Celtic cruised to a 3-0 victory over Livingston at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership to continue their unbeaten start to 2023.
First-half goals from Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo put the Hoops into a commanding position at the half-time interval, and it was those three strikes that were enough to seal the result and maintain the nine-point lead at the top of the table.
Before the game, Callum McGregor received a special commemorative shirt from his manager to celebrate his 400th appearance for the club which he reached in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Dundee United.
The captain was hoping to kick-start the road to appearance 500 with another victory and the Celts looked destined to achieve that as they put Livingston under severe pressure straight from kick-off.
Jota had the best of the opening chances, just failing to get contact with the ball on 10 minutes when Maeda fizzed a cross into the danger area which just required a touch from the winger to tap home and into an empty net.
But the first goal did come on 29 minutes from Greg Taylor, marking his third of the season and his second against Livingston in this campaign. Reo Hatate set up the left-back who was in space in the box, but the goal was all Taylor’s doing as he lashed home a fizzing drive from around 16 yards out and into the top right corner.
Four minutes later and it was 2-0 for Celtic, this time though the goal was less of a collector’s item as Ayo Obileye tried to clear Matt O’Riley’s cross, with the ball bouncing off Maeda’s head just yards from goal and it fell into the back of the net.
Livingston didn’t offer much in the first-half but were close to pulling one back on 39 minutes when Bruce Anderson raced in behind after Carl Starfelt’s slip. From a tight angle on the left of the box, the former Aberdeen striker smashed a shot against the right post with Stephane Omeonga volleying the rebound wide.
But inside stoppage time in the first-half Celtic would get their third goal through Kyogo. A long ball from O’Riley found the Japan international one-on-one with Jack Fitzwater with plenty of ground to cover and he raced into it, knocking the ball past the defender to the left and then rolling it into the bottom right corner with his left foot.
With one goal to his name already, Kyogo looked to quickly add to it in the second-half but he could only hit the post from six-yards out on the 52nd minute. Good play from Hatate found Jota in space inside the box and he fed a first-time ball into Kyogo’s path, he lifted a shot over Shamal George but it just fell the wrong side of the upright.
Jota was operating from a right-wing position, and he was a nuisance to the Livingston left-back James Penrice for the 63 minutes he was on the park, and just before he was substituted for Liel Abada he played in two delightful crosses for Maeda and Kyogo who just failed to convert on the stretch.
Hatate was running the show at Paradise, lighting up the game with his deft touches and charging runs. He almost set up Abada for a header at the back post on 74 minutes after a slaloming run through the whole Livingston midfield and defence for a move that deserved a goal but Livingston cleared his cross.
With 15 minutes to play, Celtic Park got their first look at new signing Hyengyu Oh, who came off the bench for his Paradise debut.
But there would be no goal for the South Korean with the first-half goals enough in the end.
Next up, a trip to St Johnstone on Sunday in the league.
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