Odsonne winners
French star Edouard adds late double after Rogic and Ntcham strikes
Jambos may be three points clear but Edouard insists this win proves high flying Hoops are still best team in Scotland They’re back to being an irresistible force – but Celtic still can’t become an immovable object.
The champions moved ominously up to second with their fifth straight home win, scoring four and hitting the woodwork five times in a 90 minutes of high-tempo, attacking football.
But they still left the back door open for a Hibs side who came to play – and had to work harder than they might have done to keep themselves on Hearts’ coattails at the top.
A brilliant display from Tom Rogic before the break saw the Aussie score one and set up the other for Olivier Ntcham as they exposed Neil Lennon’s desire to go toe to toe with them.
Hibs found their shape and desire after the break and got within touching distance twice through class finishes from Flo Kamberi and Martin Boyle – only to be put back in their box each time by Odsonne Edouard.
The Frenchman – who hit the post three times as well as taking his tally to four in the last three games with yesterday’s double – said: “It was very important to win. We wanted to demonstrate to everyone we are still a team who are aiming for that top spot. That we are still No.1.
“After my injury there were some complications but everything is now going well. I feel really fit. I could have scored four but Hibs were a good team and gave us a really good game.”
The Hibees were coming off a 6- 0 win over Accies last time out and with three at the back and two up top in Boyle and Kamberi, their set-up looked adventurous in the extreme.
And it was a wild ride early on. Scott Brown was booked in 59 seconds, Stevie Mallan’s free-kick whistled inches past, Edouard cracked the post and Callum McGregor clipped the bar – all inside the first five minutes.
There was no way it was staying goalless for 10 minutes, far less 90.
So it proved. While Lennon had deployed his Aussie Mark Milligan to protect, Brendan Rodgers had sent his out to destroy – and Rogic did exactly that. In this mood there’s no greater creative force in Scottish football.
After a super give-and-go with James Forrest, Milligan couldn’t get near his compatriot as he glided along the outside of the box to the D and curled a sweet finish past Adam Bogdan.
The big playmaker turned provider 20 minutes later, Celtic slicing and dicing their way through Hibs with a stunning move before Rogic applied the deadweight assist for Ntcham to finish from just inside the box.
Whatever Hibs’ game plan had been it hadn’t been executed. Their back three were toiling, Boyle was like a fish out of water without the game in front of him and for all Kamberi’s class, he wasn’t getting a look from Filip Benkovic. Lennon changed to a four before the break, dropping Milligan into centreback and playing a diamond in the middle. What a difference it made.
But they should already have been further back when he did.
Scott Sinclair, on as a sub as Brown limped off, incredibly hit the post with a free shot at an empty goal from 14 yards, while Forrest and Edouard passed up decent chances.
Despite it all, Hibs could have been level before the half-time whistle.
Craig Gordon beat out a fierce Mallan 30-yarder before pulling off one of the saves of the season down low to his left to deny a Boyle header.
When they eventually did reduce the deficit just after the hour, there was no question they deserved it.
They’d stabilised the game, sorted themselves out defensively, killed Celtic’s tempo and switched Kamberi’s side to get him far more involved. The goal came from some careless play in the middle from McGregor though.
He lost it to Boyle who combined with Daryl Horgan to set Kamberi up for a superb rifled finish into the top corner. Game on – but Hibs left the back door open.
Set up by a brilliant For rest run and cutback, Edouard drilled it through two despairing bodies on the line.
Still it wasn’t done. More slackness allowed Boyle to drive a bus through the middle of the Hoops defence and deliver a clipped finish over Gordon.
Again, however, Celtic’s deficiencies going backwards were more than compensated for by their qualities going forward.
Darren McGregor overshot his bid to deny Edouard latching on to McGregor’s dink over the defence and the 20-yearold had all the time in the world to slot home.
He could even have had a hat-trick at the death, denied only by a brilliant Bogdan stop.
Boyle said: “We let ourselves and the manager down in the f irst hal f. The way we started wasn’t acceptable. You can’t gift them two goals like that.
“They were much more clinical than us. That’s why they are champions.”