick, and tucked the ball in with his left foot. Bring on the Juve indeed.