Celtic extend lead at top as missed Hibernian chances prove costly

Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the William Hill Premiership with a 3-0 win over a Hibernian side who will have left Parkhead with regrets.

Midfielder Arne Engels opened the scoring in the sixth minute but the visitors spurned a series of opportunities with Mykola Kuharevich failing with two one-on-one opportunities against Hoops goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who was announced as man of the match.

Parkhead striker Adam Idah should also have had a couple before the break before his header in the 54th minute was helped into his own net by Easter Road skipper Joe Newell.

Hibs, who are now back bottom of the table, kept going but Celtic added a third in the 84th minute through substitute Kyogo Furuhashi.

The Hoops moved nine points ahead of Aberdeen, who drew 1-1 at home to St Johnstone, and 14 clear of Rangers, who play Ross County on Sunday and whom they meet in next week’s Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden Park.

Before that, however, Celtic will face Dinamo Zagreb away in the Champions League on Tuesday night, looking to take another step towards the knockout stages.

After resting centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers in the five changes Brendan Rodgers made, he will most certainly be reinstated by the Hoops boss.

Rodgers continued with his rotation strategy, with defenders Liam Scales and Greg Taylor, midfielders Luke McCowan and Engels and Idah coming into the side.

Hibs, with Lewis Miller and Jordan Obita returning to their defence, should have taken the lead in the second minute when Kuharevich was sent racing clear by Nectarios Triantis but Schmeichel stopped his unconvincing shot with his foot.

Moments later, the Hoops keeper made a better save from midfielder Nicky Cadden’s drive from the edge of the box.

The sense that Hibs would pay for that initial miss was confirmed when over-lapping full-back Alistair Johnston took a pass from Nicolas Kuhn and squared for Engels to knock the ball in from close range.

McCowan then hit the bar from a Daizen Maeda cut-back as the home side appeared to take total control.

Hibs keeper Jordan Smith saved at the feet of Idah but the Leith side should have levelled in the 17th minute when, following another swift break, Newell fired high over the bar after being set up Miller.

Kuharevich was again sent through against Schmeichel in the 22nd minute but his penultimate touch was poor and the former Leicester keeper blocked the shot for a corner which came to nothing.

The Hibs striker soon limped off to be replaced by Josh Campbell, with Elie Youan moving to main striker.

Idah failed to connect properly with Kuhn’s cut-back a yard from goal before Engels was booked by referee Chris Graham for his foul on Newell, VAR deciding it did not require a second look for a possible red card.

Idah blasted a shot against Smith from eight yards before the Celtic backline was breached again but Johnston out-paced Youan to recover the situation.

Smith saved from Engels and then thwarted a close-range effort from Scales as the home side started the second half with purpose and with James Forrest on for Kuhn.

The second goal came from a McCowan corner with Idah flashing a header goalwards and the luckless Newell putting the ball into the net.

At the other end, in the 61st minute, Youan pounced on a short back pass from McCowan but Schmeichel parried the shot with Cadden firing the rebound wide.

The Celtic keeper also saw a Miller header from a Cadden corner come straight at him and yet another Hibs chance was gone.

Smith made a fingertip save from Auston Trusty’s powerful header but Celtic went further ahead when Forrest played in Furuhashi and he calmly lifted the ball over Smith from 10 yards to clinch the points.