Celtic vs Livingston. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,295.
Match report as Greg Taylor opened the scoring with an impressive solo strike; Kyogo Furuhashi took his personal goal tally to 21 for the season; Celtic moved 17 games unbeaten to maintain nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership
Thursday 2 February 2023 09:17, UK
Goals from Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi ensured Celtic cruised to a routine 3-0 win over Livingston, stretching their unbeaten run in the Scottish Premiership to 17 games.
Taylor's opener was the pick of the bunch, arrowing a left-footed strike beyond Shamal George to break the deadlock (29), before Maeda benefited from a clumsy Ayo Obileye clearance to claim a fortunate second (33).
Kyogo rounded off a particularly commanding first half by beating the offside trap to latch onto Matt O'Riley's pass, shimmying one way and then the other before placing the ball intentionally in the far corner (45+2).
Ange Postecoglou's side maintain their nine-point lead at the top of the table, with nearest rivals Rangers also winning by a three-goal margin against third-placed Hearts.
Celtic had the game wrapped up within 33 first-half minutes, again demonstrating how their unrivalled dominance on home turf is continuing to power their 53rd title charge. Celtic remain undefeated in the league at Celtic Park under Postecoglou.
The margin of victory deserved to be greater, but the hosts' first-half raid meant the tie was all but over by the halfway point, although Livingston did show signs of life when Bruce Anderson struck the woodwork from a tight angle.
Taylor began the assault with a sweetly struck effort that nestled neatly in the corner of George's net, before a slice of good fortune saw Obileye's attempted clearance ricochet off the face of Maeda and over the line.
Celtic continued to smother their visitors throughout an utterly dominant first period with Kyogo putting the gloss on a ruthless scoring display. He shrugged off the advances of Jack Fitzwater by chopping and changing direction smartly before taking aim and rifling across goal - his 21st strike of an already impressive season.
The second half was a procession that lacked any killer instinct as Celtic continued to ask questions, namely via Jota and Kyogo, while Livingston appeared content with mere damage control.
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou:
"I thought we were good tonight. We started the game really well - we knew we would have a lot of possession but it was what we did with it and I thought we were always probing and asking questions.
"Second half, Livingston didn't really open up so it wasn't like we were going to get bags of chances. I still thought we controlled it well, we just never got the goal."
On Kyogo reaching 21 goals for the season, he added. "He is a quality player, he is always a threat. Even when there isn't a lot of space, he finds it with his running, it disturbs the opponent. He has composure in his finishing, passion and energy and his appetite to work on everything makes us a better team."
Livingston manager David Martindale:
"Cheap goals cost us. We made a good chance for ourselves in the first half with Bruce [Anderson]. I've been here on many occasions and I thought it was unfortunate that we were three down, albeit the manner in which we lost the goals was unacceptable.
"Celtic were worthy winners - when they move the ball at the tempo they do and the rotations in wide areas are so good. I thought the second and third goals were avoidable. They are the team to beat this year.
"We took part in the game at times but Celtic controlled the possession and tempo. I can never question the boys' heart or endeavour, they work hard for each other."
Celtic travel to St Johnstone in their next Scottish Premiership match on February 5, live on Sky Sports with a 12pm kick-off.
Livingston welcome Kilmarnock to West Lothian on 4 February, with that game kicking off at 3pm.
