Double trouble
Odsonne Edouard proved himself to be the perfect substitute as he grabbed two goals within five minutes of his introduction against Ross County in yesterday’s 3-0 victory at Celtic Park.
Shifting the attention away from Leigh Griffiths is no easy feat.
For days, Scottish football has been dominated with the tale of the tape and the fall-out from the striker’s fall-out with a Kilmarnock fan.
But here with his stunning second half introduction in place of the Scotland forward, Odsonne Edouard dragged the limelight back on to himself. For a little while at least.
The French star, who was dropped down to the bench because of a toe problem, scored with his very first touch, heading home Callum McGregor’s corner.
He then followed up by adding a second goal just three minutes later, to leave Ross County looking for the exit door.
Small wonder, in three games against Celtic, the Staggies have now conceded 13.
Edouard, meanwhile, now has 16 league goals for the season – more than he managed across all of the 2018-19 campaign.
“Odsonne is an outstanding footballer, up there with some of the best we’ve had over the last 20 years,” said manager Neil Lennon, a comparison which puts the 22-year-old with the likes of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Moussa Dembele.
“He is almost talismanic for us and the impact he made coming on here was huge – the game opened up.
“We could have scored more in the end and in the context of the season; it’s a brilliant win because it just keeps the momentum going.”
Griffiths, a scorer against Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock, actually did fine in the time he was on the pitch.
His delivery from an early set piece perfectly picked out the head of Christopher Jullien but the Frenchman
directed his effort too close to County keeper Nathan Baxter, who was able to save with ease.
Before the drama of Edouard’s double, this was all about Celtic’s narrow escapes from a County side who were refreshingly keen to pile forward.
The first came about thanks to a stunning 50-yard diagonal ball from Blair Spittal that sent Joshua Mullin scampering in on goal.
As Fraser Forster dashed off his line, the lob was on for all the crowd to see but while the winger was happy to go the aerial route his aim was off.
An even better chance was to follow. Mullin returned the favour by teeing up Spittal, albeit with the help of a decent leave by Lee Erwin.
Ten yards out, in front of goal and with time to pick his spot, the former Dundee United and Partick Thistle forward really should have scored.
His composure was fine, his direction not so much as he side-footed wide of Forster’s left hand post.
Countless teams have had reason to rue missed opportunities at Celtic Park and the Staggies were left doing just that when Johnston won a penalty before the break, teasing a foul out of Keith Watson in the box.
Callum McGregor stepped up to the spot and hit a confident finish past Baxter for 1-0.
“It’s the first penalty I’ve actually taken in a game for Celtic so one from one is pretty good!” said the midfielder.
“It was a vital point in the game, so it was important to get it.
“Then after half-time Odsonne comes on and changes the game within minutes and gets man of the match!”
One instantly almost became two. James Forrest twisted this way and that in from the left before shooting low across the County keeper.
Griffiths dashed it in at the back post but was just too late to supply what would have been a simple tap in.
For all his goals against Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock, he is still working his way back to full fitness and here he contributed to the team’s day by making way for Edouard.
“I felt it was a soft penalty and we could have done better with the other two goals,” said County co-boss Steven Ferguson
“Regarding our performance – we certainly feel it was better but we don’t want this to sound like a glorious failure. We feel we competed well on the day. We don’t feel like it was a 3-0 game but the scoreline tells us otherwise.”