BY GIORG HE’S GOT IT AGAIN
Second treble in month for Celtic star Giakoumakis sends Staggies packing
A SECOND hat-trick in a month for Giorgos Giakoumakis and the tantalising prospect of Kyogo Furuhashi’s return.
Should the destination of the Premiership title come down to a shooting match, then Celtic will fancy their chances.
If the Celtic support spent the first half of the season praying Furuhashi would stay fit, his three-month absence has merely allowed a second goalscoring talisman to come to the fore.
A £2.5million acquisition from relegated Dutch side VVV-Venlo last summer, Giakoumakis’s season took time to ignite but he has caught fire at the most critical time.
Absent since Boxing Day with a hamstring injury, Furuhashi is set to return next month but there’s no guarantee and perhaps no requirement that he will then start every game — not when Ange Postecoglou has a penalty-box poacher knocking the ball into the net for fun.
At the point Furuhashi pulled up at McDiarmid Park, Giakoumakis had scored just once for the Parkhead side. His fitness and adaptation issues behind him, the 27-year-old has found the net 11 times since the winter break and subjected County to the kind of punishment he meted out to Dundee on February 20.
Joined on the scoresheet by Daizen Maeda, the Greek international helped secure a six-point advantage over Rangers at the top of the Premiership table from a match that had the potential to cause problems for the league leaders.
There have been certain parallels concerning the jobs done by these teams’ respective managers this season. Well documented has been Postecoglou’s success in effecting a near-total rebuild of Celtic’s squad, but Malky Mackay has had to do something similar on a much reduced budget.
The Highlanders also struggled at the start of the campaign, but since settling into a rhythm and clearly-defined style of play, they have flourished and retain ambitions of a top-six finish.
There’s nothing fancy about Mackay’s gameplan but it affords maximum scope to the team’s most exciting players in the wide areas.
Here, the league’s top scorer Regan Charles-Cook hardly made an impact. And on the other flank Joseph Hungbo was sacrificed after Kayne Ramsay saw red for a nasty challenge on Tom Rogic.
A former Celtic player, Mackay had spoken warmly of his mentor Frank Connor in the build-up and spent a minute’s commemoration for the late Celtic coach gazing up at his image on the big screen.
Once the whistle blew, it was vital his players applied the same focus to the green-and-white jerseys in front of them but such was their intensity and rotation that they quickly became overwhelmed.
Ironically, it was the one fixed attacker who did all the damage.
Giakoumakis does all of his best work within the width of the posts and he claimed two quick goals from that central position.
With full-backs Josip Juranovic and Greg Taylor stepping inside as per instruction and wingers Jota and Maeda switching at will, County faced a dizzying carousel of movement.
The opening goal saw right winger Jota pop up on the left before curling a cross for Giakoumakis to fend off Alex Iacovitti and head home at the back post.
Goal two originated from the opposite flank as Juranovic picked out Maeda at the back post.
The Japanese front man could have tried for a similar outcome but saw Giakoumakis in a better spot and headed back to the Greek. Jack Baldwin kept out the first effort but the forward found the net at the second bite.
Maeda’s unselfish assist was rewarded at goal No 3 when another Giakoumakis header landed in his path and invited him to turn home.
We had not yet reached the half-hour mark and already this was a walkover.
Matters got worse for the away team when full-back Ramsay clattered wildly through Rogic and was shown red by Don Robertson.
It took a while for the defender to accept his punishment and leave the field but the fact Rogic was soon hobbling behind him was perhaps a sign that the referee’s judgment of dangerous play had been sound.
Mackay saw it differently: ‘His right foot takes the ball and his momentum coming through sees his left foot come off the ground, too. Letter of the law you could say his feet are off the ground but I don’t think there was any malice in it.
‘At that point, the crowd are shouting and the referee gives it. Could it have been yellow? Maybe.’
Mackay brought on an extra defender in Keith Watson for Hungbo while Postecoglou sent on Matt O’Riley in place of Rogic.
Jota and O’Riley both missed by
inches as Celtic piled forward looking for goals but the interval arrived without further damage.
County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw had to look sharp to tip a Jota drive over after the break and he was subsequently let down by the Iacovitti handball that led to Giakoumakis’s penalty-kick third.
The defender was not in any real danger as he jumped with O’Riley for a header but a flapping arm clipped the ball and saw Robertson point at the spot.
Designated taker Juranovic was happy to defer duties. Giakoumakis showed not the slightest bit of nerves as he rolled the ball home for his treble. The chances of the team picking up its own hat-trick of trophies seems to grow by the week.