Celtic vs Livingston. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,703.
Report as Celtic recover from back-to-back defeats to beat Livingston 2-0; Kyogo Furuhashi opened the scoring after half-time; Liam Scales headed in a second; the result means Rangers can not overtake their Old Firm rivals before Christmas
Sunday 24 December 2023 14:15, UK
Celtic rediscovered their winning form as goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Liam Scales guaranteed they would top the Scottish Premiership at Christmas.
After back-to-back defeats for the first time in a decade, the Hoops knew they needed a victory against Livingston to stop Rangers being able to overtake them on Sunday as they took on Motherwell.
Celtic were booed off at the end of a wasteful first half, but Kyogo ended his seven-game goal drought after the break to inject some festive cheer into the Parkhead stands.
Defender Liam Scales headed in for his first league goal of the season soon after as they made sure of their win against a Livi side who offered very little.
They have been without a win since October and remain five points adrift at the bottom of the table.
The game saw normal service resumed at Celtic Park in more ways than one.
Celtic bounced back from losing consecutive league games for the first time in a decade and losing their first domestic home match in almost three years.
The Green Brigade were back inside the stadium after about 300 members had their season tickets suspended for six matches as well as being denied tickets for seven away games.
The fans group used a banner to thank fellow ultras group 'The Bhoys' for staying away in solidarity and declared "football without fans is nothing" after they reached an agreement with the club weeks after being banned over a series of issues. The gesture led to a standing ovation from several thousand fans in the opposite corner of the ground.
With the atmosphere levels multiplied on recent weeks, Celtic started with the tempo and conviction that was lacking in last weekend's defeat by Hearts and created several early chances.
James Penrice cleared off the line from Furuhashi, Jack Pittman blocked from Paulo Bernardo after Hamilton had spilled Luis Palma's free-kick, and Tom Parkes produced three goal-saving interventions to deny Daizen Maeda.
Livi lost Parkes to a head injury in the 42nd minute after he got in the way of a fierce shot but substitute Michael Nottingham immediately stepped into his shoes by blocking Maeda's effort.
The visitors briefly improved as an attacking force late in the first half without threatening Joe Hart as Celtic's performance dipped but the game was won inside six minutes of the restart.
Palma was the creator each time, first cutting inside from the left touchline and curling a shot towards the far post which Furuhashi helped into the net.
The Honduran winger then delivered one of his near-post corners on to the head of Scales, who guided the ball into the far corner.
The floodgates threatened to open but Livingston maintained their shape and discipline to limit the damage. Maeda headed wide and Hamilton saved well from headers from Cameron Carter-Vickers and substitute Hyeon-Gyu Oh.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to Sky Sports at full time:
"It was a much better performance.
"It's obviously been a difficult week on the back of losing two games but it was the perfect response, they'd worked very hard and you do your talking on the pitch.
"We dominated the game and the only disappointment is that we didn't score more goals, but very happy with the creativity and the speed in the game was much better from the first whistle.
"Strikers live for goals.
"He was clever, it was a good cross-come-shot into the box and he's read it well, stayed onside and it was a good finish.
"I think he's three short of where he was last season and he'll know that he could probably have had more goals.
"Important for him [Kyogo] but more important for the team."
Livingston boss David Martindale:
"The game plan was to come and frustrate and I think we did that for the majority of the first half.
"You go in at 0-0 and you have a platform to build from, but we know they're going to have a fast start.
"To lose two goals in the first five minutes of the second half is extremely disappointing and I felt for the boys because it's two individual errors.
"It's safe to say at that point you know the game is over and it's just about trying to keep yourself in the game, damage limitation."
Celtic's next Scottish Premiership game is away to Dundee on Boxing Day, live on Sky Sports. Kick-off 3pm.
Livingston's next match is at home to St Johnstone on December 27. Kick-off 7.45pm.
