A second string Celtic side eventually ground down a fighting Ross County side to stretch our lead at the top of the SPFL to *consults abacus* SEVEN points.
Brendan Rodgers made eight changes from the side which beat Rangers 1-0 going on 5-0 on sunday, Gordon, Sviatchenko and Lustig the only three to keep their places, with the likes of Gamboa, Izaguirre, Christie, Roberts, McGregor and Henderson getting game time.
We made the perfect start after only 2 minutes, a fine solo run and finish from Roberts aided by some poor County defending. They could have equalised shortly after that though, but Gordon made a fine one on one save from a Boyce shot. Griffiths came close to scoring the second with a fine shot on the half volley being tipped around the post by Fox, Christie had a shot from the edge of the box blocked by the keeper, while at the other end Gordon made a good save from Davies, so half-time arrived and we were 1 up.
The second half began with County on top, Gordon making another good save from Dow and Davies heading against the inside of the post. It was a surprise to few when Dembele and Sinclair were eventually brought on for Henderson and Christie. Craig Gordon then blotted his copybook with another one of his 'kung fu kick outside the box' challenges - similar to the one he did vs Alloa - but our old mate Alan Muir was happy with a yellow on this occasion.
Dembele then missed a one on one to make it 2-0, before a fine disguised finish from Armstrong in the 84th minute sealed the points.
There was then a bizarre incident where McEveley booted Demebele as he was clean through - yet wasn't sent off - and as advantage was played Sinclair someone managed to put the ball wide when it was easier to score. Sinclair made up for this in the 90th minute, latching on to a loose ball in the box and smashing the ball home, while nice play from Roberts set up Dembele for our fourth shortly after.
Brendan Rodgers will be delighted with the result, playing a second string side which - despite a few hairy moments - got the three points. Of the replacement players, Roberts started well but flattered to deceive too often, McGregor and Henderson were quiet and Izaguirre and Dembele will probably remain squad players.
The star man was Stuart Armstrong, continuing his run of recent good performances and there is an argument to be made that he should start at the expense of the off-form Nir Bitton. However there's not much time to dwell on this game as we now head to Pittodrie to face *patronising pat on the head* Aberdeen on Saturday lunchtime with a chance to make amends for some recent poor performances up there.
