CAPITAL GAIN
CELTIC SEE OFF HIBS AND MOVE UP TO SECOND PLACE JUST TWO POINTS BEHIND RANGERS
HIBERNIAN 1 Porteous 37 CELTIC 3 Ralston 10, Carter-Vickers 14, Furuhashi 30
AFIRST league win at Easter Road in over seven years put Celtic within touching distance of the Scottish Premiership summit last night — thanks to a 30-minute blitz that pitched Hibs further into disarray and despair.
Two goals inside the opening 15 minutes — and a third on the half-hour mark — set Ange Postecoglou’s men on their way on a rainy night in Edinburgh.
Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Kyogo Furuhashi were the scorers as the visitors quickly established a formidable lead in the capital.
Although Ryan Porteous grabbed a goal back for the visitors, nodding home from a Joe Newell corner with 36 minutes gone, that was the end of the scoring.
With Rangers and Hearts both dropping points, Celtic now sit just two behind the leaders. And they look a team transformed.
On a night when Tom Rogic looked absolutely unplayable in the 43 minutes he played before limping off injured, David Turnbull bagged a pair of assists — both courtesy of set-piece deliveries.
If Rogic and Turnbull were the stand-outs, they were more than ably supported by a Celtic side bristling with intent. And building no little momentum.
Celtic’s recent run of consecutive victories — three in the league and one impressive Europa League home win over Ferencvaros — had put everyone on notice about their potential to wreak havoc upon opponents of varying styles and standards.
Still threatening in attack but no longer conceding goals with the kind of careless abandon seen early in the Postecoglou reign, the Hoops pitched up in Edinburgh oozing confidence.
Facing a suddenly vulnerablelooking Hibs side trying to snap their own three-game losing streak, there was an expectation that one of Scottish football’s slightly unusual hoodoos might even be broken.
Heading into last night’s game, Celtic hadn’t recorded a league win at Easter Road since January 26, 2014.
Hibs boss Jack Ross was taking no chances with that proud record in this one, the return to the starting line-up of Alex Gogic — given a strict man-marking job on Rogic from the opening whistle — signalling his intent pretty clearly.
The problem with that plan? Trying to contain Rogic isn’t a one-man job. As Hibs were to find out, in painful style. Repeatedly.
The opening goal came from a free-kick awarded after Gogic was caught on the wrong side of the Australian and clipped the heels of his tormentor.
Turnbull’s delivery from maybe 28 yards out on the right side of the box was hit with pace, dip and accuracy. And Ralston was never going to be stopped from sending his header into the back of the net from close range.
A goal down with less than ten minutes on the clock, Hibs rallied and railed against their misfortune. Had Joe Hart not stuck out a big right boot to prevent Newell from finishing off Jamie Murphy’s defence-splitting pass just moments after the restart, the hosts would have been on level terms in double-quick time. Barely a couple of minutes later, though, they were made to pay both for that missed opportunity — and their inability to defend set-pieces delivered with a bit of quality.
Once again, the momentum was shifted by Gogic fouling Rogic, this time going too tight and grappling with his man. Celtic’s playmaker took the free-kick himself, rifling in a long-range shot that Matt Macey tipped over the bar.
As Turnbull strolled over to the left corner, Hibs surely knew to brace themselves for another testing cross. Yet they did nothing to stop his corner from landing at the feet of Carter-Vickers, who side-footed home from close range. We’d not even reached the quarter-hour mark yet.
Celtic had multiple chances to extend their lead before long, with Turnbull slashing a left-foot shot wide from a good position.
Mikey Johnston, continuing his long road back from injury with a first start since January, probably should have tried to score himself instead of crossing from a similar spot on the left moments later.
As long as Rogic was on the pitch and on the ball, Celtic could be confident of creating opportunities.
Gogic was booked, inevitably, for yet another nibble at the languid game-breaker after 29 minutes.
Less than 60 seconds later, Rogic demonstrated exactly why so many opponents have been reduced to grabbing, tripping and barging him in desperation.
Slaloming his way into the box, leaving three Hibs players in his wake, the big man laid off a perfectly-weighted pass for Jota, who squared for Kyogo to tap in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Turned over 3-0 by Dundee United in their last game in front of the Easter Road faithful, the Hibernian players could hardly be surprised to find the home support turning on them. When Macey was forced to make a save from Kyogo to avoid going 4-0 down after 33 minutes, the boos rang out.
Fortunately for the hosts, some relief was on the horizon. Starting with Porteous just getting himself in front of all challengers — with the help of a clever bit of blocking by Martin Boyle — to convert Newell’s corner from the right.
The centre-half, just back from a two-game suspension following his red card at Ibrox, definitely adds something to his team.
When Rogic went down holding his hamstring just before half-time, Postecoglou deciding to rest his arch-schemer and put Nir Bitton on his place, it wasn’t only Gogic who breathed a sigh of relief.
The Hibs midfielder was hooked himself at half-time, Josh Campbell coming on, accompanied by a tweak to the formation — and a new emphasis on pressing high, taking risks, looking to force
mistakes. Boyle’s speed and determination saw him come within about two-and-a-half inches of nicking a back pass off the toe of Hart, one of several encouraging moments for the home side early in the second half.
As Ross himself has pointed out, however, the club’s failure to land another recognised striker to cover for the injured Christian Doidge has begun to take its toll. Kevin Nisbet, the only fit frontman on the books, looks over-matched by the burden.
That didn’t mean Hibs were about to simply roll over and give up, of course. Boyle continued to pose a threat down the right wing. Porteous, who was booked for going to ground when he might have stayed on his feet, nodded over from another corner.
Hart once again proved his value to Celtic with a stunning pointblank save from Murphy heading into the last 15 minutes. The visitors certainly had to endure some very nervy moments.
For the away fans, however, much of the time was spent checking score updates elsewhere, keeping tabs on the competition and celebrating with their heroes at full-time, including an enormous ovation for Postecoglou.
Even this early in the season, they could feel that this might be a pivotal night of Premiership football.
HIBERNIAN (4-1-4-1): Macey 5; McGinn 5, Porteous 6, Hanlon 5, Doig; Gogic 4 (Campbell 45); Boyle 6, Doyle-Hayes 5, Newell 5, Murphy 6 (Wright 76); Nisbet 5 (Gullan 76). Subs not used: Dabrowski, Wood, Stevenson, Camden. Booked: Gogic, Porteous. CELTIC (4-3-3): Hart 7; Ralston 7, CarterVickers 7, Starfelt 6, Juranovic 7; Turnbull 8, Rogic 8 (Bitton 44), McGregor 7; Jota 7, Kyogo 7 (Abada 80), Johnston 7 (Giakoumakis 65). Subs not used: Bain, Ajeti, Montgomery, Welsh. Booked: McGregor. Man of the match: David Turnbull. Referee: Don Robertson. Attendance: 17,580.