Celtic survive Highland sting as VAR, penalty drama and late show are highlights in Dingwall.
In Dingwall, Celtic overcame a deficit to defeat Ross County 2-1 thanks to a late goal by Nicolas Kuhn. In the 88th minute, the winger scored his sixth goal of the year during a counterattack to keep Celtic’s league record unblemished.
After a VAR-assisted handball call against Liam Scales in the 42nd minute, Ronan Hale converted a retaken penalty to become the first player to score against Celtic in the William Hill Premiership.
After struggling to break down County, the champions were rewarded in the 76th minute when Kuhn maintained his strong start to the season by having the final say. Alistair Johnston got the finishing touch after a corner. Johnston’s sly pass sent the German hurtling down the right, where he cut inside a defender and curled the ball inside the far post.
Alex Valle, Reo Hatate and Adam Idah had come into the Celtic team following their 7-1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund.
Although Brendan Rodgers’ team controlled 80 percent of the first half of the game, Kasper Schmeichel was the busier stopper.
Despite the lack of clear-cut opportunities, the first half was all Celtic. Elijah Campbell made a fantastic last-ditch effort to stop Kuhn from completing Daizen Maeda’s square ball.
After a long ball, Schmeichel had to get down well to deny Hale, and Noah Chilvers nearly scored on the rebound.
The Celtic goalkeeper made two more straightforward saves from headers and Maeda wasted the visitors’ greatest chance of the half when he blasted a free header over from Johnston’s cross.
The crucial first-half incident occurred when Michee Efete’s cross struck Scales’ raised arm, and Kevin Clancy, summoned
to the monitor by video assistant Nick Walsh, eventually pointed to the spot.
The Denmark international dove to his right to stop the spot-kick as Schmeichel tried his hardest to frighten Hale, who also
had to put up with the cacophonous din and drumbeat from the visiting fans behind the goal. But after hearing from VAR
headquarters that the Celtic goalie was well off his line, Clancy ordered a retake, and Hale scored an incredible penalty the
second time around into the bottom corner. It was the Belfast-born forward’s sixth goal in 11 outings since signing from
Cliftonville.
Before and after the break, Celtic experienced some fear.Schmeichel spilled Josh Nisbet’s shot, but it slid wide, and after
Johnston had let County in into the center circle in his own half, Hale came dangerously close to chipping the goalkeeper
from forty yards out. The striker’s shot went over the head of the goalie and slightly missed the mark.
Callum McGregor attempted to take matters into his own hands by charging into the box, but his shot went narrowly
because County was still making things difficult for Celtic’s attackers.
Ross Laidlaw had his first test following Maeda’s one-two with Hatate and the goalkeeper saved from close range with the help of Efete’s lunging tackle.
After Paulo Bernardo’s corner, Celtic’s substitutions increased the tempo and the pressure eventually paid off. Laidlaw
stopped Kyogo Furuhashi’s flick, but McGregor’s countermove took Johnston’s shot away, winning the bout. Kuhn gave
Celtic the lead they needed and managed to avoid receiving a second yellow card for celebrating by running into the away
supporters. Kuhn had already received a ticket for an earlier incident with Connor Randall.
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