IN TYPICAL soul-baring mode, Shaun Maloney spent Friday lunchtime's media conference to mark the beginning of his second spell at Celtic confessing to the grave mistake he had made in ever leaving. Around 26 hours later, he, and his Parkhead employers, would have been left in no doubt about the wisdom of his truth and reconciliation.

Maloney's contribution to a victory that returned Celtic to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League for the first time since they won it in May was so instant and obvious it was as if he was an electrical current firing up Celtic's power supply. His game-changing impact succeeded in overshadowing the serious-looking ankle problem sustained by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink that brought him into the fray as a 28th minute substitute; a double for Georgios Samaras, playing because of a month-sidelining groin strain suffered by Scott McDonald and a competent debut from Glenn Loovens, in for the injured Gary Caldwell following a £2.5m move from Cardiff City.

The same figure will make its way to Aston Villa if Maloney reaches certain targets for appearances and achievements and, even with an element of rustiness to his game, he must have exceeded any possible target for how his first game back at Celtic Park would pan out. He had a hand in all three goals and seemed to galvanise Aiden McGeady, Scott Brown and Shunsuke Nakamura, who all began to feed off his energy and play with greater freedom.

Strachan wasn't willing to go overboard on the Maloney effect, but he did acknowledge it. "He came on and played very well and certainly lifted the crowd," the Celtic manager said. "I thought there were some special performances out there with Nakamura, ably backed by McGeady and Samaras."

Strachan didn't bite over possible concerns over losing his first-choice, 51-goal strike pairing ahead of the Old Firm game on Sunday. Vennegoor of Hesselink suffered a "bad gash" just above his ankle and will now be examined for possible bone or ligament damage. McDonald has a strain with his abductor muscle but Strachan maintains he could return next week. "They are good players but we were playing last week and only scored one and they didn't play and we scored three," he said. "In saying that, whenever you play Falkirk you are going to create chances and they will make chances."

Maloney had only been on the field for three minutes when he wriggled and jinked to earn a free-kick, or more accurately bought one, that Shunsuke Nakamura flighted in from the right flank, for Stephen McManus to bundle in, using his arm according to Falkirk manager John Hughes. Five minutes later came the sort of surging run from the middle of the park that hasn't been a feature of Celtic's, largely immobile, forward play. Picking up the ball just inside Falkirk's half, Maloney hammered forward with his little legs birling like Roadrunner before his wily brain allowed him to release Samaras with a perfectly weighted pass. The Greek did the rest by rounding keeper Robert Olejnik and sliding the ball in from an angle on the right.

Thereafter, it was as if every Celtic player wanted to get in on the act and produce the sort of free-flowing stuff that is the only way Maloney plays when imbued with confidence – helped by a two-goal lead, of course. Maloney could even afford the luxury of a couple of glaring misses when one-on-one with Olejnik before demonstrating his value when he link man for Samaras, who exchanged passes with him before striding in and tucking away Celtic's third of the afternoon in the 68th minute.

The three goals without reply made for the most emphatic home win for Strachan's side in 2008. The duck egg in Falkirk's goal column was solely down to Artur Boruc A physique that leaves the Pole looking about as muscular in his yellow goalie top as the squiggy Ardal O'Hanlon is in his figure-hugging super-hero outfit are irrelevances when he proves such an intoxicating presence on the field.

For all that Falkirk were taken apart ultimately, there was an economy about their play that allowed them to make possession count in and around the box by testing Boruc on string of occasions. Three times in the first half, the Celtic keeper seemed to develop a wingspan rather than an armspan to twice block from Michael Higdon and push away a fierce effort from Scott Arfield. Just for good measure he had fine blocks Gerard Aafjes and John Stewart in the second period with the openness of the encounter both suiting Celtic's slick movement and ensuring the visitors were never entirely closed out of the contest.

It is the sort of chance-heavy contest that Celtic supporters are happy to feast over and they purred their appreciation of their team's efforts throughout the second period. Indeed, midway included a delightful piece of skill from Nakamura midway through the second that sparked a mighty roar round the crowd. Such spontaneous glee hasn't been heard much in the 18 months Maloney has been away.