Goalkeeper Artur Boruc misjudged John Rankin's 45-yard strike as Hibernian took the lead following a tight 55 minutes at Easter Road.

Colin Nish sealed a 2-0 win when he diverted home another Rankin effort in the 69th minute as Celtic's SPL lead over Rangers remained four points.

Strachan claimed he had not spoken to Boruc following his blunder, the latest in an uncharacteristically difficult season for the Poland goalkeeper.

Boruc conceded two bad goals in August's 4-2 defeat against Rangers, before today the last time Celtic had failed to win an SPL game.

This time he completely missed the ball as he attempted to clutch Rankin's speculative shot when it bounced in front of him.

Strachan's only reaction to the goal was that it was "self-explanatory", and he only added one comment about his keeper.

"I don't think Artur will ever lack confidence," he said.

Instead, the Celtic manager claimed his players should be pleased with themselves.

"It's tough to get beat at any time but there are a lot of players in my dressing room who must be very proud of the way they tried to make sure it didn't happen," Strachan said.

"A lot of them had a right good go at it."

Celtic controlled possession in the first half but Hibernian's central defenders dominated in the air and their central midfield pairing of Sol Bamba and Steven Thicot broke up play effectively.

Steven Fletcher had the best chance before the break but shot high and wide after rounding Boruc outside the box.

While Celtic raised the tempo after Rankin's opener, Mixu Paatelainen's side looked relatively comfortable after Nish's goal.

But when asked if Hibs deserved credit for the way they played, Strachan added: "If you mean getting behind the ball and creating very little chances and hoping they might get a speculative goal like that, then credit to them.

"They have worked very hard. In terms of possession and moving the ball about from side to side, then we were happy with that.

"Hibs have gone for a lot of attacking formations in recent years and it's worked sometimes. Their defensive formation today was good.

"But if you take how much possession we had, how many chances we had, then their tactics didn't work completely right.

"I'm sure Mixu's tactic wasn't hit the ball from 45 yards and hope it goes in the back of the net."

Paatelainen did reveal though that Rankin had been working on shooting from long range.

"He has actually been practising those shots with Derek Riordan," the Finn said. "With the technique he has, the ball moves all over the place."

Paatelainen added: "Defensively, it was a tremendous performance. The concentration was there, they didn't make any silly mistakes and it paid off.

"At times I felt we were a bit too deep. They passed the ball across the way and sideways.

"But what an effort. Every time the ball went into the box, the boys were on their toes."