Hibernian 1-2 Celtic
by Jon Tait
at Easter Road

FOR A while, it looked like Celtic had blown it.

They really couldn’t afford to lose any ground in the title race with Rangers breathing down their necks, then, in the final minute, Kyogo was caught by Joe Newell on the edge of the box and went down.

After a lengthy VAR check, referee Nick Walsh pointed to the spot and Adam Idah coolly tucked the resultant penalty away to win it in front of the jubilant travelling fans.

In stoppage time — talk about drama.

The victory took Celtic three points clear of their Ibrox rivals, though they have played a game more.

“It is amazing, what a feeling,” beamed on-loan Norwich striker Idah after.

“I’ve said before, I’ve always wanted to play for Celtic and to score in front of the fans is amazing. I’m so happy.”

“I’m quite a confident player. I’ve taken penalties my whole career and when that penalty came I knew in my head that I could score.”

Hibs were hugely influential in the formation of Celtic. When the capital club look at all the honours that the Glasgow giants have hoovered up since, they must sometimes wish they hadn’t bothered.

And the last thing the Hibees needed during the woeful run of form was a visit from the defending champions.

Nick Montgomery’s side had only picked up two points from their six previous games, and their chances of taking anything from this one took a nosedive under the floodlights after just 10 minutes, when Idah scored his first from the penalty spot.

The Republic of Ireland international was all smiles after opening his account for the club and while the Easter Road faithful in a sparsely filled stadium must have feared the worst after that, it proved the only meaningful shot that the SPL leaders mustered on target in an uninspired first half.

Idah almost added a second shortly after the interval when he smashed a shot against the crossbar from a Daizen Maeda cross, but the flag was raised for offside anyway.

And Celtic were left stunned when Will Fish nodded a deep free-kick back to Dylan Levitt, who slammed a low shot from 20 yards past a helpless Joe Hart to level things up on the hour.

Hart then pulled off a decent save from a Myziane Maolido overhead effort as Hibs looked to spring a surprise, but they were left shaking their heads and deflated by both of the penalty decisions that had gone against them.

“I was proud of the boys’ effort. It was outstanding tonight and we were really unfortunate. We deserved a result, but things out of our control went against us. We didn’t deserve to lose it,” said head coach Montgomery.

Celtic boss Brendan Rogers was, in contrast, clenching his fists at the end in delight and said: “Winning was never going to make us champions tonight, but with 14 games to go it’s very important you get the victories.”