THERE are no points given out for technical merit in football but Celtic fans could have been excused for heading home from Parkhead feeling somewhat conflicted. Should they be happy or frustrated with what they had just witnessed? The positives were a comfortable victory that took them three points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership, a 30th goal of the season for Leigh Griffiths, and a first clean sheet in the league since January 2.
Any grumbling, then, would centre solely on the performance that, like many in recent weeks, was laboured and lacklustre for long stretches. Had Ross County played anywhere near as well as they had in the recent League Cup semi-final win over the same opposition, then this could have been a more difficult afternoon for Ronny Deila and his players. With County toothless in attack, however, the end result was never really in doubt, even if it was achieved with little style. “A win’s a win”, shrugged one pragmatic supporter as he dug his hands deep into his pockets and hurried out into the freezing night.
Deila was of a similar view. Should Celtic go on to lift the title for a fifth successive season then none but the most curmudgeonly will go back and start to question the aesthetic qualities of some of their displays.
“I don’t think you get points if you don’t put on a performance,” insisted the manager. “On the ball we could have been better, we weren’t accurate enough, but it’s not easy out on that pitch to play fantastic football. It’s three points – if we can keep doing that we are on track.”
Celtic could not afford to drop points given Aberdeen now play twice – tomorrow against Inverness, and then away to Partick on Friday – before they are back in action, giving Derek McInnes’ side the opportunity to fashion a three-point lead of their own. But Deila is determined not to be distracted.
“You talk about Aberdeen all the time,” he added. “Here at Celtic we don’t need to talk about other teams. It’s about us winning games. As I’ve said many times, we can start talking about whether there’s a title race or not in April. There are too many games left.”
This was far from Stefan Johansen’s worst game in a Celtic shirt but many among the Parkhead crowd seem to have taken a stance on the playmaker and are not of a mind to change it. There were groans whenever the Norwegian misplaced a pass and then sarcastic cheers when he was substituted midway through the second half. Deila, though, would not entertain it.
“For me, he was one of the best players on the pitch today,” added the manager of his countryman. “He created a lot and worked really hard. Stefan had a tough start to the season but for the last month he has played very well. He’s a top quality player, who gives a lot on and off the pitch and I love to have him here at Celtic.”
Not for the first time Deila had Griffiths to thank for digging his team out of a hole. The striker has developed the useful habit of not letting his confidence drop whenever he misses a decent chance, instead taking the view another one will be along soon enough.
The opportunity he passed up after 35 minutes had looked until injury time like being the biggest talking point of a first half of precious few chances. A mistake by Jackson Irvine gifted Johansen possession and when his pass sent Griffiths scampering clear of the County defence only one outcome seemed likely. The striker duly circumnavigated the sprawling Scott Fox and seemed set to tap into the net only for his shot to prang the post and bounce back into the arms of the grateful goalkeeper. It looked a bad miss by his high standards but he would atone before the half was out. With the crowd getting restless, Griffiths’ timing couldn’t have been better as he fastened on to Chris Robertson’s weak headed clearance to drill a low effort beyond Fox.
Celtic still looked sluggish after the break but a second goal on 57 minutes ended any notion that they might not win the match. Stuart Armstrong demonstrated sufficient trickery to find a way beyond Marcus Fraser before crossing to the back post where Dedryck Boyata was able to outmuscle Paul Quinn before planting his header beyond Fox.
County, who would later lose Fraser to a dislocated shoulder, had little response, but manager Jim McIntyre was not overly despondent. “Celtic deserved to win,” he admitted. “We didn’t carry the same threat we have in past games against Celtic in terms of creating chances. That was the disappointment but our work-rate and organisation were very good.”
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