Celtic re-established the gap at the top of the table with what was a comfortable if uninspiring win over Ross County.

Leigh Griffiths and Dedryck Boyata netted a goal in either half to clock up a routine 2-0 win for the Parkhead side.

With Aberdeen not in action until Monday evening, it was an opportunity that Celtic took to place the ball back in the court of the Pittodrie side.

Given the flak that Celtic have taken over the last fortnight, there was a feeling that there would be some kind of reaction against a Ross County side who put them out of the League Cup at Hampden.

Instead, it was a relatively flat display from Ronny Deila's side who did enough to win the game without ever setting the heather alight.

There were a splattering of early opportunities with Mikael Lustig trying his luck with a header before Stefan Johansen was the architect of another decent opportunity. The Norwegian collected the ball in the middle of the park and raced forward before slipping Gary Mackay-Steven through on goal, with the winger's effort was palmed wide by Ross County keeper Scott Fox with the subsequent corner coming to nothing.

Ten minutes before the break Jackson Irvine lost the ball in the middle of the park and Johansen fed Griffiths, the striker rounded Fox but cannoned his effort off the post to keep the scores level.

It was the highlight of the game until the cusp of the interval when Griffiths broke the deadlock. Kieran Tierney's cross into the box was poorly defended by Chris Robertson whose header across goal was converted by Griffiths, who was quick to scent the danger and net his 30th goal of what has been a personal success story this season.

In between times Erik Sviatchenko had gone into the book for the kind of tackle that wouldn't have been misplaced at the Six Nations.

Griffiths' goal alleviated some of the pressure - but still the boos rang out at the sound of the half-time whistle.

Before the hour mark, though, Celtic got their noses in front to effectively kill the game off. Stuart Armstrong had been anonymous for much of the opening period but his delivery to the back post was attacked by Dedryck Boyata who outmuscled Paul Quinn to head into the back of the net at the back post.

Nir Bitton, though, had to whip one ball off the line in a rare Ross County forward foray, a reminder that Celtic's vulnerable backline is never entirely assured of a clean sheet.

Tom Rogic made his return from injury when he took over from Johansen with 15 minutes of the game remaining, while Colin Kazim-Richards was brought into the fray.

James Forrest also had a cameo role after coming off the bench but his involvement was relatively limited.