Celtic 2 - 0 Ross County: Greg Taylor injury causes slight anxiety

Neil Lennon hopeful full-back will shake off ankle knock

Greg Taylor, who sustained an ankle injury which forced his withdrawal, is tackled by Connor Randall during Celtic’s 3-0 pre-season friendly victory over Ross CountY. Picture: Getty.

Neil Lennon is hopeful Greg Taylor will be fit for the start of Celtic’s ten-in-a-row league campaign next weekend despite suffering a painful ankle injury in a dominant friendly win over Ross County yesterday.

Taylor, who has established himself as Lennon’s first-choice left-back, limped off before half-time after an own goal by Coll Donaldson and a fine Mohamed Elyounoussi strike established early control of the match.

“He thinks he should be okay,” said Celtic manager Lennon. “It’s a trauma knock and we are hoping he will be fit to resume training on Wednesday or Thursday. He was a bit sore but it seems to have settled a little bit. It will depend on the swelling over the next couple of days but he should be okay for the weekend.”

No football venue in Scotland will provide a more surreal environment during the behind-closed-doors start to the new season than the 60,000-capacity home of the champions. The recorded crowd noise piped through the cavernous stadium’s PA system did little to diminish the eerie atmosphere to which Lennon’s players must become accustomed in their home fixtures for the foreseeable future.

A socially-distanced pre-match huddle by Celtic added to the bizarre nature of the occasion but the manner in which the hosts started and approached the contest would have been reassuringly familiar to their manager and the 50,000 supporters who tuned in on Celtic TV.

Fielding a full-strength line-up, Celtic were quickly into their stride and went ahead with just over two minutes on the clock. Taylor, impressive before his afternoon was cut short, caused early panic in the County defence with a dangerous cross from the left.

Donaldson, attempting to clear the danger, took a hasty swipe at the ball which sent it soaring over a helpless Ross Doohan, the 22-year-old Celtic goalkeeper playing as a trialist for the visitors.

Stuart Kettlewell’s side were hemmed into their defensive third of the pitch for most of the first half as Celtic knocked the ball around with pace and precision. They made it 2-0 in the 14th minute with a neatly-worked goal. James Forrest and Jeremie Frimpong combined on the right and the young full-back’s low cross picked out Elyounoussi whose low right-foot shot beat Doohan to his left.

A Forrest shot was deflected on to the crossbar as Celtic threatened to run riot but County gradually steadied the ship and new signing Connor Randall posted their first effort on goal in the 30th minute, but the former Hearts loanee’s 20 yard shot was comfortably held by Scott Bain.

Celtic reasserted themselves and the action again took on the look of an attack-versus-defence training drill for the remainder of the first half.

The departure of Taylor was their only sour note, the Scotland international trying but unable to continue after being floored by a crunching foul by Donaldson which should have earned the defender a caution from referee Greg Aitken.

Teenager Kerr McInroy replaced Taylor and he came close to adding to Celtic’s lead in the 62nd minute with a shot deflected narrowly wide of Doohan’s right-hand post.

County did enjoy a good spell in which Oli Shaw dragged a chance wide, before Bain made a trio of decent saves to deny Josh Reid, Harry Erwin and substitute Ross Stewart in quick succession, but it was a satisfactory day’s work for Lennon.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director