With a far more lucrative context in mind, Celtic had a couple of straightforward aims from the visit of Ross County on the first day of the Scottish Premiership season: to kick off the defence of their title with a win and to avoid injuries before Wednesday evening’s Champions League qualifying tie in Azerbaijan.
Ronny Deila was afforded one and a half from two. County were never likely to recover from a two-goal deficit at half-time and, despite an admirable second half display, duly did not. There is slight concern, though, over the early injury picked up by the Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths.
Having opened the scoring with a penalty, Griffiths limped from the field with what Deila later confirmed was a calf problem. With Nadir Ciftci yet to impress following a summer switch from Dundee United, Anthony Stokes apparently heading for the exit door and Stefan Scepovic still toiling to show anything remotely resembling positive form after a year in green and white, Griffiths would normally have a strong chance of starting against Qarabag. Celtic lead 1-0 from the first leg, rendering a potential away goal highly valuable.
“I don’t think it is serious,” said Deila of Griffiths. “I think he will be back on Wednesday. Nothing is pulled, it just seems like a knock.”
Kick-off was proceeded by the fanfare which accompanies the raising of the league flag. John Clark, a member of Celtic’s Lisbon Lions, did the honours.
Deila left Mikael Lustig, Charlie Mulgrew and Nir Bitton out of his starting XI with Wednesday in mind. Kieran Tierney, an 18-year-old left-back, deputised for the suspended Emilio Izaguirre.
Celtic’s opening could hardly have been sharper. Andrew Davies, making his debut at the heart of the County defence, was completely bamboozled by Griffiths and duly upended the forward. Griffiths blasted home the resultant spot-kick.
Brief controversy followed. Craig Gordon, the Celtic goalkeeper, should have been sent off having upended the marauding Jackson Irvine. Instead, Gordon was only booked despite Irvine affording himself an obvious scoring opportunity. Yet another incident for the wacky world of Willie Collum’s refereeing.
“It was a sore one,” conceded County’s manager Jim McIntyre of the Gordon affair. McIntyre seemed more irked that the foul took place at all, with Irvine poised to score, than the non-issuing of a red card.
McIntyre’s frustration increased when the hosts doubled their lead before the interval. Gary Mackay-Steven fed the Norway midfielder Stefan Johansen, who slotted the ball past the County goalkeeper Scott Fox.
To their credit, County did not wilt. Gordon, who was awarded a new Celtic contract last week, made fine saves from Craig Curran and the Italian winger Raffaele de Vita.
At the opposite end, the Celtic substitute Kris Commons stung the palms of Fox with a terrific, 20-yard drive.
The visitors claimed in vain for a penalty after Virgil van Dijk pushed Michael Gardyne off the ball; a scenario which would routinely be deemed a foul if occurring in the centre circle.
