Concern for injured defender as Ross County fall to Celtic

Ross County pushed Celtic all the way in Dingwall, but eventually ended up on the wrong side of a 4-1 result against the Glasgow giants.

Goals in each half from Kyogo Furuhashi sandwiched Jordan White’s penalty, which had restored parity in the game.

A late penalty of their own saw Celtic put the result beyond doubt late on, with Arne Engels converting a retaken spot kick in stoppage time, while Luke McCowan added the cherry on top with an even later strike.

Jordan Amissah made a number of saves to keep Celtic at bay in the first half, while at the other end Noah Chilvers and Ronan Hale each spurned good opportunities to find the back of the net.

However, five minutes before the interval it was Kyogo Furuhashi who connected with an inch-perfect cross from Alistair Johnston to break the deadlock.

Staggies manager Don Cowie gave Kieran Phillips a club debut at half time, bringing him on just days after signing from Huddersfield Town.

County took a further setback, though, when commanding centre back Kacper Lopata was forced off through injury within 10 minutes of the restart.

That forced Cowie to make more attacking changes, and the home side would get back on level terms when Jordan White converted from the penalty spot right on the hour mark.

Unfortunately for County, that was about as good as it got with Furuhashi once again finding the net with 10 minutes left to play, heading it past a despairing Amissah.

As the match ticked into added time, there was an intervention for VAR Greg Aitken to make as he judged James Brown to have committed a foul inside his own penalty area, but although Amissah initially saved from Arne Engels it was forced to be retaken as the County keeper had stepped off his line.

The Belgian made no mistake the second time around, finding the bottom corner.

If there was any doubt, Celtic sealed all three points when Luke McCowan’s quick feet opened up a shooting opportunity inside the County box in the 98th minute, and he made no mistake to convert and make it 4-1.

After the match, Ross County manager Don Cowie told Sky Sports: “I feel for the boys in terms of the scoreline. I spoke before the game about a nearly-performance, and we got it level to 1-1 with 10 minutes to go.

“I’m disappointed that we conceded two goals in stoppage time, because I thought the boys put their bodies on the line and I thought Jordan was excellent, so he didn’t deserve to lose four goals.

“When you play Celtic, you spend a lot of time out of possession, so it’s intense. I made the changes at half time to bring on fresh legs up front, and I thought Jordan and Kieran posed problems.

“We got a goal out of it, but we couldn’t hold on in the end.

“We don’t want to be a nearly team. It’s going to be difficult when you’re playing the best team in the country, but you want that moment when you’re right in the game to get a positive result.

“Letting the scoreline get away from us was disappointing, but I’m pleased with the effort and commitment of my players.”