Celtic have returned to the top of the Scottish Premiership after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Livingston on Sunday.
A returning Reo Hatate was heavily involved in the opener on 49 minutes. His shot ricocheted around the Livingston defence and trickled into the back of the net- recorded as a Jamie Brandon own goal.
Then, substitute Paulo Bernardo showed his quality again with a fine low drive past Shamal George in the 72nd minute that ensured there was no unnecessary tension or drama for the Bhoys.
Finally, Matt O’Riley combined with Adam Idah to round off the scoring late on.
Celtic worked hard throughout the 90 minutes and fully deserved their win, again moving a point ahead of Rangers as league leaders, having played one more match. It’s a good place to be heading into next weekend’s massive derby at Ibrox.
What are the big talking points coming out of today’s match? Here are three of ours…
Reo Hatate ready to go for title push
I have to be honest. I was surprised when Reo Hatate was named in today’s starting line-up. Not because I doubt his ability, but simply due to the fact he has barely played any football for the last few months.
It looked like a tall order for him to start and be effective for this one, on Livingston’s dodgy pitch, but the Japanese midfielder stepped up and showed he is ready to make an impact for Celtic.
Having Hatate for the seven remaining matches and the push for the Scottish Cup could be a difference-maker for the Bhoys.
After 65 minutes under his belt this afternoon, it now seems he is certain to start away to Rangers next week and everyone knows what he is capable of in that fixture. It’s brilliant to have him back.
Celtic boost goal difference in tight title race
As we discussed yesterday, this season’s title race could go all the way down to goal difference. So when you are facing the bottom-placed side in the league then you must take full advantage.
Clean sheets have been hard to come by for Celtic over the last couple of months so to see the Bhoys shut Livingston out and punish them with three goals is important.
The manager called for his team to show more defensive resilience in this final stretch, so he’ll be delighted too.
Brendan Rodgers’ side now have a goal difference of +51, while Rangers sit with +50 having played a game less. It’s very tight and every goal matters.
Refereeing shocker could have cost Celtic
Another week, another bizarre refereeing call. Celtic were frustrated at 0-0 when referee Don Robertson blatantly missed a foul on Kyogo Furuhashi in the box that should have been given as a penalty.
Even more strange was the fact that the VAR team didn’t recommend their colleague to review the incident, despite numerous replays showing Kyogo was clearly clipped as the ball was fired into the box.
Players were bemused, the Sky Sports pundits were confused and supporters were left scratching their heads.
It won’t leave Celtic fans with much hope there’ll be an improvement in refereeing standards in the final seven matches of the league season. Thankfully it didn’t cost the Bhoys this time.