Celtic survive early scare to subdue Kilmarnock

Celtic still hold on firmly to their 100 percent start to the campaign, sitting three points atop their closest contender in the Scottish Premiership.

The Hoops fell behind to Kilmarnock F.C. early on just against the run of play but responded with a bang with Edsonne Odouard leading the onslaught.

Eamonn Brophy’s deflected strike helped Kilmarnock look like the better team on the scoreboard, but a brace from Edsonne Odouard on either side of the interval cancelled Celtic’s deficit and converted it to a lead. Then, Ryan Christie netted the third just before the hour mark to put to bed any suggestion of an upset.

The visitors did have their chances though. Midfielder Alan Power had a perfect chance to reduce the deficit but had his late penalty saved by Fraser Forster.

With Rangers temporarily moving joint top with victory at St Johnstone in Sunday’s earlier game, there was no margin for error for the Hoops. Instead, they were inspired by a terrific James Forrest who had a hand in two of their goals and did as much as hit the woodwork twice during the encounter.

For the visitors, an end has come to their fairy tale run as they lose their first in five games. Hence, they sit in seventh position on the League standings thanks to securing seven points.

Celtic could have been leggy following their energy-draining Europa league game against Rennes but instead, they ran out comfortable winners over the visitors. They did this with a standout performance full of verve.

It goes without saying that this excellent performance had James Forrest at the root of it. The midfielder had five shots on goal in the opening 25 minutes. He was full of power, vibrancy and all you could dream of in a star player.

Three of those five shots were saved, one rattled off the bar and the other blocked by Alan Power leading to screams for a penalty.

It was only a matter of time before the visitors gave in and they did give in.

Celtic are backed at 1.45 to win their next fixture against Hibernian. Hibernian are set at 7.23 to cause an upset

 
 
Written by: Roland Arum