CELTIC 3 DUNDEE 0: THREE CHEERS IN HOOPS ROMP

THREE goals, three different scorers, three players making their debut and three Premiership points in the bag.

It was as easy as one, two, three as the champions’ superiority eventually told against Dundee at sunlit Parkhead this afternoon.

The visitors put in a spirited shift, but the roof fell in on them after the break when relentless Celtic claimed the goals that mattered with David Turnbull, with a penalty, Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley on target.

The fans were lapping up the entertainment as boss Brendan Rodgers took the opportunity to start with Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips and bring on £3.5million winger Luis Palma and Benfica midfielder Paolo Bernardo in the second-half.

Overall, a good day at the office for the Hoops.

In the 12th minute, Daizen Maeda fashioned a swift shooting chance, but, unfortunately, blasted a 12-yard drive straight at Trevor Carson and the ball ricocheted to safety.

He took the ball from Greg Taylor on his chest, stepped away from a challenge and then lashed a half-volley at goal, but it was more about power than precision and the visitors survived.

There was drama five minutes later when Kyogo, who was the scourge of the Taysiders a couple of seasons ago with five goals in his debut campaign, went off with a shoulder injury.

It looked as though it could be a recurrence of the problem which has plagued the Japanese frontman, but, thankfully, he made a welcome return to the action a couple of minutes later.

Moments afterwards, the left-hand post came to the visitors’ rescue when a shot from O’Riley took a deflection to the wrong-foot the keeper, but the ball thudded against the woodwork and once again rebounded clear.

Yang Hyun-jun, in for the injured Liel Abada, looked lively on the right and his duels with Owen Beck looked like becoming an interesting sideshow in the match.

The South Korean winger displayed confidence in the 26th minute when he latched onto a pass from O’Riley, cut inside onto his left foot, but his low effort swept into the sidenet.

In the 29th minute, Maeda thought he had opened the scoring with a blistering left-foot angled drive that zipped low past the stranded Carson. The speedster had been released by a raking pass from Liam Scales, but the cheers faded when VAR interrupted the celebrations before eventually ruling it out for offside.

Central defender Phillips was settling in nicely alongside Scales and took the time to saunter forward to try his luck with an effort from 30 yards, but it was blocked.

In the 36th minute, it was Joe Hart, unbeatable at Ibrox a fortnight ago, to the rescue when the Taysiders were presented with the ideal opportunity to take a shock lead in virtually their first attack.

A long ball forward from Beck created panic on the right-hand side of the Hoops defence and the ball was worked to Luke McCowan smack in front of goal.

The Dundee forward whipped in a netbound effort, but was denied by the lightning reflexes of Hart who swooped to his left to beat the ball away from the danger zone.

It remained goalless at the interval when referee Grant Irvine blew and it had been a frustrating opening period for the champions who had their experienced keeper to thank for being level.

Gustaf Lagerbiekle replaced Phillips for the start of the second-half with the Liverpool loanee’s first appearance being cut short.

Kyogo was presented with a chance early in the second period after some neat play from Scales and Turnbull, but, alas, the frontman got his angles wrong and sent the ball hurtling high and wide.

In the 51st minute, Turnbull claimed the breakthrough from a VAR-assisted penalty-kick after he had been downed in the box by a wayward challenge from Ryan Howley. At the first, match official Irvine awarded a free-kick a yard outside the box, but his decision was corrected by his technical assistants and he pointed to the spot.

The gifted midfielder dusted himself down before thumping the ball down the middle with Carson taking off to his right.

The strike was greeted with as much relief as joy.

Kyogo struck in the 63rd minute to double the advantage and highlight the Hoops domination of the contest. His spectacular header was judged to absolute perfection as he put the ideal finishing touch to a clever exhange of passes between O’Riley and Hatate before Callum McGregor arced an inviting cross into an inviting void in the box.

The Japanese international timed his run splendidly to get in on the blindside to flight a header high over the exposed Carson.

Three minutes later, Alistair Johnston was out of luck when he raced onto a cute backheel from Maeda to fire in a raging right-foot drive which struck Carson on the shoulder, flew up to hit the underside of the bar, bounce down just short of the line and the chance was gone.

In the 67th minute, the Canadian World Cup right-back was involved again with a pass to Kyogo who picked out O’Riley and the elegant playmaker, who had put in another influential shift, finished with a sweet left-foot drive for No.3.

A couple of minutes later, Kyogo came off with Oh Hyeon-gyu joining the fray and shortly afterwards Benfica loanee Bernardo replaced O’Riley with the Portuguese midfielder becoming the third new Bhoy to experience Paradise.

In the fading moments, Johnston was denied once again by the woodwork when his right-foot drive hit the base of an upright and rebounded to safety.

Now all eyes are on Rotterdam on Tuesday evening as Rodgers’ men embark on their Champions League quest with an intriguing encounter against Feyenoord.