Injury concern for Ross County as midfielder forced off in Premiership debut at Celtic
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Scottish Premiership
Celtic 4
Ross County 2
Scorers - Celtic: Turnbull (18, 42) Kyogo (27) O'Reilly (76) County: White (61) Brown (90)
Scott Allardrice was forced off injured after only being on the pitch for 10 minutes as Ross County suffered defeat in their opening Premiership clash at Celtic Park.
The midfielder, who arrived from Inverness Caledonian Thistle during the summer, came on as a substitute in the second half.
But he was taken off injured 10 minutes later as he was unable to continue the game.
Despite a bright start from Ross County, Celtic took a 3-0 lead at half time with David Turnbull scoring twice and Kyogo Furuhashi also finding the net.
Jordan White pulled one back for Ross County in the second half, but Matt O'Reilly restored Celtic's three-goal lead with James Brown grabbing a consolation in injury time.
Ross County kept faith with the same 11 that were defeated by Kelty Hearts on penalties in their final Viaplay Cup group stage match.
The Staggies threatened to take the lead early on creating a number of chances.
They spurned a golden opportunity after two minutes when Simon Murray's cross into the six-yard box finds Josh Sims who fires inches wide of the left post.
Murray was causing panic in the Celtic goalmouth again when he was unchallenged from 12-yards out and his shot appeared to be heading for the net, but was deflected out for a corner from a defender's leg.
Murray then claimed for a penalty when he pounced on poor defensive play in the Celtic defence and stole the ball off goalkeeper Joe Hart.
As he attempted to run around the former England number one, he went down in the box but the referee ruled no foul occurred.
However, Celtic broke the deadlock from the penalty spot after 17 minutes after Josh Sims was ruled guilty of fouling Greg Taylor in the box.
Turnbull kept his composure to fire a low drive into the bottom left corner past Ross Laidlaw to put the champions in front.
Celtic doubled their advantage just before the half hour as Liel Abada's cross from the right wing finds Furuhashi unchallenged and he fired a low drive into the net from 12 yards
Celtic pressed for a third just before half time and came close when Kyogo sent a pass through the heart of the Ross County defence to find Turnbull.
Laidlaw stood up well to save his first shot and also blocked the rebound before gathering at the third attempt to keep the deficit at two.
But Celtic did find the third before half time, Matt O'Riley's cross from the byline found Turnbull unchallenged in the six-yard box to nod home.
Celtic pressed for a fourth in the second half as Laidlaw did well to deny Kyogo's effort from outside the box followed by denying Daizen Maeda who was first to the rebound from close range.
But Ross County threatened a come back just after the hour mark when White beat the Celtic defence to a Yan Dhanda corner to nod home from close range.
But O'Reilly restored their three goal advantage with a powerful strike from 12-yards out.
Brown scored a consolation in injury time when his powerful strike took a deflection off Cameron Carter Vickers and it flew past Joe Hart.
Celtic: Hart, Taylor, Kyogo (Forrest 79), Abada (Yang 79), Turnbull (Hatate 66), Nawrocki (Starfelt 66), Carter-Vickers, O'Riley (Holm 85), Maeda, McGregor, Ralston.
Substitutes (Unused): Bain, Oh, Kwon, Iwata.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall, Brown, Baldwin, Dhanda, Sims (Turner 56), Loturi (Allardice 56) (Henderson 66), Murray (Samuel 56) , Harmon, White (Smith 82), Nightingale.
Substitutes (Unused): Munro, Sheaf, Brophy, Reid.
Referee: Nick Walsh
