Celtic reaction: Far from outliers over Palestine; better strike rate than Kyogo; Forrest pulls fast one

There was little change in the away end at Dingwall as duo prove their worth to champions with goals

Celtic’s 3-0 success away to Ross County raised more than a few talking points. Below, we pick out three:

Far from outliers over Palestine

Activities in the away end in the Global Energy Arena suggested Celtic’s ban on ultras group the Green Brigade had little discernible impact on how the visiting fans conducted themselves. Not when there were a couple of banners emblazoned with their name draped over the perimeter fence and sectarian songs were belted out across the afternoon. The presence of Palestinian flags throughout the section will be co-opted into that conclusion. However, the Green Brigade are hardly outliers in their desire to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people as genocidal warfare is waged on them in Gaza by Israeli forces, causing a humanitarian catastrophe that has claimed the lives of almost 4,000 children. Up and down the country, and across the globe, there is despair and anger over the plight of the Palestinians, and desperation for a ceasefire. The obsession with one manifestation of the desire to offer solidarity to a people being subjected to inhumanity should not blind to that fact.

The goals from James Forrest and Luis Palma in Celtic 3-0 win away to Ross County on Saturday - the pair seen here celebrating the Scot's headed counter his team-mate set up - had special significance. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Better strike rate than Kyogo

The blistering strikes conjured up by David Turnbull and Luis Palma on Saturday served as the latest examples of the duo’s potency. Indeed, both have outscored Kyogo Furuhashi in recent weeks. And the stats relating to their scoring this season might surprise with reference to the club’s foremost plunderer. The Japanese forward remains the club’s top scorer courtesy of bagging seven goals in this campaign. These have been netted across 1,186 minutes of football, giving him a goal every 169 minutes, which is down on his strike rate from his previous two seasons in Scotland. Meanwhile, Turnbull and Palma have both hit five, though with far more limited game-time. As a result – helped by two penalty conversions – the Scot has a strike-rate of a goal every 89 minutes, with Palma’s figure 90.2 minutes.

Forrest pulls a fast one

You gotta love James Forrest. A man now one of a truly select group of players to have netted in 15 consecutive top-flight campaigns across the 50-odd year history of Premier football in Scotland … thanks to only the fourth headed goal of his illustrious career that completed the scoring against County. The feat ensured the 32-year-old was placed on pre-match duties, only for him to prove typically self-effacing in his response to the eye-popping revelation from Brendan Rodgers last week that a recent drill had shown Forrest remained the club’s quickest player – even more rapid than bullet-train winger Daizen Maeda. “I think it was during the international break when half the team weren’t there … I still feel good and I want to keep working hard to help the team.” Talk about hiding your light under a bushel.