Celtic 2
Ross County 1
League (Premiership)


Celtic 

2 - 1

Ross County


League (Premiership)
Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Celtic Park, Glasgow. Att. 45,705
5:15 PM Kick-off


Goalscorers
Anthony Stokes (28,86) Darren Maatsen (3)

Team Managers
Neil Lennon Derek Adams

Starting Eleven
Fraser Forster
Mikael Lustig
Efe Ambrose
Charlie Mulgrew
Emilio Izaguirre
James Forrest
Kris Commons
Joe Ledley
Scott Brown
Derk Boerrigter
Anthony Stokes
Mark Brown .1
Grant Munro
Brian McLean
Branislav Micic
Mihael Kovacevic
Ben Gordon
Stuart Kettlewell .4
Rocco Quinn .10
Graham Carey .23
Darren Maatsen .14
Kevin Luckassen .19

Bench
Tony Watt
Beram Kayal
Amido Balde
Lukasz Zaluska
Steven Mouyokolo
Dylan McGeouch
Adam Matthews
Michael Fraser
Steven Saunders
Alex Cooper
Steven Ross
Marc Klok .18
Melvin De Leeuw .11
Orhan Mustafi

Substitutions
Watt - Boerrigter (38)
Matthews - Lustig (68)
Kayal - Forrest (90)
Alex Cooper for Darren Maatsen (62)
Steven Saunders for Graham Carey (71)
Orhan Mustafi for Kevin Luckassen (83)

Cautions
None. None.

Red Cards
None. None.

Match Officials

Willie Collum (Referee)



Match Report


Source unknown.

Anthony Stokes got Celtic out of jail as his late strike snatched a 2-1 victory over Ross County at Celtic Park.

The Irishman cancelled out a third-minute stunner from Darren Maatsen with a tap-in on the half hour, and he ensured maximum points when he drilled a low shot past Mark Brown with three minutes remaining.

Ross County formed a guard of honour for the reigning champions before kick-off but they were less charitable once the game kicked off and stunned the hosts on three minutes.

Darren Maatsen was invited inside the area with the ball and he punished some slack defending by unleashing a rasping shot that flew past Fraser Forster.

Maatsen's strike woke the hosts from their slumber and they went on to dominate the remainder of the game, but they found Mark Brown in inspired form, the County goalkeeper producing smart saves to deny Derk Boerrigter and Kris Commons.

But Brown was let down by his defence on 28 minutes when they failed to properly clear Commons' corner. Mikael Lustig's scuffed effort came back off the post and Stokes was on hand to tap home the rebound.

Celtic lost debutant Boerrigter to an ankle injury but they remained on top, with Efe Ambrose blazing over and Brown denying Stokes to ensure the scores remained level at the break.

The game continued in a similar fashion after the interval, Stokes again going close with a volley and Commons crashing a shot off the crossbar as gaps began to appear in County's defence.

Former Celtic player Graham Carey went close with a free header but it was a rare foray forward by County, and Charlie Mulgrew saw a header come back off the post at the other end.

Celtic piled bodies forward late on and it paid off on 87 minutes when Commons found Stokes to the left of goal. He cut inside and fired a low shot past Brown to ensure Celtic got their title defence off to a winning start.




Squad Statistics (as at August 3rd, 2013)


2013/14 All Time
Age
Mark Brown (GK)32 1 - 17 -
Brian McLean28 1 - 1 -
Grant Munro32 1 - 814
Ben Gordon22 1 - 1 -
Mihael Kovacevic25 1 - 34 -
Branislav Micic23 1 - 2 -
Darren Maatsen22 1111
Graham Carey24 1 - 1 -
Rocco Quinn26 1 - 679
Stuart Kettlewell29 1 - 1288
Kevin Luckassen20 1 - 1 -
Steven Saunders (sub)22 1 - 1 -
Alex Cooper (sub)21 1 - 19 -
Orhan Mustafi (sub)23 1 - 1 -






League Table (as at August 3rd, 2013)


No league table has been added for this season.