Celtic travel to West Lothian on Sunday to take on David Martindale's Livingston.

With eight games to go in the campaign, it's squeaky bum time in terms of the Scottish title race as there is no margin for error. Brendan Rodgers' side got the better of the Lions back in September with a 3-0 win with goals from Reo Hatate, Matt O'Riley and Daizen Maeda despite having goalkeeper Joe Hart sent off.

The Northern Irishman and his team know that they simply have to keep winning if they are to be crowned champions for the third successive year...

The TCW archive series continues as Tony Haggerty goes back 19 years to see Gordon Strachan's men go nap at Almondvale.

This 5-0 victory for the men in green and white featured five different scorers - Stephen McManus, Shaun Maloney, Maciej Zurawski, Chris Sutton and Craig Beattie - and saw Celtic record their highest-ever away win against Livi. This was a one-sided affair at the beginning of October 2005 and new Celtic manager Strachan was under pressure and already feeling the heat after crashing out of the Champions League qualifiers to Artmedia Bratislava and a mediocre start to the league season.

READ MORE:  Celtic's week of reckoning as the SFA and Livingston loom

Strachan took a gamble on his team selection and it paid off handsomely as he deployed Zurawski and Beattie at the expense of leading goalscorer John Hartson who was surprisingly benched for this one. Sutton was drafted into a midfield role to occupy the space vacated by Neil Lennon’s absence. Some inspired goalkeeping from Livi goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie kept the visitors at bay for 35 minutes before Celtic made the breakthrough.

From their fifth corner of the game, Sutton cleverly headed Maloney's set piece from the left and Stephen McManus arrived at the back post to head home from close range. Maloney extended Celtic’s lead just before the break when Petrov played the ball into him inside the box and the youngster took a touch before calmly steering the ball into the bottom corner of the net from 14 yards.

Six minutes after the restart, Celtic left-back Mo Camara sent over a teasing cross and Zurawski scored with an excellent header. Sutton made it 4-0 on the hour mark when he hammered home a blistering drive into the top corner from the edge of the box after Maloney’s free-kick had rebounded from the Livingston wall and deflected into his path. Beattie rounded off the rout to make it 5-0 when Maloney released Camara down the left wing and his cross was parried by McKenzie which allowed the Celtic striker to tap home into the unguarded from close range.

It remains Celtic's biggest away win to date over Livingston. How Brendan Rodgers and his men would settle for a similar easy day at the office this weekend much in the same way that Strachan's men enjoyed the best part of two decades ago.

Scottish Premier League

October 1, 2005

Livingston...0

Celtic...5 (McManus 36, Maloney 45, Zurawski 51, Sutton 62, Beattie 72)

Teams:

Livingston: McKenzie, Mackay, Strong, Dorado, Dair, Brittain, Walker (Vincze 78), Adams, Pereira (Tierney 55), Dalglish (Snodgrass 67), Graham Barrett. Subs Not Used: Roy, Pinxten, Scott, McPake.

Celtic: Boruc, Telfer, Camara, Balde, McManus, Sutton, Nakamura, Maloney, Zurawski (Hartson 81), Beattie (Agathe 85), Petrov. Subs Not Used: Marshall, Virgo, Pearson, McGeady, Wallace.

Attendance: 9,115