Gordon gets lucky as Celts warm-up with 2-0 win over Ross County

A jet of cold water caught Celtic Park by surprise yesterday afternoon as a mistimed sprinkler sprayed the Celtic and Ross County players with the briefest of showers. On a day in which the Parkhead side hoisted the Championship flag, they can only hope that a similar dousing does not drown their UEFA Champions League pretensions in Baku on Wednesday night. Failure to make further progress through the qualifying stages to Europe’s premier tournament will rain on their parade in a way they will struggle to brush off quite so easily.

Ronny Deila’s side will head to Baku tomorrow afternoon in an attempt to give themselves every opportunity to utilise an additional day of preparation for the second leg of their third round Champions League qualifier. Domestically, they laid the ground work for their journey with a routine dismissal of Ross County courtesy of first-half goals from Leigh Griffiths and Stefan Johansen although had referee Willie Collum shown Craig Gordon a red-card instead of opting for yellow in the opening half it may not have been quite so straightforward for Celtic.

The goalkeeper was left in trouble when a wayward pass from Dedryck Boyata was directed to the feet of Ian McShane and slipped to Craig Curran just inside the Celtic half. Curran knocked the ball through to the industrious Jackson Irvine and Gordon bounded off his line to clearly obstruct the Australian midfielder outside his box. Collum blew immediately but as the Scotland internationalist braced himself for a flash of red, he found the whistler in benevolent mood. Collum waved a yellow, an odd call, even allowing for the argument that Virgil Van Dijk was still in place behind Gordon. That a clear goal-scoring opportunity had been denied to Irvine seemed irrefutable, although both managers were relatively ambiguous with their post-match summations.

“The key decision was when Jackson was brought down,” reflected Jim McIntyre, the Ross County manager. “For me it’s a scoring opportunity. I certainly think van Dijk was getting round so I’m not sure it’s a red card. But Jackson could’ve got on to the ball and scored. But obviously Willie has deemed he didn’t think it was an obvious scoring opportunity so we’ve got to grin and bear it. I’m convinced he’d have got on to the ball fairly quick to have an attempt to put it in the net. At that stage Van Dijk is still outside the box. Some will see it as it wasn’t some say it was.”

Deila seemed more relieved, although he stopped short at admitting his side got out of jail. "It was a tough decision,” said the Norwegian. “I have to see it one more time but I understand Ross County are maybe thinking of that situation. It was hard to say because he's going of the pitch but also he can reach the ball and score, so it's a goal chance. I don't know. It's hard for the ref and it's hard for us as well. I don't know if it's right or wrong.”

By that point, Celtic were already a goal to the good and although Ross County ruffled their feathers – especially in latter half hour of the encounter – it never felt like Celtic would allow their lead to slip. Leigh Griffiths started this SPFL season as he left off the previous one, taking just four minutes to hit the back of the net from the spot. Fouled by Andrew Davies, Griffiths converted but with some degree of fortitude. Ross County keeper Scott Fox guessed correctly, but Griffiths’ attempt seemed to just sneak under him.

But before the game was 20 minutes old, Griffiths had hobbled off rubbing his calf. An anxious discussion took place at the touchline between the striker and his manager but Deila later maintained that the injury was little more than a knock and Griffiths will be on board the plane to Azerbaijan tomorrow. Whether or not he starts is a more contentious matter. Nadir Ciftci sat out of this encounter as he serves the first of his six-match ban but Deila has clearly earmarked the physicality of the Turk as a weapon in Europe.

In many ways there was a distracted air about a Celtic side who looked somewhat heavy-legged from their midweek exertions against Qarabag. Mikael Lustig sat out as a precautionary measure since two games in a week at the moment seems to invite further injury problems, allowing 18-year-old Kieran Tierney to step into the side, while Kris Commons got 30 minutes under his belt after spending the bulk of the summer recuperating from a domestic wardrobe incident which led to a broken toe. Charlie Mulgrew is still a doubt for Wednesday, however, while Commons won’t start against Qarabag since he has played so little football.

Deila was satisfied enough with the victory over Ross County but he was right to point out that Celtic were sloppy. Had Jim McIntyre’s side been a little more clinical they could have troubled Celtic and in Irvine they had a player whose running from deep positions was capable of catching Celtic unawares. With the bar raised considerably on Wednesday night, they can ill afford to lose their focus as often as they did in the second period against the Highlanders.

CELTIC: Gordon; Ambrose, Boyata, van Dijk, Tierney (Janko 60); Brown, Johansen (Commons 60); Forrest, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven; Griffiths. Subs: Bailly, Rogic, Bitton, Scepovic, McGregor.

ROSS COUNTY: Fox; Fraser, Boyd, Davies, Foster; Gardyne, Murdoch (De Vita 56), Irvine, McShane, Quinn; Curran (Boyce 70). Subs: Bachmann, Robertson, Graham, Holden, Franks.

Referee: Willlie Collum

Booked: Craig Gordon, Stuart Armstrong.

Attendance: 45,197