Celtic managed to grind out a 2-1 victory over a stubborn Livingston side to regain their nine-point lead at the Scottish Premiership summit.
After a dominant opening to the match, visiting defender Ayo Obileye deflected Liel Abada’s cross into his own net on 23 minutes before Kyogo Furuhashi converted the Israeli’s delivery from close range to put the hosts in control.
However, a quickfire reply from full-back Nicky Devlin on his 100th top-flight appearance threatened an unlikely comeback on the stroke of half-time after capitalising on slack defending from Greg Taylor.
Celtic continued their dominance after the break against a robust opponent who lined up to frustrate the Scottish champions in front of goal. Ange Postecoglou’s men were denied a third goal when Morgan Boyes lost his footing at a crucial moment to allow Abada through on goal to slot into the net.
However, a lengthy VAR check ruled the winger offside, much to the frustration of the home fans before right-back Anthony Ralston was forced off injured in the latter stages as Celtic held on to secure their 11th straight league win.
Before the match, new signings Yuki Kobayashi and Alistair Johnston were introduced to the crowd. Both players are in line to make their debuts against city rivals Rangers on January 2.
Postecoglou has urged his side to sharpen up in attack after branding certain aspects of their play in the final third “unacceptable.”
He told BBC Sportsound: “I thought the performance wasn’t one of our best. The first half was OK - but I’m disappointed that we had balls across the box and we didn’t have bodies in those areas. At 2-0 the game should have been over for us. When you’re faced with teams sitting back you’ve got to find ways of getting in behind.
“When it doesn’t happen I get frustrated because I see no reason why it shouldn’t. The amount of times the ball got flashed across the six-yard box and we weren’t there is unacceptable. We work on it constantly so players know they should be in that area. We controlled the game but there wasn’t a great deal of rhythm and I guess we saw the game out.”
UNUSED: Benjamin Siegrist (GK), Mortiz Jenz, Daizen Maeda, James Forrest
1. Joe Hart - 6
Largely a spectator for the majority of the first-half. Beaten by Devlin’s strike and fortunate to see Montano slice an effort wide after saving Kelly’s snapshot.
2. Anthony Ralston - 6
Busy night for the right-back. Excellent pass to Abada in build up to second goal before being forced off injured after 55 minutes.
3. Cameron Carter-Vickers - 7
Stepped out with the ball confidently and didn’t have a lot to do defensively. Marshalled the backline well.
4. Carl Starfelt - 7
Like his central defensive partner, the Swedish international used the ball well and helped his team mates dominate possession. Will have busier games.