After their midweek humiliation, Celtic bounced back to winning ways on Sunday, beating a dogged and determined County side who will feel disappointed not to come away with something from the game. County started the game as massive underdogs. However, it was them who would strike the first goal of the match. Ronan Hale’s first-half penalty was enough to give County an arguably deserved lead going into the second half. Celtic proved their champions-elect status, though, and late strikes from Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kühn were enough to see them take all three points back down the road to Glasgow.
Celtic started in their usual fashion, pinning County back and pressing the team up high, Celtic centre-backs Scales and Trusty were rarely in their half, taking a position in the County centre circle. Efforts on goal were hard to come by however, Ross County’s midfield block was working effectively against the Celtic attack, crowding out the midfield area whenever they tried to play the ball inside. Half chances would come for Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah, but none of them ever tested Ross Laidlaw in the County goal.
County began to grow into the game, and they had the first shot on target. Ronan Hale has started his County career brilliantly and was a stand-out for County again today, his cross-goal shot was punched wide by Kasper Schmeichel and Noah Chilvers, on the rebound, could only fire wide. Then came the moment of the first half; a cross from Michee Efete into the Celtic area was met with the arm of Liam Scales. A quick check on the monitor from Kevin Clancy resulted in a penalty to the home side.
Hale stood over the ball for an age, pushing and shoving around him, Schmeichel even scuffing the penalty spot whilst the referee’s back was turned. His initial effort was tame, and Schmeichel got down to his right to produce a comfortable save, but VAR determined him to be off his line. Retake. Hale made no mistake the second time around, hammering it into the right-hand corner of the goal to give County the lead going into the half. The Staggies had their tails up going into the second half, and Ronan Hale almost scored a spectacular second. A misplaced pass from Alistair Johnston found Hale spying Schmeichel off his line; his long-range lob sailed just inches over.
Brendan Rodgers had seen enough at that point, and a triple change quickly followed, with Idah, Hatate and Engles all making way for Kyogo Bernardo and McCowan. The tempo of Celtic noticeably quickened, a lot more pace in their passes around the midfield and the County defence was beginning to get stretched. Still, Celtic were struggling to get any clear shots on goal, shooting towards their fans, they were getting restless. Every shot sailing wide was met with anger from the Celtic support.
They were swiftly rewarded just fifteen minutes before time, though. A Celtic corner flicked on at the near post saw Ross Laidlaw make a fantastic reflex save however, the rebound from Callum McGregor was turned in off Johnston to draw Celtic level. County were starting to sink deeper and deeper into their half, and Celtic were pouring on the pressure, roared on from a sold-out away support.
Trying to push bodies forward, County were caught out at the back; goal scorer turned playmaker, Johnston’s ball slipped into Kuhn on the right, he cut inside and slotted it past Laidlaw to cue wild celebrations in the away end. Speaking to the media after, Don Cowie expressed his “disappointment for the group” but maintained he was proud of the effort his side put in.
Full time: Ross County 1-2 Celtic
The Staggies will now look to regroup during the international break as they face a trip to St Johnstone on the 19th of October. Celtic, meanwhile, are at home to Aberdeen in a top-of-the-table clash between the two unbeaten teams in the league thus far.