Three Goals and Three Points as Celtic Win Without Rodgers

Paulo Bernardo extends Celtic’s lead (Image – BBC Sport)

Celtic showed a ruthless edge to their game in the second-half as they hit three goals past Livingston to return to the top of the cinch Premiership, James McKenzie reports.

After remaining resolute in the first-half, Livingston fell away in the second as a Reo Hatate shot deflected in off of Jamie Brandon four minutes after the restart.

In the 72nd minute Paulo Bernardo grabbed Celtic’s second from the bench as he capped off a magnificent solo run with a low-driven finish.

Matt O’Riley would add the cherry to the cake eight minutes from time as he slotted home an unmissable chance to ensure that Celtic took three goals and three points from Almondvale.

Celtic went into this fixture without manager Brendan Rodgers as he served a one-match ban following an SFA hearing on Friday, with John Kennedy taking the managerial reins as well as the media duties that come with it.

Despite not having the manager, Celtic were boosted by the inclusion of Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers, with the American continuing to build up fitness and the Japanese starting for the first time since October 25th, a 2-2 Champions League Group Stage draw against Atletico Madrid.

Captain Callum McGregor missed the fixture through an injury that also kept him out of Scotland’s international fixtures but is expected to return for next week’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers.

David Martindale’s side were boosted by the returns of Mikey Devlin and Scott Pittman from injury as Livi looked to take the challenge to the champions.

Celtic knew that victory today would see them return to the summit of the cinch Premiership, albeit with rivals Rangers having a game in-hand.

Celtic started fast, with Hatate being first to try his hand at goal, picking up a Matt O’Riley corner just outside the box but firing over Shamal George’s net.

Tete Yengi showed the threat that he can pose as the Aussie latched onto a long ball from Jamie Brandon but could only prod the ball into Joe Hart’s arms.

The hosts had another chance shortly afterwards when Ayo Obileye, always a problem in the air, headed straight at Hart following a Michael Nottingham long throw.

Celtic roared forward after the pair of Livi chances, with some neat play down the right from O’Riley and Alistair Johnston seeing the Canadian flash a ball across goal, one in which Kyogo Furuhashi couldn’t head home from just a few yards out.

Don Robertson, a referee in the spotlight after comments from Brendan Rodgers regarding his performance in Celtic’s defeat at Tynecastle a few weeks ago, had his first big decision to make as he waved off a penalty claim after Furuhashi went down in the box, with VAR not calling Robertson to the monitor.

Hatate again tried his luck from range and came a lot closer to finding the target on this occasion, but once again it was wide of the post as Celtic started to show their teeth.

Celtic continued their surge for an opener late in the half, with Furuhashi shifting inside on Obileye and forcing George into his first save of the game, but ultimately it would be goalless at the break.

A pyro-show from the Celtic fans preceded the second half and the champions started as they meant to go on as Nicolas Kuhn picked the pockets of Sean Kelly, and after a goalmouth scramble Hatate’s effort ricocheted off several Livingston players before eventually crossing the line, going down as a Jamie Brandon own goal.

Steven Bradley left the field shortly after the opening goal with an injury, Dan McKay the one taking his place.

Kuhn continued to cause problems down the right flank but with a little more intent, cutting onto his left foot and forcing George to palm his left-footed effort away.

Brandon was eager to make amends for his own goal, but his speculative long-range effort was easily collected by Hart.

Hatate showed exactly how big a role he can play for Celtic in the business end of the season, and he departed the field just after the hour-mark making way for Paulo Bernardo.

Kuhn was a nuisance once again as he slid the ball Furuhashi’s way and the 29-year-old forced George to produce a stunning save to deny him a third goal in consecutive games.

That would be his as well as Kuhn’s final acts of the game, as Adam Idah replaced Furuhashi whilst Yang Hyun-jun made his return from suspension.

With Hatate’s return to the midfield taking the headlines, Bernardo reminded us of his quality as he made a driving run through the heart of the Livingston team, brushing off tackles left and right before playing a one-two with O’Riley and firing the ball low into George’s bottom left corner.

Desperate for goals, David Martindale made one final roll of the dice to try and drag his side back into the game as Bruce Anderson replaced Jason Holt.

Kurtis Guthrie joined Yengi and Anderson in attack shortly after, Stephen Kelly making way.

Chances would start to fall Livi’s way, with Anderson immediately getting involved but his tame effort from range rolled past Hart’s right post.

The green and white shirts were queuing up in the box as Yang drove into the box and Idah laid a goal on plate for O’Riley, who despite George’s best efforts in goal, added a third for the Hoops.

It was a mix of youth and experience with Celtic’s final substitution as 18-year-old Daniel Kelly and 32-year-old James Forrest came on for Maeda and O’Riley.

Idah almost added a goal to his assist as he flashed a free-kick narrowly wide of George’s net.

Some late chances fell the way of Celtic’s Kelly and Livingston’s McKay but neither could get themselves on the scoresheet.

Match Analysis

A lot of Celtic’s play in the first 25 minutes was coming from the wide areas, with Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn constantly getting the better of their markers but failing to provide the pinpoint cross to create a real scoring opportunity.

Reo Hatate’s influence on the Celtic team was evident just a few minutes into the game, with the Japanese international dictating a lot of Celtic’s positive attacking play on his return to the starting eleven.

As expected, Livingston’s main threat came from long balls over the top, with Tete Yengi causing a few problems for Liam Scales much like he did in the previous meeting between the two sides in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.

The first-half was a familiar story for Celtic supporters, with the Hoops plucking away and seeing most of the possession but failing to have the goals to match their dominance.

The second-half saw Celtic come hot out of the blocks with energy and ruthlessness to their attacking play. Kuhn was the main danger-man for the Hoops, causing all sorts of problems for a Livingston back line that was out of sorts to say the least.

The green and white shirts were queuing up in the box as Yang drove into the box and Idah laid a goal on a plate for O’Riley, who despite George’s best efforts in goal, added a third for the Hoops.

It always felt like the goals were going to come for Celtic even when the chances weren’t presenting themselves in the first-half given how much they dominated possession, and Celtic’s attacking intent eventually paid dividends as Livingston were hit with a flood of goals in the second half.

The task at hand was never going to be an easy one for Livingston, but a lot of the chances that fell Celtic’s way in the second half were self-inflicted. Free-falling down to the championship, Livingston couldn’t cause too many problems for the table-toppers on the day.

Brendan Rodgers will be left with plenty of positive selection headaches heading into next week’s match against Rangers, with Callum McGregor, Paulo Bernardo, Tomoki Iwata and now Reo Hatate all vying for a starting spot in the midfield. Yang Hyun-jun and Nicolas Kuhn’s positive performances will also leave the Northern Irishman scratching his head with regards to who to select on the right-wing.

Hear from the managers

John Kennedy, Celtic assistant manager:“In the first half we could have scored. We got into some great areas, but the final ball wasn’t there.

*We showed that calmness, were relentless, and eventually we broke them down.”

David Martindale, Livingston Manager: “A game of two halves. First half I thought we were structured and disciplined. We limited them to very little albeit I’d have liked us to have carried a little more of a threat than we did.

Losing the goal we lost (Brandon’s own goal) is probably the story of the season. It’s poor decision making