CELTIC had been so good in charging right into a 3-0 lead in opposition to Livingston it left David Martindale searching for a fast EXIT from Parkhead.
However the Livingston boss joked the cell phone sign was so poor he could not name a cab and was made to stay round for the scoreless second half at Celtic Park.
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First-half objectives from Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi on the stroke of half-time put the Hoops in cruise management.
And defeated supervisor Martindale admitted: “It was fortunate I couldn’t get a reception at half-time as a result of I used to be attempting to get an Uber!
“Celtic had been worthy winners, and I assumed they performed some good soccer at instances.
“It was actually tough for us to put a glove on them – however I did assume we gifted them two objectives.
“The second and third objectives we’ve acquired to do loads higher defensively.
“However they’ve acquired worldwide gamers. I’ve seen them try this to Actual Madrid – they had been in all probability the higher workforce in that recreation for 60 minutes and also you’ve acquired to take your hat off to Ange.”
Reverse quantity Ange Postecoglou says ‘fortuitous’ Daizen Maeda EARNED his freak Celtic Park objective.
The Japanese scored Celts’ second when an Ayo Obileye clearance hit him within the face and rebounded into the web.
However Postecoglou – whose aspect maintained their nine-point lead on the prime – mentioned: “What number of runs does Daizen make in a recreation?
“His objective was a product of his arduous work – anybody who watches Daizen sees he’s consistently making runs and consistently in these areas.
“I’ve identified him for some time now and typically folks say he’s fortuitous nevertheless it’s on the again of working his bottom off when now we have the ball and he will get the rewards from that.
“He’s all the time there – that’s why he will get his objectives.”
Greg Taylor had fired in Celts’ opener and Kyogo Furuhashi added after Maeda’s strike in a match the place Celtic loved 81-percent possession.
He mentioned: “I assumed it was one other sturdy efficiency. We knew it might be a troublesome problem, attempting to create alternatives within the recreation.
“However I assumed we had been actually good, we had lots of possession however we used our possession very well, asking questions of the opposition, being threatening with our operating.
“We scored three good objectives, however the second-half wasn’t any simpler as a result of they nonetheless sat in and made it tough.
“It wasn’t going to be an open recreation however we nonetheless managed the sport nicely and had some half-chances within the second-half.”
Skipper Callum McGregor – offered with a framed jersey to mark his 400th Celtic look on Sunday – suffered a suspected damaged nostril however Postecoglou shrugged that off.
He mentioned: “I fear about all of them, mate – I like all of them the identical and I don’t need any of them to get damage.
“We realised pretty early that he’d acquired a bang on the nostril and there was a little bit of blood popping out.
“But it surely was nothing to fret about, he was high quality.
“I don’t know if it’s damaged, I wouldn’t ask him. But when it was he can be there tomorrow for coaching, no drawback.”
The win made it six clear sheets in a row and Postecoglou added: “We have now been actually targeted on that because the break – to be a powerful defensive unit and work arduous defensively.
“It’s not simply that we’re protecting clear sheets, we’re stopping the opposition even stepping into our half at instances, and that’s as a result of our entrance gamers and midfielders are working arduous and our defenders are all the time defending on the entrance foot.
“The clear sheets are a by-product of that stuff.”
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