IN FOOTBALL, problems are in the eye of the beholder. When Celtic manager Tommy Burns, for example, read out a litany of injured players before the match against Raith Rovers, it is unlikely that the visitors' dressing room was awash with tears of sympathy.

What a shame, the Raith manager Jimmy Thomson probably did not think, poor old Tommy is left with only players such as Pierre van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete, Andreas Thom and four other internationals to cope with us.

It was clearly a trying time for the Park head side, who only won 4-1 as a result of easing off with the score standing at 3-0 after an hour's play. Burns chose to highlight the remaining third of the match as "unacceptable", rather than point up his team's earlier, overwhelming authority.

Thom's double and singles from van Hooijdonk and Simon Donnelly would have been welcomed at any other club, but Burns relates each performance to how effective it would be on demanding days against more formidable opponents.

FC Kosice arrive in Glasgow today to prepare for tomorrow night's UEFA Cup match. The scoreless draw which an obviously rusty Celtic team secured in the first leg should be improved into overall victory, but Burns, quite properly, will have no truck with complacency. "We have standards to maintain here if we want to achieve our ambitions," he said. "That means we have to take full advantage of those times when we are well on top. Against Raith, we went to sleep."

Rangers gave Dunfermline a rigorous welcome back to the Premier Division, coasting to a 5-2 victory with a hat trick from McCoist and a double from van Vossen. As a prelude to the European Cup qualifying round match against Alania Vladikavkaz in Russia on Wednesday, it could hardly have been more satisfactory.