BRENDAN RODGERS hailed Luke McCowan and Johnny Kenny after their joint role in Celtic’s 4-1 win over Ross County in sub-zero Dingwall yesterday.
The manager threw on the substitutes to give the team much-needed impetus against the battling, in-form Highlanders who had cancelled out Kyogo Furuhashi’s first-half goal with a Jordan White penalty-kick around the hour mark.
McCowan and Kenny, making his first-team debut following a season-long loan at Shamrock Rovers, were introduced from a chilly bench for Reo Hatate and Adam Idah in the 73rd minute to give the champions an added spark on the frostbound pitch.
DINGWALL DELIGHT…Brendan Rodgers applauds the Celtic fans at the conclusion on the 4-1 win.
Kyogo headed his second goal to put the visitors ahead again eight minutes later and a retaken penalty-kick from Arne Engels plus a stoppage-time effort from McCowan sealed yet another triumph en route to an inevitable fourth successive title.
The Hoops travelled back from the frozen north with an 18-point advantage before their nearest challengers, Philippe Clement’s Govan strugglers, take on St Johnstone at Ibrox this afternoon.
Reflecting on the contribution of the two subs, Rodgers said: “It’s what you want, because they sat freezing on the side, then they’ve got to come in and make an impact, and they do that.
“Luke does what he does. Obviously, we were missing two guys [Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda] on the sides who score a lot of goals, so it was important that we wanted goalscorers on to the pitch and he can score a goal.
“Johnny, of course, scored goals for Shamrock during his time there.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Luke McCowan is about to be congratulated by Alistair Johnston after netting the final goal in the 4-1 win over Ross County in Dingwall.
“So, I thought both of them came in and added a freshness to the game for us.”
Looking at the overall picture, Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “I was so pleased, I think everyone can tell the conditions, the pitch – it was a real challenge.
“But I thought the resilience of the team really came through, as when you have that consistency, it’s a facet you need to have.
“It was always going to be difficult to play fast, flowing football, but we dominated the first-half, and, performance-wise, we should have been more than one goal up.
“We started the second-half in a good place, then we give the ball away cheaply for a throw-in over in the corner, then that spell led to them getting penalty from it.
HIGHLAND FLING…Johnny Kenny celebrates after Arne Engels’ successful penalty retake for No.3.
“But we dusted ourselves off, went again, made some changes to bring energy back into the game and then I thought we deserved the scoreline in the end.
“And that’s a fantastic tribute to the effort of the players and everything they gave to the game.”
Rodgers, who will now prepare his players for the match against Dundee at Dens Park on Tuesday evening, added: “It’s very pleasing, because it’s not an easy thing to do at all, but it’s something that they train for every day – the standard and performance in training, the mind-set in training is so good.
“And then we take that into the game because one of the biggest failings in becoming successful is that your mind-set is not right or you have a negative mind-set, but this group haven’t.
SNOW JOKE…Arctic conditions in Dingwall yesterday.
“We train them, we work them to go out into very game to be the very best
“You see in days like this when it wasn’t all going their way and they get pegged back, they still have a response there and a fight to get the win.
“We’re so, so pleased and obviously for the supporters, as well. They are here in the freezing cold, so, at least in the second-half, we were kicking down towards them and they pull the ball into the net – and they can go away really happy.”
KYOGO AT THE DOUBLE IN LATE, LATE SHOW