Celtic verdict: An obvious theme tune for latest loss as calamity strikes again

They don’t pipe any noise into the Global Energy Stadium during games. There was, though, an obvious soundtrack to accompany Celtic’s latest failure: the Jaws theme.

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths looks on during the 1-0 defeat by Ross County.

For just when they thought it was safe to assume they had regained a modicum of authority over their performances courtesy of five straight wins, along came this avoidable 1-0 defeat to bite them in the backside. Against a team that started yesterday at the foot of Premiership and had their manager John Hughes bemoaning goals conceded from set pieces. Cue, then, of course, the Highland hosts undoing Celtic from precisely one of these: a 71st minute corner headed in by an unmarked Jordan White at the back post.

How on earth this goal wasn’t merely a consolation in a 3-1 defeat will cause agonies to Neil Lennon … and also Ryan Christie. The attacker contrived to balloon over the bar from six yards midway through the first period, skied another from the edge of the box later in the opening first 45, and was thwarted by County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw when he did find the target with a goalbound angled drive late on. Then there was his set-up with a driven ball across for what should have been a certain goal for Odsonne Edouard midway through the first period, a ball crying out to be tapped in missed by the Frenchman.

Celtic dominated territory, possession, opportunities. And lost. It says everything about how much, and how calamitously, they have let everything slip this season. The 18-point gap Rangers are sitting on means that even the smallest objective for the effectively deposed champions – not allowing Steven Gerrard’s men to leave the Parkhead derby in three weeks as title winners – could prove beyond them. If both Glasgow clubs win their two games before that March 21 fixture, it will really be done with when only six games will remain for the pair and Rangers hold a 23 advantage in goal difference.

Lennon said on Friday the season had not been the unmitigated disaster it had been presented. Frightening to think what an unmitigated disaster would look like to the Celtic manager. The Dingwall defeat was the second loss to Ross County, following the 2-0 League Cup loss in November that ended the club’s four-year monopoly on Scottish trophies. The double they have now completed gave them a first league win over Celtic since 2013.

Never mind their earliest Champions League qualifying exit since 2005, or being the only top seeds in a Europa League group to finish bottom of a section, they have been also-rans in a ten-chasing championship within ten weeks of it starting. At Dingwall, it felt as if they could play ten hours without producing the necessary composure to convert an opportunity and managed to leak a goal when under little pressure across the 90 minutes. Celtic, as a club, and their support have been at bitter odds across these past six months, but there is one thing upon which they will both agree: they end of this God-awful campaign for them cannot come soon enough.

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