Leigh Griffith scored twice in the space of a minute at the start of the second half as Celtic beat Ross County 4-1 to move six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The hosts had lost their last two league matches but they started well against the leaders, and they missed a fine chance to take an early lead when Liam Boyce could only head wide from eight yards out after he had been found by Richard Foster's cross.

Celtic had 70% of possession in the opening 20 minutes but Ronny Deila's side were restricted to speculative efforts from distance, Tom Rogic coming the closest when he drove over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

County carved out another great opportunity midway through the first half when Martin Woods was left unmarked at the back post from a corner, but the midfielder made a mess of his effort from close range.

As Celtic began to press, Leigh Griffiths fired across the face of goal as he tried to capitalise on a poor clearance by the home side, and eight minutes before half time the Bhoys took the lead.

Tom Rogic picked the ball up in midfield and drove at the County defence and as they backed off he smashed a fine dipping strike into the far corner of the net to break the deadlock with his fifth goal of the season.

Griffiths threatened again after the restart when he stung the hands of Gary Woods with a fierce effort, and the visitors' top scorer put the game beyond the reach of the hosts with a minute of magic.

First he took advantage of Scott Boyd's slip inside the penalty box to curl home from 16 yards and double Celtic's lead, and just seconds later he made it 3-0 when he was found by James Forrest's cross to slam home his second.

The hosts did pull a goal back minutes later through Tony Dingwall's calm finish after Celtic had failed to clear their lines and only a fine save from Craig Gordon prevented Jackson Irvine further reducing the deficit as the home side briefly threatened a revival.

However, Nir Bitton looped a glancing header past Woods with 16 minutes remaining to restore the three-goal advantage and make it five league wins in a row for Celtic.