Kyogo Furuhashi led the celebrations as Celtic finished 2023 with a home win in the Glasgow Derby.
It was fitting that the Japanese striker scored the decisive goal in the fixture that he has specialised in with seven vital goals in the calendar year.
The goals haven’t been flowing as freely this season but that can mainly be put down to the lack of service that Kyogo receives in a side that doesn’t carry the pace and power down the flanks as vintage Angeball.
Often the striker has been left to feed off scraps but in the second minute of the second half today he was given a yard or two of space to work in.
Matt O’Riley spotted the run after Leon Balogun had been dragged out of position. Kyogo took one touch to create the slightest of openings then quickly curled a perfectly placed shot beyond the dive of Jack Butland.
Going two goals up so early in the second half put Celtic in the driving seat but up against 10 men for the the last 20 minutes plus an agonising additional 10 minutes they made heavy weather of seeing the match out.
For whatever reasons the hoops dropped deeper and deeper, free kicks were given away with James Tavernier scoring from a set piece in the 88th minute just before the board went up for eight minutes of stoppage time due to treatment for Matt O’Riley and Abdallah Sima.
Celtic sweated their way through until the final whistle in the 100th minute, when Nick Walsh blew his whistle it was met with a mixture of relief and delight.
Kyogo returned to the pitch, the smile was back with the weight of expectation lifted from his shoulders.
Celtic have one more match to face before the winter break, full points at St Mirren will provide some breathing space to recoup during the break while knowing that Kyogo, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Daizen Maeda are going to miss a couple of matches following the break due to their involvement in the Asian Cup.
CLICK HERE for Brendan Rodgers flaunts his Glasgow Derby record.
CLICK HERE for Sky Sports match report.
