Celtic |
3 - 0 |
Ross County |
League (Premiership) |
Goalscorers | |
Cameron Carter-Vickers (64?) Albian Ajeti (70?) Albian Ajeti (85) |
None. |
Team Managers | |
Ange Postecoglou |
Malky Mackay |
Starting Eleven | |
15 Joe Hart 3 Greg Taylor 4 Carl Starfelt 20 Cameron Carter-Vickers 88 Josip Juranovic 14 David Turnbull 18 Tomas Rogic 42 Callum McGregor 10 Albian Ajeti 11 Liel Abada 17 Jota |
Ross Laidlaw .1 Harry Clarke .20 Jack Baldwin .5 Jack Burroughs .18 Blair Spittal .7 Ben Paton .24 Ross Callachan .8 Jordan Tillson .22 Regan Charles-Cook .17 Alex Samuel .9 Jordan White .26 |
Bench | |
12 Ismaila Soro 16 James McCarthy 26 Osaze Urhoghide 29 Scott Bain 30 Liam Shaw 54 Adam Montgomery 57 Stephen Welsh |
Ashley Maynard-Brewer .31 Keith Watson .15 Joseph Hungbo .23 Alex Robertson .11 David Cancola .4 Harry Paton .6 Dominic Samuel .10 |
Substitutions | |
Adam Montgomery for Greg Taylor (48) Ismaila Soro for Callum McGregor (68) James McCarthy for Tomas Rogic (78) |
Harry Paton for Alex Samuel (45) Dominic Samuel for Jordan White (63) Keith Watson for Jack Burroughs (73) |
Cautions | |
None. |
Ben Paton (61) |
Red Cards | |
None. | None. |
Match Officials | |
Don Robertson (Referee) |
Source unknown.
Ross County were defeated 3-0 today by Celtic in Glasgow this afternoon as the Staggies still search for their first league win of the season.
A goal from debutant Cameron Carter-Vickers and a double from Albian Ajeti helped the hosts to a comfortable close after a well-fought opening 60 minutes.
Malky Mackay opted to change formation ahead of the immense challenge in Glasgow. The Staggies changed to a back 4 for the first time in the league this season and this tactical amendment was paying dividends to begin with. County’s impressive back 4 was able to repel any Celtic threat for the opening 15 minutes as the hosts were reduced to meaningless deep possession.
However, Celtic’s attacking prowess allowed to home side to break County’s strong defensive mould on a few occasions.
In the 16th minute, Liel Abada had the first opportunity of the match when his clever one-two with Tom Rogic allowed the winger to get inside of Ben Paton and charge towards goal. Abada received the return pass on the right-hand side of the box and smashed the ball at Ross Laidlaw from a tight angle. However, the County stopper’s sharp reflexes enabled him to flick the ball onto the crossbar to keep things goalless.
8 minutes later, the hosts should have gone ahead when Albian Ajeti found himself one-on-one with Ross Laidlaw in the box. Tom Rogic broke from midfield and ignored cries from Liel Abada to slip him in on his right as he instead picked out Albian Ajeti to his left. The Swiss striker was all alone in the box as he faced Laidlaw, but his tame side-footed attempt was rolled directly into the arms of County’s number 1.
Shortly after the half-hour mark, the Staggies had a chance of their own to open the scoring. Some slack passing in midfield gifted possession to County as Regan Charles-Cook was given the freedom of the right side of the pitch. The Grenada international carried the ball more than 30 yards before laying it off to Blair Spittal who looked to pick out Ross Callachan in the box. However, Spittal’s fizzed cross evaded Callachan, who certainly would have scored had he connected.
As the half progressed the hosts started to get into their groove and looked likely to snatch an opener before the end of the first period. Around the 36th minute, Liel Abada had both a deflected volley hit the crossbar and an attempt at the far post from a cutback hit the side netting.
With 26 minutes remaining, Celtic took the lead. Over an hour of valiant County defending was undone when a long-range effort from Cameron Carter-Vickers took a wicked deflection and consequently lobbed Ross Laidlaw in goal.
4 minutes later, County had a golden opportunity to equalise with substitute Dominic Samuel. Regan Charles-Cook combined his pace and trickery to fool Josip Juranovic on the left of the box before picking out Samuel in the centre of the box. Samuel was unchallenged in the centre, but his close-range header was saved by the outstretched Joe Hart in goal.
Celtic then dealt the visitors a double whammy by doubling their lead less than a minute after Samuel passed up the opportunity to equalise. Liel Abada’s deep cross was met by Albian Ajeti at the back post who converted a simple header to give the hosts a two-goal cushion.
With 7 minutes to play, Ange Postecoglou’s side compounded the score line when Albian Ajeti grabbed his second of the match to make it 3-0. Ajeti followed up Juranovic’s header that struck the post after David Turnbull delivered a fine cross to the back post to pick out the Croatian.
3-0 may look as though County were easily turned over but Malky MacKay’s side again showed signs of improvement. The Staggies defended commendably for over an hour and continued to fight until the final whistle. A wicked deflection, a counterattack from a near equaliser and a fortunate rebound carried Celtic to a deserved, but not easy, victory.
*Match report courtesy of Ross County Football Club*.
2021/22 | All Time | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age | Nat | |||||
Ross Laidlaw (GK) | 29 | 7 | - | 69 | - | |
Jack Baldwin | 28 | 2 | - | 2 | - | |
Harry Clarke | 20 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
Blair Spittal | 25 | 7 | 2 | 42 | 7 | |
Jack Burroughs | 20 | 2 | - | 2 | - | |
Regan Charles-Cook | 24 | 5 | 1 | 37 | 3 | |
Jordan Tillson | 28 | 7 | - | 51 | - | |
Ross Callachan | 28 | 7 | - | 7 | - | |
Ben Paton | 21 | 2 | - | 2 | - | |
Jordan White | 29 | 7 | 2 | 20 | 6 | |
Alex Samuel | 25 | 1 | - | 1 | - | |
Keith Watson (sub) | 31 | 6 | - | 88 | 3 | |
Harry Paton (sub) | 23 | 5 | - | 75 | 4 | |
Dominic Samuel (sub) | 27 | 5 | - | 5 | - |
No league table has been added for this season.