THE transfer window may extend to October this season, but going by this performance, Celtic manager Neil Lennon may be rather anxious to get his business done as early as possible. And for all the talk of attacking reinforcements over the last few days, it was at the heart of the defence where the chinks in Celtic’s armour were laid bare at Rugby Park.

Christopher Jullien arrived in Scotland last summer for a considerable chunk of change, and while he has certainly shown his worth in some big matches during his time here, there have been other times where he looks wholly unsuitable for the less glamorous side of the Scottish game that he routinely encounters.

For Lyndon Dykes of Livingston, read Nicke Kabamba at Kilmarnock. The problem with being so easily ruffled when coming up against physical strikers on artificial surfaces is that it is a big part of the job description for a centre-half on the Scottish domestic scene.

Jullien was given the runaround by Kabamba here, particularly in a first half that saw him concede a penalty for a pull on the Killie frontman after being skinned on the byline.

Chris Burke tucked that away past debutant Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas, after Ryan Christie had beaten Kilmarnock’s own debutant stopper Danny Rogers with a speculative 30-yard free-kick.

It was Odsonne Edouard who had predictably brought Celtic to life after a sluggish start, turning away from his man beautifully in midfield before being hacked down cynically by Gary Dicker 30 yards from goal, the Killie man lucky to get away with the yellow card he received.

A greater punishment would follow though, with Christie putting his foot through the dead ball and finding Roger’s bottom left-hand corner to give Celtic the lead. Rogers may feel he could have done better given the distance involved, but it was a sweet strike from the Celtic attacker.

The visitors seemed to settle into their stride from there, all except Jullien that is, and the sloppy start from the Frenchman was to give Killie their avenue back into the match. Kabamba absolutely skinned him in a tight area, leading to Jullien pulling his shirt and conceding a clear penalty.

Barkas couldn’t grasp the chance to become an instant hero, the keeper guessing the right way but being beaten by Burke’s low strike from the spot.

Killie were almost undone again though by the same failing that led to Celtic’s opener, Alan Power this time gaining a booking for a foul on Moi Elyounoussi 25 yards out, but the double punishment was narrowly averted this time as Edouard’s effort flashed narrowly wide.

Jullien was all over the place again as he failed to deal with a high ball launched towards him and Kabamba, the Killie striker managing to barrel past him and get an effort away that came off Jullien and deflected over Barkas, but lacked the pace required to carry it away from the keeper and over the line.

The empty blue seats all around were accompanied by the air being turned blue by Scott Brown after the interval, with the Celtic skipper growling at his teammates and urging them to up their game.

On a day where he was far from his best, it was the main contribution he made, and his frustrations were clearly being shared by is teammates as Killie gained the upper hand for long spells.

That being said, it was Callum McGregor who came within a whisker of restoring Celtic’s lead with 25 minutes to go, having the top of the bar with a curling effort that had Rogers stranded.

Celtic camped around the Killie area late in the game, but the home side were resolute and got the point their endeavour and performance deserved against the off-colour champions.