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Brendan Rodgers watched from the stands as Celtic won 3-0 over struggling Livingston to return to the top of the Premiership ahead of next Sunday’s delightful clash against rivals Rangers at Ibrox.
Serving a one-lineout suspension for comments made about in-form officials after the 2-0 loss to the Hearts four weeks earlier, the Hoops boss was said to be worried at halftime as his team struggled to break the suffocating Lions.
But an own goal from Jamie Brandon at the start of the second half broke the hosts’ resistance and additional goals from substitutes Paulo Bernardo and Matt O’Riley helped Celtic take a point above the Gers, who have a game in hand.
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The loss left Livingston, who failed to threaten Joe Hart’s goal all afternoon, 10 points behind Ross County at the bottom of the table with just seven games remaining.
The Lions, who had won just one of their last 22 league games, made three adjustments to the aspect of the 3-0 loss to Hibernian before the overseas break. Michael Nottingham, Mikey Devlin and Scott Pittman replaced Cristian Montano, David Carson and Joël. Noble.
There were two changes to the Celtic side that beat St Johnstone last time out, with Liam Scales replacing Stephen Welsh at centre-back and Bernardo leaving to replace influential Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate, who arrived for his first appearance. at the Hoops, nearly 3 months after being sidelined with a calf problem.
The Hoops had maximum control of the ball in the first half, but struggled to create clear chances. Hatate fired just over the bar in the 5th minute after O’Riley’s corner found him unmarked just outside the box.
An incisive move in the 24th minute allowed Alistair Johnston to whip in a hard cross from the right, but it was too hard for Kyogo Furuhashi to deflect the ball into the goal.
There was a moot moment when Furuhashi went down inside the box to a challenge from Devlin, but play continued and a VAR review found no explanation as to why the initial decision was overturned, much to the anger of the visitors.
Towards the break, Hatate fired a shot just wide from 20 yards, then in first-half stoppage time Celtic forced Shamal George to make his first save of the game when Livi’s goalkeeper did superbly to drop to his right and stop the ball. after Furuhashi intervened from the right and fired a low shot towards the post.
After a frustrating first half, the large travelling fans, who occupied 3 of the 4 stands of the stadium, were able to celebrate the end of the equaliser in the 49th minute.
The goal came in the most disjointed fashion when Hatatate’s shot from six yards went past George and bounced off the unfortunate Brandon after Nicolas Kuhn dispossessed Steven Bradley down the right and cut the ball to Furuhashi, who helped him into the danger zone.
George made some impressive saves to keep Kuhn and Furuhashi out, but the goalkeeper was left helpless in the 72nd minute when Bernardo, who had come on seven minutes earlier, fired a low shot from 20 yards into the net after driving towards Livi. -two with O’Riley.
Celtic were complete and O’Riley sealed the win in the 83rd minute when his low shot just inside the box twisted too easily through George and into the net.
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