CELTIC 2 HEARTS 0
YOU CAN’T keep Arne Engels out of the headlines.
Celtic’s record-breaking £11million buy on deadline day celebrated his first start by scoring the opening goal of a tense encounter against Hearts at Parkhead.
Luke McCowan, another late arrival, relieved the tension in the fading moments, but until that welcome penalty-kick strike, the hosts had failed to hit the scintillating form that has lit up the early stages of the campaign.
Earlier, though, Engels, who celebrated his 21st birthday last weekend, proved he was not a player to shirk responsibility when the hosts were awarded a spot-kick in the 50th minute.
There was a two-minute delay as the incident was checked on the touchline monitors before referee Colin Steven gave the award.
SPOT ON…Arne Engels strokes in his first Celtic goal via the penalty spot against Hearts.
Engels remained composed before sweeping in the opener. And McCowan made certain with his low drive before Adam Idah had what looked like No.3 ruled out for offside two minutes into stoppage-time.
It was a hard-fought, absorbing affair in the east end of Glasgow as Celtic maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign.
Kyogo Furuhashi blew the opportunity to put the hosts ahead in the tenth minute when he was one-v-one with former Hoops No.1 Craig Gordon, who had been left totally exposed by his AWOL defence.
The fans were ready to celebrate the breakthrough strike as the Japanese frontman sped onto a through pass from Nicolas Kuhn.
Inexplicably, Kyogo missed the target with a wayward right-foot effort that flew past the left-hand post. He had every right to hold his head in disappointment.
OH, NO…Kyogo Furuhashi looks heavenwards after a glaring miss.
And there was frustration, too, in the 23rd minute for new Bhoy Engels when he came so close to collecting his first goal for the Hoops.
The Belgian latched onto a pass from Kuhn to swiftly lash a low drive at goal. Gordon was helpless, but the left-foot attempt thudded against the keeper’s left-hand upright and ricocheted to safety.
The visitors, on a run of six consecutive defeats, had set out to frustrated their opponents and hit on the break. They thought they had the opportunity of taking a shock lead on the half-hour mark when referee Steven adjudged Liam Scales had handled a Lawrence Shankland effort.
VAR stepped in to order a second look on the touchline monitor. The match official took his time as he examined replays of the incident before returning to pitch to cancel his original decision.
Images flagged up it was not handball with the ball hitting the defender high on the arm which does not merit a spot-kick.
PICTURE PROOF…Liam Scales did not handle Lawrence Shankland’s header.
Engels was ‘welcomed’ to Scottish football when he was wiped out by a wayward challenge from James Penrice. The Edinburgh defender blew a sigh of reflief when the ref decided a yellow card was sufficient punishment.
Kasper Schmeichel displayed his alertness in the 44th minute when Shankland snapped in a quickfire shot from outside the box, but the Danish netminder was equal to the task with a flying leap to his left and a confident clutch.
A minute later, Daizen Maeda fired in an inviting left-wing cross which Kyogo turned goalwards, but the frontman was denied by a lightning swift swoop to his left by Gordon.
The ball fell to Kuhn who thumped it back in, but he was foiled by Penrice who blocked the shot on the line.
As the four minutes of first-half stoppage-time came to an end, the Hoops had failed to hit the rhythm that had seen them arrive at this fixture with five successive impressive victories with goals claimed in the opening half to ease the champions into a second period.
The half had an explosive start when the hosts were awarded a VAR-assisted penalty-kick five minutes into the restart.
Penrice used a hand to deflect a Kuhn right-wing cross away from goal and referee Stevens missed the original incident. Once again, he was invited to review the moment by VAR’s Alan Muir and there were cheers when he returned to point to the spot.
THAT’S MY BHOY…Brendan Rodgers congratulates Arne Engels on his breakthrough goal.
Callum McGregor volunteered Engels to take the kick and the big-money recruit didn’t hesitate as he slid a faultless drive in at Gordon’s left as the keeper took off for the opposite corner.
There was as much relief as joy in the roar that reverberated around the stadium to greet the barrier-breaking strike.
Engels was on a roll and the midfielder collected a pass from Alistair Johnston to whip in another stinging effort that was blocked by a desperate defender.
In the 66th minute, Brendan Rodgers made his first changes when he put on Paulo Bernardo and James Forrest for Hatate and Kuhn.
Adam Idah joined the action five minutes later when he replaced Kyogo who had lacked his usual killer instinct on this occasion.
Next up, Engels went off to a rousing cheer from the fans in the 80th minute as Luke McCowan was introduced and Luis Palma took over from Maeda at the same time.
BHOY OH BHOY…Luke McCowan celebrates his first Celtic goal with the fans.
Moments later, Schmeichel looked smart to make a strong save to his left to deny a close-range attempt after the defence had been undone by an inviting cross from Blair Spittal.
Nine minutes after his arrival, McCowan celebrated his first goal for his boyhood favourites when he accepted a pass from Forrest before arrowing a left-foot shot behind Gordon.
Idah thought he had collected his debut counter since his permanent return, but his ‘goal’ two minutes into stoppage-time was ruled out for offside against Palma in the build-up.
It was job done at the end of the day and, equally important, Schmeichel kept a fifth successive Premiership clean sheet for the champions to equal a 118-year previous best.
Bring on Slovan!
TEAM: Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels (sub: McCowan 80), McGregor, Hatate (sub: Bernardo 66); Kuhn (sub: Forrest 66), Kyogo (sub: Idah 71), Maeda (sub: Palma 80).
