QPR 1 CELTIC 5
yesterday proved the Glitterati do friendlies as well as the big occasions when he turned up to support Celtic in London.
But it was Andrea Capone who stole the limelight at Loftus Road with the opening goal before Scott Brown got his first effort for the club since signing from Hibs.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink missed a penalty in the first half before Capone assisted him to score with a far harder chance after the break to seal victory and prompt wild celebrations among the south of England's Celtic minded, Rod the Mod included.
The Dutchman stabbed another ball over the line for a second goal off a badly defended corner from Capone and substitute Scott McDonald grabbed a fifth before QPR's interrogation was complete and Rod joined the rest of the crowd on the tube home.
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That idea was as fanciful as Gordon Strachan believing an emphatic victory over an English Championship side signified all being well for the new season. But there's no doubt the pace of Celtic's build-up has quickened along with the team's entertainment value.
Today the manager takes his players to America to work with the sun on their backs instead of handling the downpour that came during this match. But the people who were getting soaked seemed to think the discomfort was worth it.
The Loftus Road fixture has recently become an expected part of Celtic's pre-season, but the gulf between the clubs was illustrated in the match programme before the action got under way.
Celtic were congratulated for becoming the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967. It was also the 40th anniversary of QPR's historic League Cup Final victory against West Brom, the last time the London club won anything of any significance.
The fourth game of the SPL champions' warm-up to the new season was nevertheless another indication of competitive matches drawing ever closer.
Wholesale substitutions are now no longer needed and players got longer on the park to hone their fitness and tighten their understanding of each other. None more so than Capone.
The Italian was on a play-for-your-place arrangement with Strachan, the manager having promised a decision on whether the former Cagliari trialist would be taken to America for the next leg of Celtic's tour on the strength of his showing against John Gregory's team. And the player didn't crumble under the pressure.
Capone was used on the left wing against Peterborough last Friday night but this time he reverted to the right flank in a test of his versatility.
He brought the crowd to their feet twice in two minutes midway through the first half and looked a far livelier proposition than he did on his previous outing.
Capone tried an audacious chip over the home keeper's head from the edge of the box before finally goal thanks to his own initiative and an awful mistake from Jake Cole.
His 20-yard shot was powerfully struck but keeper Cole should have held it rather than spilling the ball over the line. Cole had been far more alert when Vennegoor of Hesselink failed to convert a penalty kick after eight minutes. Kenny Miller's attempt at goal was adjudged to have been handled by Dominic Shimmin, but the Dutch striker telegraphed his intention to go for the bottom right corner and a glorious chance was lost.
The manager might also have to go back to the drawing board for a penalty taker since Vennegoor of Hesselink was the man viewed as Mr Reliable after a succession of missed spot-kicks from his team-mates last season.
Scott Brown was the one Celtic player to consistently rise above the rest and the way he ran the midfield will have pleased the club who paid so much money for him.
It was Brown who put Celtic two ahead seven minutes before the interval with his first goal since his £4.4million move from Hibs.
A quickly taken free kick from Vennegoor of Hesselink let Aiden McGeady have his first productive run at the heart of the QPR defence and his final pass to Brown was cleverly sidefooted into the net by the Scotland midfielder.
There was better movement all round after Capone's opening goal and Miller would have extended Celtic's lead but for a superb one-handed save from a keeper desperate to atone for his earlier mistake.
The interval brought no changes in personnel from the visitors and the game remained a keenly contested affair as thunder rolled, the heavens opened and lightning struck Shepherd's Bush.
QPR's attempt at dramatic effects was a header from substitute striker Dexter Blackstock which went wide when it seemed easier to score.
It was merely a brief flurry of resistance from a team being put through the mill. Vennegoor of Hesselink's angled drive off Capone's pass in the 53rd minute was a better indication of his eye for goal and the striker's predatory instincts were underlined again three minutes later when he scrambled a fourth goal for Celtic while standing almost on the goal-line.
That was the signal for changes to be made as Gary Irvine, Paul Hartley, Jim O'Brien and Scott McDonald replaced Vennegoor of Hesselink, Capone, McGeady and Mark Wilson.
Massimo Donati was also substituted in favour of Jiri Jarosik after QPR grabbed a consolation goal through Kieron St Aimie, who beat Boruc at his left-hand post from the kind of distance that ought to have annoyed a keeper of his experience.
McDonald's only emotion was delight when he scored a fifth for Celtic from close range off a Miller pass - his second goal of Celtic's English sojourn.
It's early days yet but the £700,000 signing from Motherwell looks a bargain with his wholehearted effort and fleetness of foot up front.
Just to prove that some things never change, Derek Riordan came on for a brief run about with 11 minutes left.
Thomas Gravesen also sat stripped for action on the bench but the Dane remained unused. What do you want for 40,000 a week ?
QPR -Cole, Curtis, Stewart, Barker, Shimmin, Bailey, Bolder, Ward, Rowlands, Nygaard, Moore.
CELTIC - Boruc, Wilson, McManus, Kennedy, Naylor, Capone, Donati, Brown, McGeady, Miller, Vennegoor of Hesselink.
REFEREE - AD'Urso.
