Celtic now a different animal in Livingston as returning Jota takes things up a level

Celtic winning at Livingston is not a result you would have bet your mortgage on in recent times, but Ange Postecoglou's side are a different animal to the one that always seemed likely dropped points in West Lothian before his arrival.

Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi (left) celebrates his opening goal in the 3-0 win at Livingston. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The league leaders had won only one of their previous six Scottish Premiership visits, which came under the Australian at the second attempt last season, so there would have been no danger of his players looking beyond the danger posed at the Tony Macaroni Arena ahead of a trip to the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

The Hoops could even afford to miss their first penalty award of the season as an early opener from Kyogo Furuhashi, added to in the second half by Greg Taylor, fittingly scoring on his 100th appearance, and substitute Jota netting on his return from injury, earned them as comfortable a 3-0 win as they could have hoped for ahead of facing the European champions as they restored their four-point advantage over Rangers at the top of the Premiership standings.

Livingston’s often-maligned artificial surface - combined with the hosts putting everyone bar Joel Nouble behind the ball - were undoubted factors in Celtic producing a less free-flowing performance than of late. But despite struggling for penetration at times, they made their moments count, starting in the ninth minute when Furuhashi broke through the yellow wall, spinning between markers to latch onto Taylor's delightful through ball before firing high past debutant goalkeeper Jack Hamilton at his near post. Celtic fans may have questioned their Japanese hitman for not looking at his best at times this season, but nine goals in 16 is a record that cannot be argued with.

Conceding so early did not alter David Martindale's gameplan one bit. Livingston remained steadfast in their defensive approach, leaving Nouble to plough a lone furrow in attack. He did manage to ruffle Cameron Carter-Vickers’ feathers on occasion, with the US international earning a booking for grabbing a hold of his shirt, but for all the pair had a good old-fashioned tussle, it was all in vain as Livingston struggled to get bodies in support.

Celtic pressed and probed without looking overly likely to extend their lead before half-time. James Forrest cut in from the right and screwed a shot narrowly wide, while on the opposite side of the pitch, Sead Haksabanovic struggled to find any end product at all.

It was down to, arguably, Celtic's player of the season so far to showcase himself again as left-back Taylor stepped forward to lash a shot through the legs of an unsighted Hamilton from 25 yards after a blocked Aaron Mooy shot spun invitingly into his path.

Jota stepped off the bench to rapturous applause from the Celtic fans in the 80th minute and within 30 seconds made the impact the starting wingers lacked with a run to the byline and a cross which deflected off the hand of Andrew Shinnie.

After initially awarding a goal-kick, referee Willie Collum was summoned to the VAR monitor and changed his decision to a penalty kick, which fellow sub Giorgos Giakoumakis failed to convert, striking the post.

Jota had the final say though, sweeping home a David Turnbull pass to remind of the difference he can make for Celtic in the final third.