Furuhashi at double as Celtic hand in
League leaders rise to occasion to see off third-placed Gorgie side
CELTIC cranked up the pressure on title rivals Rangers as they swept Hearts aside at a rocking Celtic Park. A predatory finish by Kyogo Furuhashi settled Celtic nerves after a decent start by the away side, before the rejuvenated striker added a second before the interval.
Hearts hung in doggedly, but Matt O’Riley sealed the points emphatically from the spot after Lawrence Shankland’s handball had been caught by a VAR review.
Here are the talking points as Celtic did their job and put the onus on their city rivals.
Big-game Kyogo comes alive again
It is not unfair to say that this has not been a vintage season from Celtic over the piece, and in Furuhashi, they perhaps have had the embodiment of their fortunes. But, just like his team, it seems the little striker has come alive at precisely the right moment.
This was like the Furuhashi who the Celtic fans came to know and love over his first two seasons at the club, hovering menacingly on the shoulders of the Hearts defenders and sniffing out opportunities. And he was at his deadly best as he showed brilliant anticipation to nod Celtic ahead early on and settle the nerves of the home crowd.
O’Riley won a corner and swung it in on top of Zander Clark, who punched clear to the edge of the area. Reo Hatate was waiting to collect, and his clever lob back into the area found
Furuhashi gambling and coming up trumps, tucking a header into the corner from close range that survived the dreaded VAR check.
He was at it again to double Celtic’s advantage later in the half, latching on to O’Riley’s pick-out from just beyond the halfway line. It was a sumptuous ball and a lovely bit of striker play as Furuhashi peeled off the dozing Kye Rowles and cushioned the ball home with a side-foot volley.
He almost brought up the hat-trick with a snapshot on the turn that was well saved by Clark, and he had a couple of sighters after the break too, but while the match ball eluded him, he had more than done his bit.
That is now 19 goals for the campaign for Furuhashi, not a bad return at all considering perceptions of his season.
Bright Hearts start fades
It was not all doom and gloom for Hearts, and they started the match really brightly despite falling behind to Furuhashi’s early opener. Shankland had a sight of goal just seconds in, only being denied by a last-gasp O’Riley block, and Cammy Devlin must have thought he had dragged his side level not long after Celtic’s first.
Shankland worked the ball wide to Kenneth Vargas, who cut the ball back for the arriving Devlin to prod towards the top corner. It looked to be a goal all the way before Joe Hart stretched out a big left hand to claw the ball out to safety.
It was a stunning stop from the soon to be retiring keeper, and a crucial one in the context of the game. And, by extension, the title race. Celtic soon got their second and the result was not much in doubt thereafter.
Hearts had beaten Celtic in their previous two meetings, and they caused the champions plenty of problems in the first half especially here, but they will rue some less than clinical finishing and some dozy defending that ultimately proved their undoing.
Celtic’s holy trinity click into gear
For all that the midfield supporting cast of the likes of Paulo Bernardo and Tomoki Iwata have made creditable contributions this term, the difference it makes to this Celtic side when Brendan Rodgers’ first-choice trio of captain Callum McGregor, Hatate and the magnificent O’Riley are available is plain to see. Rodgers has not had the luxury of having them all on the pitch at the same time anywhere near as often as he would like – certainly not when they have all been fit and firing – but they were each at the top of their games here, and it was no coincidence that this was arguably the best football that Celtic have produced this season as a result.
McGregor, who has been toiling over the past few weeks with the Achilles issue he is carrying, looked back to his best, with one lung-bursting recovery run to nick the ball from Vargas and halt a Hearts counterattack bringing Celtic Park to its feet.
O’Riley (inset) managed to underline his credentials as Celtic’s penalty taker with a fine finish from the spot late on, just for good measure.
Forrest to start against Rangers?
It will be interesting to see what
Celtic manager Rodgers does on the flanks next week when Rangers come to town, with the returning Daizen Maeda almost assured of his place on the left flank due to the recurring nightmares that he gives to Ibrox captain James Tavernier.
On the other wing though it would seem to be James Forrest who has done more to earn the nod to start the gargantuan encounter, coming in from the cold over the past few weeks and making a telling impact.
He was not among the goals here, but his clever link-up play and passing caught the eye more than anything Nicolas Kuhn produced, though the German did not do a lot wrong.
Fans bring the noise
This was obviously a big game for Celtic, and it felt every inch of it within the stadium.
From the pre-match rendition of
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” to the early nerves as Hearts threatened, through the rapturous celebrations that greeted the goals to the acclaim that met the final whistle, it was clear the home fans understood both the gravity of the situation and their own role in Celtic turning a topsy-turvy season into a successful one.
Rodgers had asked his men to apply the “scoreboard pressure” to Rangers prior to this one, and now it is up to Philippe Clement’s team to handle that pressure and respond when they take on Kilmarnock today.
Handling Celtic Park when it is like this – and it will be on another level again – may well prove to be a tougher task next weekend.
At the end, the fans in the North Curve unveiled a banner that read “Impatient for the Coming Fight”. You and the rest of the country, guys.