CELTIC 3 FALKIRK 1
DYNAMO Daizen Maeda fired Celtic to joint top of the Premiership on 70 points following a deadly double in the crucial win over a spirited Falkirk at Parkhead this afternoon.
Hearts, who play Hibs at Easter Road tomorrow afternoon, remain top with four strikes advantage in goal difference, but this was a warning shot from the champions.
Maeda was a one-man forward line as he put in a blistering display from start to finish to recapture the form that saw him claim 33 goals and win multiple Player of the Year awards.
The astonishing frontman, utilising energy levels mere mortals can only dream about, scored a double as he terrorised the visitors’ rearguard.
He hared around as he chased loose balls and he was rewarded twice in the first-half when he fired the Hoops into the lead on the half-hour mark and set up the second goal for Kieran Tierney just before the break.
NUMBER ONE…Daizen Maeda celebrates as skipper Callum McGregor prepares to congratulate the goalscorer.
Maeda pounced in the hesitant Keelan Adams as he dithered on a forward pass.
The Japanese speedster charged down the ball and raced after it at full pelt. He noticed keeper Nicky Hogarth well off his line and then whipped a low right-foot effort unerringly in at the scrambling keeper’s left.
And he did it again as the half-time approached when he deflected a clearance, moved swiftly to receive the forward pass before sending a ball into the tracks of the marauding Tierney.
The World Cup-bound Scotland defender carried the ball into the box before unleashing a mighty left-foot drive that sizzled past the helpless Hogarth and thumped into the net via the underside of the crossbar.
And how Celtic needed those goals.
The hosts had the upper hand in percentage play, but were finding it difficult to find a way through a well-drilled defence.
NUMBER TWO…Kiran Tierney (extreme left) runs away after thundering in a left-foot drive.
In fact, the Hoops could have gone a goal down eight minutes before Maeda’s welcome breakthrough strike.
Yang Hyun-jun gifted possession in a dangerous area with a sloppy crossfield pass that went straight to an opponent.
Calvin Miller fed the ball out right where it was driven low and hard into the box. Anthony Ralston took a swipe in an attempt to boot it to safety and miscued his clearance into the air.
It fell perfectly for the lurking Brad Spencer just outside the box and the midfielder caught the ball on the drop and his right-foot drive was arrowing low into Viljami Sinisalo’s left-hand corner until the Finnish keeper took off on an athletic swoop to turn the drive away for a corner-kick.
Yang had the ball in the net again in the 58th minute, but, unfortunately, the South Korean was just offside.
In the 61st minute, Martin O’Neill made his first change when he sent of Sebastian Tounekti for James Forrest who had put in a good shift.
The home side were shaken in the 70th minute when the visitors pulled one back after a sensational strike from substitute Kyrell Wilson who had looked lively from the moment he took up a place wide on the right.
The winger timed his run behind Tierney to perfection as he sped onto a diagonal pass before blasting an unstoppable drive high past the stretching Sinisalo.
O’Neill reacted as he made a triple substitution two minutes later as he attempted to stabilise the rocking ship.
Alistair Johnston, Marcelo Saracchi and Kelechi Iheanacho came on for Ralston, Tierney and Yang.
NUMBER THREE…Daizen Maeda whips in the killer strike.
Six minutes later, Callum McGregor made way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Anxiety in the stadium was eased in the 83rd minute when that man Maeda claimed his second goal of a memorable evening.
Tounekti tip-toed through the retreating Falkirk defence on the right before sliding over a low cross.
Maeda was unmarked as he made contact with the ball from 14 yards as he propelled a vicious low drive wide of Hogarth to the keeper’s left.
Celtic now share the pinnacle with Hearts for the time being, but there is still time for more twists and turns in this intriguing title race.
TEAM: Sinisalo; Ralston, (sub: Johnston 72) Trusty, Scales, Tierney (sub: Saracchi 72); Nygren, McGregor (sub: Oxlade-Chamberlain 78), Engels; Forrest (sub: Tounekti 61), Maeda, Yang (sub: Iheanacho 72).
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