DIARY OF AN EPIC SEASON: OCTOBER

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BRENDAN RODGERS must have been more than slightly puzzled and perplexed at the rollercoaster performances from his team in October.

Kyogo Furuhashi fired in his first-ever Champions League goal against Lazio at a sell-out Parkhead, the hosts played exceptionally well, were massively unlucky when a late strike from Luis Palma was wiped out by VAR – and still contrived to lose to a goal from Pedro deep in stoppage-time.

However, there were two heartening back-to-back displays in the Premiership when Celtic exacted revenge on Kilmarnock for the League Cup loss at Rugby Park in August.

Reo Hatate, Palma and Greg Taylor were the marksmen as Rodgers’ men eased to a 3-1 success in Glasgow and they went one better in their next away game as they stormed to a 4-1 triumph over Hearts at Tynecastle.

BY THE LEFT…Tomoki Iwata fires in Celtic’s fourth goal – and his first for the club – in the 4-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.

The visitors could even afford to squander a penalty-kick when Hatate clattered one off the post, but his Japanese compartiots Daizen Maeda, Kyogo and Tomoki Iwata, with his first goal for the club, had better fortune as they tucked away their efforts behind Zander Clark.

Matt O’Riley, settling into an outstanding season, had put the Hoops ahead early on when he sidefooted away a neat pass from Palma.

The Honduran was on target along with Kyogo against Atletico Madrid in the team’s third Champions League outing in Glasgow, but the home side had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Three days later, Celtic stumbled through an uninspiring scoreless stalemate against Hibs at Easter Road where the nearest they came to claiming a barrier-breaking goal came in the fading moments when substitute James Forrest walloped  a close-range effort off former Hoops keeper David Marshall’s crossbar.

RESULTS

October 4: Champions League: CELTIC 1 Lazio 2

Kyogo
October 7: Premiership: CELTIC 3 Kilmarnock 1
Hatate, Palma, Taylor
October 22: Premiership: Hearts 1 CELTIC 4
O’Riley, Maeda, Kyogo, Iwata
October 25: Champions League: CELTIC 2 Atletico Madrid 2
Kyogo, Palma
October 28: Premiership: Hibs 0 CELTIC 0
* TOMORROW: Don’t miss Diary of an Epic Season: November 
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